by 
By C.S. Lewis Institute
It’s probably quite significant that the question of truth was raised in the Bible by Pontius Pilate, a Roman official who doubtless was very well off materially and politically. Despite the material wealth and political rights we possess in abundance in the Western world today, many people feel a great deal of emptiness and meaninglessness in their lives, due to a lack of understanding of the nature of truth. The desire to know the truth is part of our God-given human nature, and it is important to properly foster its growth in our children.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD?
Read: Joshua 24:14, Hosea 4:1-6, Romans 1:18-21
- Truth is whatever is in accordance with the way in which God created the world; falsehood is anything that goes against God’s reality, even if it still “exists” in a sense, in this fallen world.
- Truth is more than just facts and appearances: truth is knowledge of what is right in God’s sight, rather than man’s alone.
- Human beings have been created to seek truth, but we cannot know all truth in ourselves, and so we need God to lead us to the Truth; or we can easily be led astray by falsehood.
- The devil is the “father of lies” (John 8:44), and he is behind every lie circulated in the world today; he can only be defeated by God’s Truth.
HOW CAN WE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD IN THE WORLD?
Read: Proverbs 12:19, 1 John 4:1-5:20
- Truth is always good — even when it is sometimes painful to discover or tell the truth, the ultimate result leads to increased righteousness and trust; falsehood, even when we grow accustomed to it, ultimately destroys.
- Truth shows itself in acts of love.
- The truth stretches our understanding: it frequently takes us some time to discover it behind the tangle of false agendas that surround us in our worldly circumstances — politically, socially, and materially.
- Just because something is commonly accepted as “fact” does not make it true: it must be tested by the only Truth of God’s Word in order to discern whether it is in fact true or false.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN BY “TRUTH”?
Read: Exodus 34:6, Psalm 85:7-13, Daniel 10:21, John 14:6 and 17:17
- Truth, in Scripture, is one of the ways of describing Who God is — just as He is Love or Wisdom or every other good thing; so coming to understand Truth requires that we come to know God, not just “facts” of experience.
- Jesus came to bring the truth — He is the Truth.
- Truth must be exercised in love and righteousness — all these good things are bound up together, because they are all part of God’s Nature and shown to us by Him.
- The ultimate Truth is therefore God Himself; while we may know the truth about other things without knowing God, it is only a partial knowledge of Truth until we know and acknowledge Him as the source and foundation of all Truth.
HOW CAN WE KNOW AND APPLY TRUTH PRACTICALLY?
Read: John 8:31-32, 16:7-13, and 18:37-38
- As Pilate’s (unanswered) question shows, gradually coming to understand what the Truth is in each situation is not a one-time, simple matter; we have to turn to God for guidance in finding what the truth is for dealing with any new, unknown situation.
- But the stronger we grow in His faith and wisdom granted to us, the more we will recognize the Truth when we see it working out in our world.
- Truth has a very practical aspect: knowing what is true or false according to God’s reality helps us to determine what is right or wrong for us to do.
- Truth helps us evaluate what we are doing in light of the ultimate purpose and outcome of all creation.