I Came to Bear Witness to the Truth
(read philosophy class dialogue pp 35-37 Unshakeable Foundations)
I thought I would start off today with a question.
For what reason did Jesus come into the world?
a) to preach the good news of the kingdom of God
b) to save sinners
c) to destroy the works of the devil
d) to bear witness to the truth
e) all of the above
The answer is: e) all of the above. I think if we asked this question to most Christians, they could come up with the first two answers. Jesus said in Luke 4:43, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1:15 that, “[This] saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners….” (See also Lk 19:10, Jn 10:10, 12:27) Many would also come up with the third answer. 1 John 3:8 says, “… The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” But how many, when asked for what reason did Christ come into the world, would come up with “to bear witness to the truth.” I know as I was studying John’s gospel last summer, this statement, “I came into the world to bear witness to the truth,” really struck me. I have read through John probably more times than any other book of the Bible. But this time Jesus’ statement got me thinking, “Why would Christ state that this is why he was born and for this purpose he came into the world?”
To get some perspective let’s look at the context of this statement. Turn with me to John chapter 18 v 33-38:
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." 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." 38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went back to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.”
Jesus had been brought to Pilate for a crime he did not commit. In fact, Pilate’s
conclusion was that Jesus was not guilty. In his interrogation, Pilate is trying to figure
out just who is this Jesus. In response to Pilate’s question, “Are you the king of the
Jews?”, Jesus asserts the truth that he is a king, but that his kingdom is not of this world.
He further testifies that he came to bear witness not only to this truth but to the truth. In
response, Pilate asks, “What is truth?” Was Pilate a post-modern before his time? Was
he agnostic, or perhaps scoffing? Was he asking an honest question, looking for an
honest answer? Since after asking this, he went out to speak to the Jews, it appears he
was not really interested in the answer to his question. But it’s still a good question and
one that the Bible answers.
What is truth? First let’s briefly look at how our society defines and seeks truth and then I will briefly mention a philosophical position that I believe corresponds with Biblical truth. There is no doubt that in our culture today there is much confusion about the truth and that truth is under attack. Two common philosophies in our culture that oppose Biblical truth are naturalism and relativism. Naturalism, which has largely taken over science, is a “philosophical position that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws. In its broadest and strongest sense, naturalism is the metaphysical position that ‘nature is all there is and all basic truths are truths of nature.’” (Wikipedia) There is no room for a supernatural or revealed truth. Richard Dawkins, former Oxford professor, popular author and evolutionary biologist says, “Science offers us an explanation of how complexity (the difficult) arose out of simplicity (the easy). The hypothesis of God offers no worthwhile explanation for anything, for it simply postulates what we are trying to explain. It postulates the difficult, and leaves it at that.” (Wikiquote) Philosophical naturalism increased and dominated our culture during the 19th and 20th centuries. A rapidly growing and competing philosophy is relativism which claims that truth statements depend on the views of persons or cultures, not on whether the statements correspond to objective reality. (Groothuis, D. “What is Truth?” www.leaderu.com/theology/groothuis-truth.html) This kind of thinking elevates tolerance above truth. What is right for you may be different than what is right for me and that’s OK, even if the “truths” are contradictory. This tolerance of no absolute truth, however, breaks down when someone actually asserts that there is absolute truth. This is the one thing that cannot be tolerated.
Before I briefly mention a philosophy that I believe corresponds with Biblical truth, I want to state that an assumption that must be made by anyone searching for answers, and that is: true answers exist. To deny that there is truth is a self-defeating philosophy. In other words, if someone says, “Truth does not exist.” An appropriate reply would be, “Is that a true statement you just made.” “To deny the existence of truth is to affirm its existence—truth is inescapable!” (Geisler, N and Bocchino, P. “Questions About Truth” in Unshakeable Foundations) Now, philosophers have been dealing with this question, “What is truth?” for thousands of years Until the last two centuries the most commonly held view was something called the correspondence view of truth which says: by definition something is true if, and only if, it corresponds to or agrees with factual reality. Furthermore, truth requires a standard, an objective with its basis in reality. This makes common sense. C. S. Lewis gives a simple illustration to demonstrate this reality. When referring to New York City, he says,
“The reason why your idea of New York can be truer or less true than mine is that
New York is a real place, existing quite apart from what either of us thinks. If when each of us said ‘New York’ each meant merely ‘The town I am imagining in my own head,’ how could one of us have truer ideas than the other? There would be no question of truth or falsehood.” (p 25, Mere Christianity)
In other words, there is a real place, New York City, where we can check out which of our ideas about New York City correspond with realilty. Much more could be said on this topic and in my notes, which I will post on the website, I refer you to some helpful resources. (Groothuis, D. “What is Truth?” www.leaderu.com/theology/groothuis-truth.html; Pearcy, N Total Truth, Noebel, D The Battle for the Truth , “Summary and Application: God’s Self-Attesting Authority in Bahnsen, G. Always Ready) To summarize, the fact is, truth exists and it is based on an objective standard. Jesus holds Himself and His Word up as this standard.
Since Christ came to bear witness to the truth, I would like to address the confusion about truth in our culture with three Biblical truth statements. The first two I will address this week and the third I will address, Lord willing, next week. These statements are:
1) There is truth, God defines it, and reveals it.
2) Because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, the church must be the pillar and buttress of truth.
3) Because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, we must be sanctified by the truth.
There is truth, God defines it, and reveals it
So let’s start with number 1): There is truth, God defines it, and reveals it. There is ample Scriptural evidence that God is the standard that defines truth. Isaiah says in 45:19, “I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right” and in 65:16, he calls God “the God of truth.” Jeremiah describes God in 4:3 as the Lord who lives in truth and in 5:3 as having eyes that look for the truth. In 10:10, he says, “But the Lord is the true God.” This true nature is reiterated in many passages in the New Testament such as Jn 3:33, 7:28, 8:40, and 1 Th 1:9. It is summed up best in Romans 3:4, “Let God be true though every one were a liar.” The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Truth in such passages as Jn 14:17, 15:26, 16:13 and 1 Jn 4:6, 5:6. In Jn 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the truth.” He is also described as the true light (Jn 1:9, 1 Jn 2:8), the true bread from heaven (Jn 6:32), the true vine (Jn 15:1), the holy and true one (Rev 3:7), and the faithful and true witness (Rev 3:14). The Bible tells us he is full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14), the truth comes through him (Jn 1:17), he tells the truth (Jn 7:18, 8:45), he teaches truthfully (Mt 22:16, Mk 12:14-15), and his ways and judgments are just and true. (Jn 8:16, Rev 15:3, 16:7, 19:2)
Furthermore, God’s laws and actions reveal his love for the truth. The ninth
commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex 20:16, Dt 5:20) He expects us to speak the truth because He only speaks the truth. Scripture specifically states that there is no falsehood in Him: Jn 7:18, “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” He does not pervert what is right: Job 8:3, “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?” And we are told in Titus 1:2 that He never lies and in Hebrews 6:18 that it is , in fact, impossible for him to do so. So scripture affirms that God is the truth and there is no falsehood in him. Clearly God is the standard for defining truth.
Because God cannot lie, we can know that His Word is true. Many Psalms
describe His Word as true, such as Ps 19:7-9 and 119:137, 142, 151, 160. Listen to Psalm 33:4 (NIV), “The word of the Lord is right and true.” Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God proves true,” and John 17:17 states, “your word is truth.” Revelation tells us his words are “trustworthy and true.” (Rev 21:5, 22:6) So not only is God the standard for truth, but He has graciously revealed His truth to us so that it can be known. When Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus could have answered, “You’re looking at Him and I am speaking it to you.”
One might say, “OK, God is truth and His word is true, but how do we know that the form of the Bible we have today is true?” Much has been written on the veracity of Scripture (see Geisler, N. Innerancy, Edwards, B. Nothing but the Truth, McDowell, J. Evidence that Demands a Verdict) Let me just say that Scripture passes the three main tests for historical reliability by which all historical documents are judged. The three tests are: 1) the bibliographical test, 2) the internal evidence test, and 3) the external evidence test. The bibliographical test examines the question, how close to the original documents are the copies we have? In other words, not having the original documents, the autographa, how reliable are the copies we have in regard to the number of manuscripts and the time interval between the original and the extant copy? For example, Aristotle wrote his poetics around 343 BC, yet the earliest copy dates around 1100 AD and only 5 early manuscripts exist. In contrast, over 20,000 copies of early New Testament manuscripts or portions of manuscripts are in existence today, some dating as early as 130 AD, less than 100 years after the original. Thus, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence for the authority of Scripture compared to any other piece of literature in antiquity. The second test, the internal evidence test, looks at whether the written record is credible and to what extent. Several facts confirm the credibility of the authors. The authors of the New Testament claimed to be eyewitnesses and wrote within a generation of Christ’s time on earth. They included times and places that could be authenticated or denied by others who were contemporary to them. They recorded unflattering events that would be omitted if they were not true. Also, there are no unresolveable contradictions. So, by this second test, Scripture is very credible. The third test, the external evidence test, looks to see if other historical documents confirm or deny the internal testimony of the document. This proves to be the case. For example, Josephus, a first century Jewish historian mentions the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in his book The Antiquities. Ultimately we accept the truth of Scripture by faith through revelation of the Holy Spirit, but there is ample evidence for inquiring minds for the accuracy and authority of our Scriptures.
So to sum up my first Biblical truth claim, “ Yes Pilate, there is truth, God defines it and reveals it.”
The Church – the pillar and buttress of truth
The second Biblical truth claim I will make is: Because Christ came to bear witness
to the truth, the church must be the pillar and buttress of truth. In 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul calls the church of the living God “a pillar and buttress of the truth.” A pillar or a buttress is something that is solid and provides support to uphold something. So why does Paul call the church the pillar and buttress of truth? Christ is the truth (Jn 14:6) and the head of the church (Eph 4:15, 5:23). The church, which is the body of Christ (Eph 4:16), must therefore uphold and support His truth. Sadly, the church does not always act as the pillar and buttress of truth. In the time remaining, I would like to address three key truths the church needs to uphold and reclaim:
1) The true gospel
2) The true nature of God
3) The true teaching of Scripture
The True Gospel
To teach the true gospel, the church needs to start by teaching the true nature of man. Despite what our culture teaches, we are not born basically good or even morally neutral. We are corrupt in every part of our being. Theologically this is called total depravity. Listen to the way Paul describes our condition in Rom 3:10-18:
"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
He tells us in Romans 2:8 that we are self seeking and do not obey the truth; in 1 Timothy 6:15, that we are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth; in Romans 1:18,25, that we suppress the truth and exchange it for lies; and in 2 Timothy 3:7, that we are always learning, but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Further in Ephesians 2:1,3 we are told that we are dead in our trespasses and sins and that we are by nature children of wrath. Does this mean everyone? Yes! Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And sin cannot be taken lightly, because Romans 6:23 says, “for the wages of sin is death.” It is only when we see this bad news, of our desperate situation apart from Christ, that we can understand the good news--that Christ came to save sinners like us. Until we understand that we are truly lost in sin, we will not see a need for a savior.
President Barack Obama has said, sin is “being out of alignment with our values” But actually sin is being out of alignment with God’s values! It is an abomination before a holy God. However, the good news is: the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23). The only way we can be reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ. But Listen again to the words of President Obama, “I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.” (http://audacityof hypocrisy.com/2008/06/06/barack-obama-the-2004-god-factor-interview-transcript) I am not trying to bash our president, I am just using the words of, arguably, the most powerful man in the world to express the thoughts of what many in our culture believe today, a culture that is very wrong. In contrast, listen to the true words of the Lord Jesus, the King of Kings, in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The truth of Scripture is that there is only one way to God. 1 Tim 2:4-5 tell us that there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, and he desires that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. I plead with anyone here today who has not confessed and forsaken their sin and asked Jesus to become their Lord and Savior, do not be like Pilate! Do not ignore this true teaching! If you would like to know more about how to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, talk to your parents, Pastor Wilson or myself today.
The True Nature of God
A second key truth that must be upheld and reclaimed by the church is the true nature of God. There are many aspects of God’s nature that could be mentioned here, so I’m just going to emphasize one aspect: the sovereignty of God, because it is arguably one of the hardest aspects of God’s nature for man to accept fully and it affects the teaching of the gospel as well as our worship. I’m going to define the sovereignty of God as: His planning and directing the affairs of the world and His creatures to accomplish His purposes for His glory; and the power He has to execute His will. In much of Christendom, teaching and worship has become man centered rather than God centered. This can be linked to a low view of God’s sovereignty, especially God’s sovereignty in salvation. Understanding God’s sovereignty in salvation is linked to understanding the true gospel. Men, dead in sin, cannot save themselves. Men who don’t seek God, can’t find him. But, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Lk 19:10) and he said in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” The gospel, is often watered down so as not to offend people. Telling people they are sinners is hard! It is easier to encourage people to “make a decision for Christ” so that their lives will be better. With this kind of gospel, the focus of teaching and worship becomes pragmatic; whatever will get the most people to church and result in the most “decisions” rules the day. Listen to these words by Pastor John MacArthur,
“The philosophy that marries marketing technique with church growth theory is the result of bad theology. It assumes that if you package the gospel right, people will get saved. It is rooted in Arminianism, which makes the human will, not a sovereign God, the decisive factor in salvation. It speaks of conversion as ‘a decision for Christ.’ Such language and such doctrine have begun to color modern ministry. The goal of market driven ministry is an instantaneous decision, rather than a radical transformation of the heart wrought by Almighty God through the Holy Spirit’s convicting work and the truth of his Word. An honest belief in the sovereignty of God in salvation would bring an end to a lot of the nonsense that is going on in the church.” (p 84, Ashamed of the Gospel)
These are strong words, but I believe true words. The church must not run from the truth of God’s sovereignty in salvation.
The church must also teach of His sovereignty beyond salvation to include His sovereignty in our sanctification. This teaching would bring about a radical transformation of how we live our lives as believers. I’ll go into this in more depth next week. But for now let me just briefly mention how teaching God’s sovereignty can provide great comfort to the believer in Christ. When a believer understands God is sovereign over all circumstances in his life, he learns the “secret” to being content in all circumstances. (Eph 4:11-13) Romans 8:28 no longer is just a religious platitude, but it is a tremendous reassurance that God is truly working all things, even the seemingly hard and bad things in our lives, for our good—that we may be conformed to the image of His Son. (Rom 8:28-29)
The True Teaching of Scripture
The third key truth the church must uphold and reclaim, which I can only superficially touch on today, is the true teaching of Scripture. Knowing and believing the true teaching of Scripture is essential to true obedience in the believer’s life. Unfortunately, the basis of our true obedience, the veracity of Scripture, is under attack. In our day, we see three key areas under attack: creation, the sanctity of life, and the sanctity of marriage. In the time remaining, I cannot adequately address all of these issues, but I would like to briefly discuss the issue of creation as this issue gets to the heart of the attack on the other issues. These areas are under attack ultimately because the authority of God’s word is under attack, even in the church. For example, so many foundational doctrines that the church must defend are rooted in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, which has been relegated by many to the realm of myth or poetry rather than real history. The origin of death and suffering as the result of sin along with the protoevangel, the first gospel, the first glimpse of hope and promise for a fallen world are found in Genesis 3. Speaking to the serpent, God says in Gen 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring; he [Christ] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” In Genesis 1:26-27 we see that man was created in the image of God, in his own likeness, in the image of God male and female were created. Although males and females have different roles and functions, they are both equally precious in God’s sight. This same imago Dei or image of God is related to the sanctity of life. Because all humans are created in the image of God, all persons should be protected and treated respectfully whether preborn or elderly, mentally or physically handicapped, regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnic background or color of skin. In Genesis 2, the institution of marriage is laid down as between one man and one woman until death. If we jettison the first part of Genesis as poetry or allegory or as something we don’t have to believe in, we have no foundation to argue for the Biblical position on creation, sanctity of life, or marriage. If we compromise here, where do we draw the line? Why should anyone believe and obey other portions of Scripture? Why should we obey Jesus’ teachings or believe that He rose from the dead? Listen to these quotes by atheist Richard Dawkins:
“Of course, irritated theologians will protest that we don’t take the book of Genesis literally anymore. But that is my point! We pick and choose which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories. Such picking and choosing is a matter of personal decision, just as much, or as little, as the atheist’s decision to follow this moral precept or that was a personal decision, without an absolute foundation. If one of these is ‘morality flying by the seat of the pants’, so is the other.” (p238, The God Delusion, accessed http://www.rationalatheist.com/Quotes/god_delusion.html)
And another Dawkins quote:
“Oh but of course the story of Adam and Eve was only ever symbolic, wasn’t it? Symbolic?! So Jesus had himself tortured and executed for a symbolic sin by a non-existent individual? Nobody brought up in the faith could reach any verdict other than ‘barking mad.’” (The Root of All Evil, Part 2 “The Virus of Faith” 00:30:25 accessed from Wikiquote)
We must uphold the truth of God’s word and its teaching from Genesis to Revelation. This is foundational to the life of obedience for the believer.
So let me reiterate: there is truth, God defines it and reveals it in His word. And as culture moves farther away from this truth and because Christ came to bear witness to the truth, it is crucial that the church must remain a pillar and buttress of the truth. To close I would like to list some points of application: love the truth, defend the truth, and live the truth. First, love the truth by learning more and more of it as God has revealed it in His Word. The fruit of this will be that we will become so familiar with the truth that we can immediately recognize falsehood. Jesus said in Mathew 7:15-20,
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Secondly, defend the truth. Listen to apologists, read a book, and practice defending the truth with a friend so that you will be prepared as 1 Pet 3:15 says, “to make a defense for the reason for the hope that you have with gentleness and respect.” Third, live the truth. In the words of James 1:23, “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Pray for grace for yourself, for your pastor, and the rest of the church to boldly proclaim the truth and to be sanctified in it. John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” I hope to talk more about this next week.