What is Truth?- John 18:37-38

In this passage, Pilate asks a very famous question of Jesus: “What is truth”? In Pilate’s question, the word translated “what” is the Greek interrogative “tis”. This is a very flexible and rather vague word in the Greek, and can be used to ask who, what or why, with its usage determined by context. In verse 37, Jesus tells Pilate that “Everyone who is of the truth listens to me”. According to Jesus, all who are of the truth listen to Him, look to Him as their source of truth, that truth is not so much something, but someone, that truth is not only a “what”, but a “who”. Jesus Himself is the “the truth” (John 14:6), as God He is the real source of truth, the one who determines what is true or false, right or wrong. According to Scripture, every human being looks to someone or something as their source of truth, and we learn from Romans 3 that there are two options available as that source of truth. Romans 3:4 reads as follows: “Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge”. The word translated “liar” here is a form of the Greek word “pseudos”- literally “false”. The God of the Bible is the true God, the one who determines what is true or false, right or wrong, and “every man” here is given the choice between the true God or a “false” one, a “pseudo-god”. The use of every here indicates that this is a choice every human being must make, that each of us must determine whether God or someone else will tell us what is true or false, right or wrong. Every member of the human race therefore must face Pilate’s question, and our answer to that question is among the most important answers we will ever give. Will we submit to God as our source of truth, or choose to determine truth for ourselves? Will we let God tell us what is right and wrong, or choose to decide for ourselves? The two options for the source of truth are God or ourselves. As Christians, we have already determined that we will look to God to tell us what is true or false, right or wrong, and we must choose to submit to what He says is true 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Truth is what God says it is, and we must choose continually to submit to what He says is right or wrong and not decide for ourselves. We must continue to listen to the true God and not become a “pseudo-god”, our own source of truth.