Truth

Yours – Mine - Theirs?

"If it’s not about Jesus, it’s not about Anything."

Motto of the Fountain of Life

SPS:  To demonstrate truth from a Christ centered Trinitarian perspective.

Dr. Kyriacos J. Stavrinides was the professor of Biblical Scholarship in Ambassador University in Pasadena, California in the early1980s.  He also taught Logic.  One day he mixed the concept of philosophical truth into the Biblical Scholarship class.  The students came to study the truth; biblical truth.  But he asked which truth to study?  It was a trick question.  For whatever denominational truth a student would propose he would say, “That is true for you, but not for me.”  He did this to illustrate that the same biblical data is available to all Christian denominations, yet the data presents different truths to sincere, good and godly men and women.

A natural question follows:  If the same data produces different truth, then how do you know if a church has “correct truth” or “incorrect truth?”  In casual conversation we understand what correct truth or incorrect truth means.  Philosophically incorrect truth does not exist because is a rational impossibility just as false truth is by definition an irrationality.  Truth is all that remains.  The opposite of truth is untruth, or falsehood or lies.      

As indicated good and godly men reach different conclusions and we Christians are flooded with different truths from the same Bible and we are hopelessly divided.  We recognize that every doctrine cannot be true.  Some are incorrect.  But which ones?  An indelicate rephrasing of our question is:  How do we know if our church teaches truth or falsehood?  We have here two more questions.  They sound similar but they are very different.  The first question is; what is the truth?  The second is; what is truth?  Lacking knowledge of what it is, there is no possible way of identifying it when we find it.  Is there an identifying sign pointing to a repository of truth?  Is the sign baptism by immersion or sprinkling or pouring, pre tribulation or post tribulation, dispensational or replacement?  Is it Sabbath or Sunday worship?  Is it old earth or new earth, traditional music or contemporary?  Which belief or sign should guide us in seeking a church to attend?  Is the truth we find relative, is it absolute, is it deduced, is it private revelation or is it something else?   In discerning truth it is helpful to define what truth is.  

 WHAT IS TRUTH?

 Philosophical

TRUTH:  it is a relative descriptive frame of reference from the point of view of the rational observer.  When there are two rational observers there may be two similar or dissimilar truths ascribed to the same event.  Observers decide.  A relation with God is not necessary.

Secular dictionary

TRUTH:  it is a quality or state of being true… conformity with the facts or with reality either as an idealized abstraction or in actual application.  Observers decide.  A relation with God is not necessary.

           

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

TRUTH:  it is a conformity to fact or actuality; faithfulness to an original or to a standard.  In the Old and New Testaments, truth is a fundamental moral and personal quality of God.  In this level observers again decide.  But the Holy Scriptures introduced another level by connecting truth to morality and to the person of God whereby we can observe the truth of God in action.  And yet, when the New Testament is viewed solely through the lens of the Old Testament; that is through the lens of God as the Sovereign Creator, the offer of a personal relationship with God is not indicated, and consequently very often overlooked and not realized.      

Relational to Jesus

TRUTH: it is relational.  This is revealed when the entirety of Holy Scriptures are viewed from a Christocentric perspective; with Jesus and the focal point of revelation.  In this level we find a direct connection with God through Jesus.  The logic of grace reveals a new and higher concept of truth where it can not only be observed, but it can be experienced.  And this understanding, this logic of grace, originates with and from God to us through Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.  Truth is Jesus.  Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38)  He later unknowingly answered that question when he announced to the crowd, “Ecce homo” - Here is the man.

Brethren, consider who Jesus is.

JOHN 17:17    Thy word is truth

JOHN 1:14      and the word was made Flesh. 

JOHN 14:6      I am the…truth.  

His word is truth.  Jesus is the Word.  Jesus is truth.  Truth is more than a canon of logic and it is deeper than a personal quality God.  Truth is a part of God’s being, essence and person.  Jesus does not point to the truth.  Jesus is much more than “the” truth.  Jesus is Truth. 

When viewing truth as discerning the accuracy of data, we can see it from a distance and utilize, reinterpret or ignore it.  As a personal quality of God, we can view truth from a distance and admire, utilize, or ignore it.  But, as a part of God’s being, we can share a personal relationship with truth*.   That sounds odd, however, when we enter a relationship with Jesus (become one - John 17:21), we have a relationship with truth itself, not just with an abstract concept or a character trait.

[*For further reading how a personal relationship with truth or joy or love is formed see the article “Joy – Real or Pretend” and review the four sections on the “Logic of Grace” found on this web page in the July drop down tab.]

The results of a relationship with Jesus:

John 8:31-32:  “Then said Jesus to those who believed on Him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.  And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”  “To continue in His word is not the basis of true faith, but the result of it.”  (King James Commentary).   True faith happens when we enter a relationship with Jesus.  Jesus sets us free from the penalty of death.  Nothing else can. 

CONCLUSION

WHAT TRUTH?

Can we recognize if all doctrines are correct or not?  The honest answer is, NO!  Not all of them.  It is not given us to understand some things this side of the Resurrection.  But this does not mean that God left us without help in making the identification.  We asked above, is there a sign pointing to a Church, which teaches truth?  The Good News is, yes there is!  There are essential truths, nonessential truths and nonessential speculation about truth.  To friends who ask you which Church has the truth, offer the guidance of St. Paul and St. John as the first step.  Do they first and foremost preach the essential truth of Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:23), do they first and foremost confess the essential truth that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:2)?  If yes, then that is the truth and that is the Church.  From that point we may begin to grow in grace and in truth.**    If they place any other doctrine as their focal point or primary teaching and place Jesus as an important but secondary or supporting teaching, then beware of that organization.

[**For further discussion on essential orthodox truth please read the series on the “Apostles’ Creed” on this web page in the February 2013 drop down tab.  For a discussion on topical speculative issues which are peripheral to God’s revealed truth, yet nevertheless tend to divide churches, please see the article on this web page “Genesis – What do you think?” in the April 2013 drop down tab.]

Beloved in Christ, may the Holy Spirit cloth you with wisdom and aid your understanding of His truth.

Dear Readers, let us trust where God plants us and continue to grow there.  In the final analysis God is LOVE and that’s the truth.

Rev. George Relic, Assistant Pastor                                                                          

Fountain of Life Church

2021 Old National Pike

Washington, PA 15301

A congregation of Grace Communion International