Pontius Pilate once asked Jesus, “what is truth?” It was not a genuine question—more of a dismissal. Throughout the generations, anyone who wanted to deny the ultimate Truth would ask that same question.
We would be wise to avoid Pilate’s attitude and demeanor toward the question, but we should acknowledge that it is a very good question. Great thinkers and teachers have much to say about the importance of truth—objective truth, but we should never broach the topic without a definition for it.
Sometimes our discussions focus so much on what is not the truth, we have no time for what is. Critical race theory is not the truth; statism is not the truth; relativism is not the truth. These are all statements I would affirm and defend with vigor. But what is the truth? I fail to declare it as openly as I deny untruths. Why can I can go on and on about what is a lie, but don’t expend as much energy on what is true?
Critical Race Theory
Consider critical race theory, since that was my first example. It’s an evil lie. Critical race theory offers us a worldview with no redemption. You are condemned by the color of your skin. One person is a helpless victim if he is born one color, and the other is an unwitting villain if he is born another. An entire ethnicity is made up of privileged people who are in fact so privileged that they are of an inferior category. They are incapable of seeing themselves as the inconvenience they pose to minorities and people of color.
But what does the Gospel declare to be true? God created all men and women, and the Gospel is not confined to one ethnicity over another. Nor is one ethnicity greater than another. Galatians says that the Kingdom of God is not divided by Jews and Gentiles. There is redemption for everyone who repents and trusts in Christ for their salvation. It doesn’t matter what color you are, and you don’t need to wait for one ethnicity to repent of the sins of their ancestors in order for you to feel whole. Christ can make you whole right now, and you can find your true place and meaning in the Universe as a child of God. Repent and believe.
Statism
Consider statism—the second example of untruth I gave. Statism says that the government is the ultimate sovereign of the world. There is no hope for justice or peace outside of it. We owe it our wages, our labor, our children’s time and minds, our unquestioned support and our undying obedience. They want the best for us, and to question them is to question hungry people eating and the poor being clothed; it is to put yourself at odds with goodness itself, and the only hope of justice. Sinful rulers are an inevitability, and we should be glad to accept a smaller measure of evil than governments elsewhere in the world. We shouldn’t bat an eye at laying our life and resources down for the designs of a sinful empire.
But again, what does the Gospel tell us? It tells us that our true King has come to the earth and has already inaugurated his Kingdom. It is a good Kingdom with true justice and peace and it expands over the earth daily. We are brought into this Kingdom by the Father. The machinations of government are growing dim and obsolete—not coincidentally, as the Kingdom grows and spreads. Someday our King will destroy all states and governments when he returns. Repent and believe.
Relativism
Consider relativism—the last example I gave—what does that tell us? There are no objective standards. Everything is relative. Morty Smith, a character on the TV show Rick and Morty once said:
“Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody’s gonna die. Come watch TV.”
Any notion of truth depends on where you stand and from which angle you look at things. What is the truth, though? The truth is that our objective standard is the Creator of everything, and he has made that standard known to us through his written Word. Anything that does not comport with the Word of God can be tossed into the trash can. We are not just bags of stardust on a rock hurled through space. We are created by an intentional, sovereign God. He has a claim on our life and a law we are meant to follow. We can engage in and know the Ultimate Truth—the objective standard. Repent and believe.
Proclaim What Is True
That’s what all truth comes down to. I showed you how to use the Bible to combat the various lies at large in our world today, but I could only do that because it is indeed the word of God.
It is not enough to call out and condemn lies. Without the truth, we have no hope in the combat of them. We must bring attention to the truth, not just lies.