John 18:37b-38a
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
"What is truth?" Pilate asked.
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Like everyone's personal morality (their concepts of what is good and what is bad), truth can also be personally definable. This is part of what Pilate was saying in a rhetorical question.
"We both have truths; are mine the same as yours?" (Some of you will recognize this as a quote from Jesus Christ, Superstar. I'm do not debate its value.) The answer to this is also like personal morality: very often the answer is no, my truths are not the same as yours.
And so we must ask, is there an absolute Truth? And again we see that absoluteness depends on the consistency of the truth for the person. We believe in a God who is absolutely consistent and therefore absolutely Truthful (He defines truth with absolutely authority).
Jesus declares His purpose for becoming incarnate: to testify to the truth. The fulfillment of the prophecies, God continues to demonstrate His consistency and authority to declare absolutes in morality (good/bad) and in truth.
Jesus further declares that one who would be in truth must listen to him. The Christian faith places Jesus in the Godhead. He declares a monopoly on absolute truth. Pilate retorts from the understanding of personal truth and does not recognize the absolute Truth.
Copyright, Mark Metcalfe, 1992 August
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Created: March 23, 1999
Updated: April 9, 2003