What is Truth?

31^st January 2025

John 18v36-39
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
"What is truth?" said Pilate.
With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"

Jesus Christ, who had performed many miracles, raised the dead, healed the sick challenged the established order, and spoken the most beautiful and powerful words ever uttered, stood before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. He told Pilate that he was a king but that his kingdom is "not of this world". Jesus was obviously a great man with a lot to teach us. Now,he says that He was not challenging the Roman Empire, but was offering a completely new way of life, in a heavenly kingdom.

Jesus told Pilate that He had come to earth "to testify to the truth". He then made the extraordinary claim that "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilate could see the Jesus wasn't insane. He wasn't a fanatic. He spoke calmly and clearly. He had important things yo say. Pilate had the opportunity to learn from this amazing individual. Instead, he said (Greek legei, the new NIV has no reason to translate this as "retorted") "What is truth?"

Why did Pilate ask this?

We can be sure he didn't ask it because he wanted Jesus to tell him what truth is. We know this because as soon as he said it, he left Jesus to go to speak to the crowd outside. So "What is the truth?" was, for him, a rhetorical question. Was it motivated by his philosophical world-view, or was it just a way to end the conversation?

It may be that Pilate was influenced by the ancient Greek philosophical school of thought known as Scepticism. It seems there were two major approaches taken by Sceptics. One, called Academic Scepticism, claimed that it was impossible to be certain about anything. The immediate problem with this idea, of course, is that it is self-contradictory; if we cannot be sure of anything, then we cannot be sure that we cannot be sure of anything. It is also, of course, a doctrine of intellectual despair. If we cannot be sure of anything, why bother thinking at all? The second major approach taken by Sceptics was called Pyrrhonism, after the philosopher Pyrron of Elis. This denied the unknowability of everything but tried to show that there were counter arguments for any statement. This avoided the main flaw of Academic Scepticism but it didn't allow much in the way of philosophical enquiry, since its purpose was ever to accept the truth of any proposition.

1 Corinthians 1v19-20
For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Scepticism these days is thought of as an attitude of mind, not a philosophy, but there's still a lot of it about. "If an offer seems to good to be true, it probably is." "You can't prove the existence of God." and so on. Many people are very sceptical about the idea that we can know anything important.

Or perhaps Pilate didn't think Jesus had anything worthwhile to tell him. Again, that attitude remains prevalent.

But Jesus must have been the most famous man around. His words and His miraculous deeds must have been spoken of everywhere, including Pilate's household. Pilate's wife even dreampt about Jesus (Matthew 27v19). And Jesus is perhaps still probably the most famous man on earth today, 2,000 years after He died. Why do people think he has nothing worthwhile to say to them? Why the scepticism?

Pilate must have had a lot on his mind. Governing Judea wasn't easy, and Caesar was a hard master to please. The Jews were constantly threatening rebellion, and their customs and beliefs were nothing like Roman ones. It was the time of the Passover festival and huge crowds were in Jerusalem. He must have feared trouble was brewing. He probably wanted a quite life, as well as the fortune that was to be made by exploiting the Jews.

Power, money and peace and quiet, the dream of most men.

Today, that's still the dream of most men. People don't want Jesus disturbing their quest for these things. Scepticism can be a mask we hide behind. It's easier to claim that knowledge is impossible to attain than to submit our lives to God.

But truth exists. God exists. Jesus lived and died and rose from the dead. God communicates with us through our consciences, through the Bible, through creation, and sometimes by direct revelation of the truth. Jesus "was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth". Pilate missed it, probably because he didn't want the truth. Most people miss it, because they don't want the truth.

Jesus said, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

Everybody who genuinely wants to know the truth about God, salvation, forgiveness and eternal life will examine the words of Jesus Christ. He founded the greatest religious movement the world has ever known. And yet many intelligent people ignore Jesus. Why? because their desire for power, money and peace and quiet is greater than their desire for the truth.

Romans 1v18
... people... suppress the truth by their wickedness

Romans 1v21-22
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools...

It's not that there is no truth, or that truth is unknowable, it's that some people's wickedness motivates them to suppress the truth, just like Pontius Pilate.

I'm not using the word "wickedness" in the way the world uses it. Many people who suppress the truth are what we think of as nice people. But to ignore God, or to deny His very existence, or to ignore His moral teaching, or to refuse to accept His Lordship, is wickedness. Sin against God is just as wicked as sin against other humans. And we are all sinners; we all need the grace of God, which is only available through repentance and faith in His atoning sacrifice on the cross.