Adapting To Truth

Adapting to Truth

Read: John 18:28-38

“Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

John 18:37

“Everyone may be entitled to his own opinion, but everyone is not entitled to his own truth.”

—Doug Groothuis

IN WORD Pilate responds to this statement of Jesus with a question that has characterized human thinking for centuries: “What is truth?” (v. 38). Our typical approach to this question has us trying to figure out what we believe to be truth and then measuring all things and people by that self-developed standard. This is exactly what Pilate is doing at Jesus’ trial.

But Jesus refuses to be measured by external standards. He Himself is the definition of truth. Those who listen to Him have accepted truth. Those who do not listen to Him have not. It is not a matter of reconciling His words with our concept of reality. It is a matter of reconciling our concept of reality with His words. There is a world of difference.

It must be amusing, in a sense, for Jesus to hear philosophers and skeptics analyze His teachings in relation to their theoretical constructs. That’s like trying to test the veracity of a reliable yardstick by lining it up next to an unmeasured tree branch. The process is backward. The branch must be measured by the measuring stick, not vice versa. The philosophical arguments must be tested according to Jesus’ teachings, not the other way around.

IN DEED Isn’t this backward way of thinking often our approach to truth, too? We sometimes try to reconcile Jesus’ words with what we assume to be true of our culture, our sense of morality, our relationships, some standard of value like “the American dream” or “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But our faithfulness to truth is measured only by how we relate to Him, not by how we fit into other standards. We don’t define truth and then figure out if Jesus fits into our framework. We are constantly to adapt to Him—always. He is the Truth (John 14:6). Everyone who listens to Him is on the side of Truth. And everyone on the side of Truth listens to Him.