November ‘Witness’: What is truth?

“What is truth?” Pilate asked Jesus, who stood accused of sins not His own (John 18:38).

The question still stands: “What is truth?” It’s been asked in a variety of ways since the life, death and resurrection of Christ. It’s been answered in almost as many ways. The modern world tends to look toward the emotions of the heart. What makes you feel good? What feels right in your heart? If that’s what you feel is right, it must be your truth.

When we disagree with others rather than digging for the truth, we might dismiss them with, “Well, that’s just your perspective.” And, to be sure, in some cases it might simply be a matter of perspective.

But when it comes to the fundamental realities around which we order our lives — what is moral, what is good, who is God, what is mankind and more — we cannot simply dismiss these as perspectives. Rather, we need to look for, seek out, strive for truth.

As we look at the intervening two millennia since Pilate asked his question, we may be tempted to despair. How can we find truth when so many have failed? Where do we go?

The irony, of course, is that as Pilate stood asking his question, he was looking at truth incarnate, Jesus Christ. The answer to Pilate’s question was staring at him. Jesus is Truth. He is the Word from the Father, who was with God in the beginning and was God and through whom everything was made (John 1).

The November issue of The Lutheran Witness takes up the question of truth. It explains modern perceptions of truth, which are rooted in emotional and instinctual realities rather than the solid, external Word of God. It points readers not inward, but outward to the Son of God, who came to be truth in the flesh for us.

“ ‘Seek the truth,’ indeed,” writes the Rev. Christopher Esget in his article. “But have no doubt about where to find it — in the Word of God — or what it cost — the life of Christ.”

Subscribe to The Lutheran Witness at cph.org/witness. Learn more at witness.lcms.org.

Posted Nov. 10, 2023