Truth in a Post-Truth World

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 

John 18:37

Two pillars of Christian faith are truth and love.  On the evening of the Last Supper, Jesus told His followers to love one another.  He also explained that love involves obeying His commands, and His word is the truth.  Jesus connects love and truth, which should not come as a surprise as God is love, Jesus is God, and Jesus is truth.  God’s holy word says love dislikes wrongdoing and rejoices in the truth (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-6).  God also instructs us to walk in truth and love (see 2 John 4-11),and to speak the truth in love (see Ephesians 4:15). 

Truth and love should be inseparable, natural components of the Christian walk, continuously working together, enhancing one another.  Why do we at times feel tension between the two?

The tension is akin to the tension between things of God and things of the world.  While God so loved the world that He gave is only Son (see John 3:16), He also directs us not to love the world or the things of the world, saying further that those who love the world do not have God’s love in them (1 John 2:15).  The distinction between the two statements lies in the word “world.”  In the first, “world” refers to people inhabiting the world.  In the second, “world” refers to components of the world promoting rebellion against God.  As John explains,

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.  1 John 2:16-17

And through James, God’s holy word explains that love of the world is enmity with God.  James writes,

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  James 4:4

While God is love and He loves the entire world, He instructs us not to love certain aspects or components of the world.

If God is love, what are His attributes?  He is patient, kind, and merciful.  He flows with grace and compassion, but He also disciplines.  We tend to focus on God’s mercy, but He also unleashes wrath.  Discipline involves discerning judgment, instruction as to the expected standard, and correction.  This is where truth comes into the equation – truth is the standard – and where the conversation becomes heated, because in the context of the passages above, things of the world are rebellious to God and truth reveals sin. 

So, we have this conflict between the world and God’s holy truth, which is nothing new.  John writes about the conflict in his second epistle, urging his reader to love while abiding in Christ Jesus’ teaching (see 2 John 4-11).  Three hundred years later Augustine wrote,

But why doth “truth generate hatred,” and the man of Thine, preaching the truth, become an enemy to them? whereas a happy life is loved, which is nothing else but joying in the truth; unless that truth is in that kind loved, that they who love anything else would gladly have that which they love to be the truth: and because they would not be deceived, would not be convinced that they are so? Therefore do they hate the truth for that thing’s sake which they loved instead of the truth. They love truth when she enlightens, they hate her when she reproves. The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book X, Chapter 23.

They hate the truth “for that thing’s sake which they loved instead of the truth.  They love truth when she enlightens, they hate her when she reproves.”  I fear that accurately describes many of us today as a general matter, and each of us with respect to certain aspects of our lives, and this is very concerning because God’s holy word explains that He gets very upset when people have access to His holy truth and refuse to hear, understand and abide by it.  We certainly have access to His holy word, more so than any generation before us, but are we obeying it?

As we strive to love in truth, and to walk in love and truth, we should consider what we mean by the word “truth.”

When Jesus spoke with Pontius Pilate, Jesus said He came to earth to bear witness to the truth, and everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice.  In response, Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).  This scene from Scripture came to mind as I watched a few video clips recently.  I saw one of the presidential candidates holding a town-hall-styled meeting.  He stood with a hand-held microphone speaking in front of a wall-sized sign bearing a single word – Truth.  I wondered what message he was sending.  Was he claiming to be the candidate who represents truth, the one who stands on the truth, or something else?  I am not sure the exact messaging, but truth was certainly the focus.  I have also encountered folks stating their belief that truth is fluid, almost like opinions, and that everyone has their own truth.  I found myself wondering, like Pilate, what is truth? 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “truth” as a noun meaning that which is in accord with fact or reality (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truth).  In this sense, the word “truth” is merely a statement accurately describing reality.  I recently heard the Canadian psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson describe great literary fiction, like some of Shakespeare’s writing, as being truer than true, even though the events recorded did not actually happen.  How can this be?  How can fiction be true?  If Romeo and Juliet were created in the author’s mind, figments of his imagination that never actually inhabited time and space on earth, how can their story be true?  According to Dr. Peterson, human existence involves certain patterns repeating themselves, and great fiction condenses the patterns in a way revealing truths of human existence clearer than any single human life.  In this sense, great fiction is truer than true.

Similarly, without opining as to whether he believes Adam and Eve were real humans who lived, Dr. Peterson believes their story recorded in Genesis, along with the account of Cain and Able and other Biblical narratives, are truer than true because they capture the depths of human experience common to everyone in ways transcending reality.  The stories are truer than true.  He goes further to explain that the Bible is the foundation of and the basis for all truth because it provides the precondition necessary for every judgment of truth.  According to this line of reasoning, the Bible is true in a very unique sense.  It is true without comparison.

What do you think about his statements?  Are they accurate?  Do they conform with God’s holy word?  If they are accurate and they conform with Scripture, what are we to do with them? Before delving into that, let’s consider what Scripture has to say about truth, because it has a lot to say about truth and lies. 

The Bible presents lies as an attribute of the devil – Jesus calls him the “father of lies” (John 8:44).  In contrast, one of the Ten Commandments instructs us not to lie.  Scripture presents God’s holy word as truth, and Jesus as the Word, who has always been, who will always be, who is the holy Creator of everything, who became flesh and made His dwelling among us, who was the only unique Son of God the Father, and who was full of grace and truth (see John 1:1-14). 

Jesus presents truth as singular and a central attribute of God and godliness.  He describes Himself as “the truth” and the only way to God the Father (John 14:6).  He explains that those who abide in His word will know the truth and will be set free by it (see John 8:31-32).  Jesus also says He will send the Holy Spirit (who He describes as “the Spirit of truth”) to everyone who follows His commandments, the Holy Spirit will dwell within them (see John 14:15-17), and the Holy Spirit will guide them to all truth (see John 16:13).  As Jesus prays to God the Father, Jesus describes God’s holy word as “the truth,” and He asks the Father to sanctify Jesus’ followers in His holy word (see John 17:17). 

Jesus is the truth, God’s holy word is the truth, Jesus is the Word, and the Holy Spirit guides everyone who follows Jesus’ commandments to the truth.  Further, God the Father sanctifies believers through His holy word, which is the truth.  As a quick ancillary note, if you desire to grow closer to God, to grow in holiness, to continue on the path to sanctification, the way to God goes through Jesus and God’s holy word.

In several different settings, Jesus describes His mission on earth.  He came to earth with specific tasks in mind.  While being questioned by Pontius Pilate, Jesus explains one of His missions on earth as follows:

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” John 18:37

Jesus pre-existed His earthly appearance.  He existed before creation.  He has always been and will always be.  He is the Creator of all things.  He is life.  He breathes the breath of life.  He surrendered His heavenly glory for a time to come to earth on a mission, and part of His mission was “to bear witness to the truth.”

After saying that, He says something incredibly profound.  He says people who are “of the truth” listen to His voice.  Jesus is the truth.  Jesus is God.  Being “of the truth” is equivalent to being of God, and those who are hear, understand and obey what He says.

How does Jesus bear witness to the truth and what does Jesus mean when He describes Himself as “the truth”?  His statement suggests truth is singular, which is certainly a nugget worthy of serious consideration, and that He is the embodiment of singular truth.  Is He describing Himself as that conforming with reality and the one who accurately describes reality?  Yes, but is that all?  He is the standard by which all other claims are judged.  On a construction site, a level is a tool used to ensure objects built are truly horizontal and truly vertical, conforming with absolutes.  Similarly, Jesus is the standard for all truth, the level by which all other truth claims are judged.

At a different time and place, Jesus contrasts those who are of the truth and of God with those who are not.  During a conversation with religious leaders, Jesus says,

43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”  John 8:43-47

Jesus says some people hear, understand and obey the word of God while others do not.  Some are simply unable to hear Him because they “are not of God,” and the context of the statement was a discussion with religious leaders about the devil, the “father of lies.”  Jesus describes the devil as a murderer and liar.  Those who are unable to hear God and accept His truth are affiliated with the devil, the liar.

Jesus directs the statements to religious leaders, the ones who are educated in God’s holy word and who are respected by society because of their apparent association with God.  They are the highest representatives of the group of people created by God to be His holy nation.  At that time, most believed that the religious leaders were chosen by God as His holy representatives on earth, yet Jesus says they are children of the devil, children of lies, unable to hear and understand the truth, and not of God. 

There is no truth in the devil, and “whoever is of God hears the words of God.”  Some hear and know the truth, others do not.  Why does this matter to us, here, today?

God’s prophets foretold a time when people would have access to the truth yet abandon it.  God refers to those people as “the generation of his wrath” (Jeremiah 7:29).  Hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah spoke to their contemporaries describing them in that light.  When Jesus spoke to certain people He encountered, He described them in that light.  When Paul wrote to the church in Rome, he described certain people in that light (see Romans 1).  There have been many times over the course of human history when people abandoned the truth, earning the label “the generation of his wrath,” but we live in a time when this is uniquely so.

Seven years ago, the publisher of Oxford Dictionary proclaimed the word “post-truth” as the Word of the Year 2016.  Post-truth is “an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’” (see Oxford Languages website at https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2016/).  According to Oxford, people viewing the world through a post-truth lens place greater importance on emotion and opinion than objective facts.  In a society comprised of people with that worldview, true statements may be deemed misinformation or disinformation simply because they fail to support the narrative promoted by the ones making the determination.  In many ways the society we live in exhibits traits of a post-truth society. 

Jesus is God.  Jesus is the Word.  Jesus is the truth.  Jesus came to proclaim the truth.  If a society is post-truth, does it necessarily follow it is also post-Jesus and post-God?  It certainly seems so.  And Jesus says that those who fail to hear, understand and obey His word are not of God.  They are of the devil, the father of lies.  As we connect the dots we must ask, if we live in a post-truth society, does it follow that our society is being guided by the father of lies?

Yes.  It does, and God foresaw our generation when He referred to it as “the generation of his wrath.”  Let’s consider the passage in its context.

In chapter 7, Jeremiah describes a great evil overtaking God’s people.  He describes a time when God’s people go to church to worship yet refuse to follow His instructions.  The people believe their attendance at worship covers up their injustice, their failure to protect and provide for people in need, their lying, and their worship of other gods, but they are wrong.  God sees; He cares; and He reacts.  They have unique access to God and His holy word, but they disregard both.  They trust lies, not God’s holy word.  Jeremiah writes,

“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ – only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 7:8-11

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God describes the church of that day as “a den of robbers” because congregants live their lives in rebellion to Him while going through the motions of attending church. While cleansing the temple, Jesus describes God’s house as “a den of robbers” quoting Jeremiah 7:11(see Matthew 21:13).  In Jeremiah’s day, God’s holy house had become a den of robbers.  During Jesus’ earthly ministry, God’s holy house had become a den of robbers.  Are we repeating the example?  In what ways do we fail to follow Christ Jesus’ commandments and rebel against God while claiming association with His holy name?

God provides His instructions so that we might live our best possible life.  He is the holy Creator of everything.  He designed life.  He breaths the breath of life.  He knows what we should do to have our best life because He designed it, yet we fail to follow His guidance.  Later in chapter 7 of Jeremiah, God explains why He rejects some people’s offerings, and rejects and abandons them.  He does so because they refuse to obey Him. Jeremiah writes,

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

29 “‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
    raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
    the generation of his wrath.’ Jeremiah 7:21-29

God says, “the truth as perished.”  The thought of that pierces my heart.  How could people with unique access to God and His holy word allow the truth to perish?  In response to God’s holy word, they “stiffened their neck.”  This is an image of pride.  They trusted themselves over God.  They pursued their own will, not God’s.  As a result, they “went backward and not forward.”  Progress is moving toward God, yet they went the opposite way.

God the Father’s words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah are very similar to Jesus’ words.  Jesus says that people who love Him follow His commandments, and those who follow His commandments have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, living within them, guiding them to truth.  Jesus connects obeying, following and loving Him with spiritual transformation by and through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Similarly, through Jeremiah, God says, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you” (Jeremiah 7:23).  But they refuse.  They reject the truth.  As a result, because they refuse to follow God, He rejects them and abandons them, making them the generation of His wrath.

God describes this saying,

 ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

29 “‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
    raise a lamentation on the bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
    the generation of his wrath.’ Jeremiah 7:21-29

God tells His people – the very people who are blessed with unique access to Him and His holy word – to obey Him, to follow His commands, to behave like His people, but they refuse.  They do not hear His voice, they do not understand His holy word, they refuse His discipline, and in the process, the truth loses its vitality.  Truth still exists – like God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, truth is eternal – but the generation of God’s wrath acts as if truth is dead.  They refuse to speak, hear, understand, or obey the truth. 

Paul begins his letter to the church in Rome describing the same cycle taking place during his time.  Paul writes,

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  Romans 1:16-25

He describes the same sort of pride and self-centeredness as that of Jeremiah’s time.  They have unique access to God and His truth, yet they refuse to hear, understand and obey.  They exchange the truth for lies.  As a result, God rejects and abandons them, He gives them up to their rebellious desires, and they too become “the generation of His wrath.”

Like contemporaries of Jeremiah, Jesus and Paul, the cycle repeats itself now.  We too are the generation of God’s wrath.  Fortunately, God gives us the cure.  He says,

“Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.”  Jeremiah 7:23

And Jesus says,

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31-32

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,[f] to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[g] in you.  John 14:15-17

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:13

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.  John 17:16-19

Does truth still matter?  The truth is of God, and the path to God goes through Christ Jesus who is the truth.  Lies are of the devil.

We have unprecedented access to God’s holy word, the truth, the key to sanctification, the sword of the Spirit.  We must study it, know it, understand it, grow closer to God through Christ Jesus and His holy word, and obey it, which will often force us to live in conflict with the post-truth aspects of society around us.  God urges us to obey Him and promises it will be well for those who do (see Jeremiah 7:23).

Please know this is a spiritual battle.  When Paul wrote about the armor of God, he leaned heavily on Isaiah 59, a chapter describing people who reject the truth.  The father of lies speaks his native tongue.  He lies and he convinces people to believe his lies.  We are each susceptible to his influence, and we must stay vigilant guarding against his schemes through relationship with God, prayer and His holy word.

Writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul writes the following passage describing the armor of God, a passage that we know well:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. Ephesians 6:10-18

Isaiah 59 may be less familiar to us.  We often see God apply two attributes when describing people as evil – they fail to stop injustice and they lie.  Isaiah begins chapter 59 describing people of his day as evil, lying and sinful.  At verse two he writes, “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness” (Isaiah 59:2-3).  God refuses to listen to and respond to their prayers, not because He has lost the ability to hear or act, but because they have separated themselves from God.  Our words and actions reveal the substance of our hearts, and God takes it all seriously.

Later in the chapter, Isaiah describes a society that prefers falsehood over truth and evil over righteousness.  Their desire for evil is so prevalent, the population destroys those who depart from evil, feeding on them like predators devouring prey.  Because of this, no one stands up for justice, righteousness or truth.  The crowd silences righteous people who declare the truth, and this greatly displeases God.  In response to the people’s preference for lies over truth and injustice over justice, God comes to earth in righteousness, salvation and power, unleashing wrath on His enemies (see Isaiah 59:14-21). 

Isaiah foretold a time when God Himself would come clothed in righteousness, dressed for battle in the armor of God, unleashing wrath on His enemies.  The foundation of Isaiah 59 is God’s description of a time when people abandon truth, reject justice and pursue evil – a society that strays so far from God it attacks righteous people who proclaim the truth like beasts devouring prey.  Paul leans on Isaiah 59 when describing the armor of God.

The battle is spiritual.  As Paul urges us, adorn yourself with the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Holy Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray at all times in the Holy Spirit.  This is why God commands us to keep His holy truth in our mouths.  His commandments lead us to our best possible life, and through Isaiah, God says, “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth” (Isaiah 59:21).

Those who are of God proclaim truth.  Truth does indeed matter, even in this post-truth world.  And rejection of the truth is the greatest possible self-infliction of harm, even worse than suicide, because those who reject Christ Jesus, who is the truth, and through Him God, receive eternal wages for that choice.  In his commentary on the Book of Acts, Joseph Exell writes,

IV. The rejection of Christian truth is sin against self. If the acceptance of revealed truth is what we need, then to slight it is self–infliction of a personal injury. Eternal punishment means eternal sin. The judgment–day book on which God writes retribution is man himself, or, rather, God seals what man has written on his own heart. If the worm keeps boring at the root of the tree, the leaves will soon fade and the tree die. If the rats keep gnawing on the plank, the music of the waters outside will be ended in the sound of despair. If the canker keeps on eating, it reaches the vitals soon. Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death upon the sinner—this is the eternal law, a law no man can set aside. 

Exell, Joseph S. The Biblical Illustrator (Acts): Or Anecdotes, Similes, Emblems, Illustrations; Expository, Scientific, Geographical, Historical, and Homiletic, Gathered from a Wide Range of Home and Foreign Literature, on the Verses of the Bible. Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, p. 298.

Brothers and sisters, please write God’s holy truth on your heart, and proclaim His truth so others may do the same.  God provides His holy word so we may know Him and we may know the path to our best possible life.  May you hear, know, understand, and obey God’s holy word, the truth, the sword of the Spirit.  Amen.