Pilate, the Roman proconsul in Jerusalem in the 1st century, asked one of the most controversial, and important, questions we humans ask: “What is truth?”
That is the way we usually ask the question. But those who come to know the truth realize that “what is truth” is not the right question. “What” is not the true way to know the truth about ourselves. But Pilate was a prophet (and didn’t know it) because a few minutes later, he answered his own question about what truth is. But before we hear his answer, think for a minute about some of the answers to the question, “What is truth?” that we can all agree upon, and think about where these answers came from.
WHAT IS TRUTH?
Most people would agree that there is “truth” in such values as love, equality, the dignity and worth of all humans, freedom, and concern for the marginalized. But where did all these values originate? They didn’t come out of thin air. Out of all the philosophies and religions in the world, they have their unique origins in the God of the Old Testament. This God was unlike all other gods, a God who is concerned about every human being, and particularly the outcast and marginalized. These very “human,” loving and personal values came from a “comprehensive vision of truth” that understands reality as very personal.
TRUTH IS PERSONAL
For the ancient Hebrews, “truth” is not some abstract thought; truth is personal. The Hebrew word for “truth” (emet) means not just “true” but “truthful, reliable, trustworthy.” Truth is grasped and understood in a relationship with the God of love, who gives us “truth” for our own good (Deut.10:12,13). The God revealed in the Old Testament is both full of faithful love (hesed) and truth (emet). He speaks to us personally, and speaks the truth to us so that we might flourish. Grace and truth cannot be separated because both come from a personal God who loves us, and God will not lie to us about reality.
In Hebrew, the word for truth, emet, consists of three letters, containing the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This symbolizes that God’s “truth” encompasses all reality. But if you take away the first letter, aleph (which represents God), you spell the Hebrew word for death, meaning that without God there is no truth, only death and meaninglessness. The writer of Ecclesiastes begins his book with the word, “Meaningless!” (hebel, meaning vapor or pointless). His point is that life without God is meaningless, but the beauty of the God of the Hebrews was that life made sense in relationship with him. Reality finds its stability in a Creator who created this beautiful, amazing universe in a way that scientists now say is exquisitely “fine-tuned” for humans to exist: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1). This amazing, fine-tuned universe came about by the personal Creator speaking, communicating; the “Word of God” created this amazing universe out of chaos.
The Word of God also brings order out of the chaos in our lives by speaking the Truth into our hearts: “The Word [Torah] of Yahweh is perfect, reviving the soul” (Ps. 19:7). The truly happy person is the one that listens to this Word from God about how to live well; she is like a tree planted by streams of water which flourishes and thrives (Ps. 1).
BUT HOW CAN WE KNOW GOD IS TRUSTWORTHY AND RELIABLE?
The personal Creator revealed in the Old Testament answers the question “Why can we believe what the Bible says is best for humans?” The answer: because the God who speaks to us is trustworthy and reliable.
Which leads to a deeper question: But how can we know God is trustworthy and reliable?
The full answer to that is found in this suffering servant Pilate presented to the world.
Pilate had been interrogating Jesus of Nazareth, a radical teacher who had claimed to reveal, in his humanness, all of who God is—the very heart and words of God himself. He claimed that God was a Father, and that he revealed this Father God exactly (Jn. 12:49). To the Jews, this was sheer blasphemy. God is the Almighty, the Unapproachable, and no human should dare make such claims! They wanted Jesus put to death. Pilate reluctantly agreed. He had Jesus flogged with whips (excruciating torture which, in itself, often brought death), and then the soldiers beat Jesus on the face with their fists. Then, in mockery, they jammed a crown of thorns on his head and put a royal, purple robe on him.
Pilate presents this bloody, beaten, humiliated Jesus to the world and, in answering his own question of “what is truth?” proclaims:
“Behold, the human! (Greek, anthropos)”
Unknowingly, Pilate declares that this suffering human, who claims to be the full revelation of God, is the Truth for us humans.
The real question for us humans is not “What is Truth?” but “Who is Truth?” How can this be?
WHO IS TRUTH?
We can begin to understand the question of truth for our lives when we realize that before “Truth” is some set of concepts, doctrines, or beliefs, it is first of all personal and relational. Truth is always personal because God is always personal and relational, full of compassionate love. God knows what is best for us as the humans he created, and he is willing to go to whatever lengths to bring us into relationship with him.
The personal God of faithful love (hesed) and truthfulness (emet) was true to himself when he came to fully dwell with us as humans. No one has seen God, but God has made himself known (Jn. 1:18). The Word that created the universe, that speaks into our human hearts, has become a human so that we may know the full extent of his love and that we may know and live in truth. God put his money where his mouth is, and showed us the full extent of his love and his truth. Grace and truth came in Jesus Christ. There is no truth without grace, and God’s truth is always personal, inviting, loving. And there is no grace without truth; God’s truth is always what is best for us, the humans he created and that he knows so well because he became one of us.
We can know that God is trustworthy and reliable because of the Crucified One that has overcome every lie so that the truth can be told about our lives. God is trustworthy because he is indeed the suffering and crucified God who overcomes all the chaos of our lives, including death.
“I TELL YOU THE TRUTH”
If truth is personal, then we as humans will come to know truth through a personal encounter with the personal God. That personal encounter is what God initiates. Jesus is alive and well, knocking on the door of every human heart: “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).
Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus repeats this phrase over and over: “I tell you the truth.” Jesus tells us the truth we need to know, and it is full of grace and truth. Jesus doesn’t force the truth on us; in love he woos us. But Jesus challenges us and tells us that if we will just listen long enough, we will come to realize that what he says is exactly what we need: “If anyone chooses to do my will, they will know whether what I say is true or not” (John 7:17).
Jesus tells us that the world is full of lies about what is best for us, but he is trustworthy and speaks the truth. He came so that we may have life and have it to the full! (John 10:10), and we can trust him because he is the one who lays down his life for us (John 10:14). Jesus tells us the truth that if we don’t listen to him, we will “die” in the lies we listen to–life indeed will be meaningless. But through all the lies, we can hear the voice of Jesus, and if we will just listen to his voice and follow him, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free (John 8:32). The Truth is personal; Jesus says “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).
WHO IS THE TRUTH?
God is full of grace and truth. As we listen, the truth will at first be offensive to us because it “contradicts us,” it tells us in very personal ways how wrong our lives are. But God speaks our truth to us only as the Crucified One. “Life in the truth begins at the point where it makes its uncompromising claim on us, not with the fist but with the defenselessness of the one who is ‘the King crowned with thorns,’ the Lamb upon the throne, yet nevertheless the King upon the throne.”[1]
After Pilate had introduced the bloody, beaten Jesus as the Human who reveals the Truth, a few minutes later he made an even more remarkable statement about this loving, suffering One:
“Behold, your King!” (John 19:14).
[1] Eberhard Busch, The Great Passion: An Introduction to Karl Barth’s Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 136, quoting Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV/3 450, 459.