The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Php 2:5–6.
The following document is the first in a series. The attempt is to demonstrate the ultimate need of salvation for all Peoples through Jesus Christ, the only Way to God.
The Basis for Truth
This teaching is coming from the Biblical perspective which is the source of all truth. There is no need to present other religious views because according to the Bible we are all created in the “Image and Likeness of God” (Genesis 1:26). Therefore the witness concerning the “Truth” is already in us. When we hear Biblical truth, for example the good news (gospel) about Jesus Christ we have an inherent capacity to recognize it as such. Although one may need to overcome truth – filtering layers of cultural norms and false religious beliefs under which the Image of God has been buried, still truth revealed stands as “judge” to the hearer:
Hebrews 4:12–13 (ESV)
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
God’s Word, as in a personified manner stands before man as his judge. With piercing penetrating eyes it divides that which is soul and spirit; gazing through into our innermost desires and deepest thoughts. It brings us and our sincerest intentions into account; causing at times an intense wrestling match between the hearer and God. No human or societies of peoples can claim immunity to the all revealing word of God.
One of two things will take place when Biblical Scripture is truly heard: humble submission or suppression, and suppression that is rooted most of the time in unrighteous activity (cf. Romans 1:18 and the ensuing verses).
John 3:19–20 (ESV)
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
The Image of God (a definition)
“Yet the image of God in man nonetheless bears noetic implications that have constrained some of Christianity’s profoundest theologians to insist that God is the source of all truth, that the human mind is an instrument for recognizing truth, and that the rational awareness of God is given a priori in correlation with man’s self-awareness, so that man as a knower stands always in epistemic relationships with his Maker and Judge.”[1]
Consider this example:
When on trial before Pontius Pilate, Jesus declared to him that He had come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
John 18:37 (ESV): 37 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.”
Notice Jesus said, everyone, those who are of, or on the side of truth listens to Him. The word “listens” is a verb in the present, active, indicative. Jesus is saying: right now, today, it is a true reality that there are those who agree with “truth.” This statement was made before His crucifixion that opened the way to salvation, and it was not inclusive of the Jews only, and up to this point in time no one had been “Born Again.” This meant that unregenerate Jews, Gentiles, Pilate himself had the ability to recognize and rationally agree with divine truth.
Upon hearing Jesus’ statement about Himself Pilate asked: “what is truth?” Immediately thereafter he went outside and told the crowd: “I find no fault in Him at all” (John 18:37-38 NKJV). Although he had posed the question about truth, God’s “standard” in Pilate, of which He has placed in every soul bore witness to the fact that Jesus was faultless, and truth is always without fault! On that day Pontius Pilate stood face to face with “ULTIMATE TRUTH” and chose to suppress it. Also, Pilate’s plea to the crowd of Jesus’ innocence indicated that truth or morality is not relative. Pilate pleaded with the crowd based upon a standard (truth) of which he knew they had the capacity to grasp. Pilate (a gentile) saw no fault in Christ, and it therefore became evident to him that Jesus’ own people must have had the same witness. But the people (for the most part), and finally he rejected the Lord. For Pilate it was fear; rooted in lust/unbridled desire of losing his position, for the Jewish leaders charged: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12b ESV).
The Greek word for “truth” in the above mentioned scriptures (John 18:37-38) is, aletheia, which means: “truth,” is used (a) objectively, signifying “the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter” (Cremer), e.g., Rom. 9:1; 2 Cor. 11:10[2]…
Notice it says that “truth” is objective and not subjective, and neither is it relative. Because truth is objective it pervades human culture, meaning, there are basic understandings of morality that prevail throughout. For example, most cultures agree that murder, stealing, and lying are wrong, and therefore are the works of an untruthful individual. Because truth transcends human culture its origin is therefore divine. Truth is established by God, it is from God, and essentially is God.
Every human being therefore, regardless of religious belief, culture, and geographical location has an inborn capacity to agree with Biblical truth, even at its first hearing. However, when it comes to salvation, the convincing and regenerating power of the Holy Spirit must always accompany proclamation of the gospel in bringing forth a “new man.”
[1] Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 78.
[2] W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 645.
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