What is God's truth in the Bible?

Throughout the scriptures there is that which God designates as 'the truth.' It is divine, and above the opinions of men, however wise and pious they may be. In the O.T. the admonition is given, "Buy the truth and sell it not." Prov. 23:23. 'The truth' must refer to God, who is true, but is not called 'the truth:' hence it comprises all that may be known of God, whether declared by creation or made known by revelation. Truth is not simply that which is held as dogma, but must be received in the soul. Paul asked the Galatians who had hindered them that they should not obey 'the truth?' Gal. 5:7. Judgement is coming upon Christendom "because they received not the love of 'the truth' that they might be saved." 2 Thess. 2:10. Truth is the real way of liberty: "the truth shall make you free." John 8:32, 36. Truth cannot be separated from the Lord Jesus, who is "the way, the truth, and the life." This is objectively; subjectively the Spirit is the truth as having come from the glorified Christ. In the three Epistles of John 'the truth' is constantly referred to, and a Christian woman is warned not to receive any one into her house, nor wish him God-speed unless he holds the doctrines taught by the apostles — in other words, 'the truth.'

Now why is this? For a reason of the deepest import; and, as being of a general character, we may glance at it for a moment. Jesus is THE TRUTH. The truth is to be found nowhere else. You may find other things, but the truth is in Him, and severed from Him it is nowhere else. It is remarkable that Scripture never calls the Father the truth, nor ever uses an expression of which Rationalism is exceedingly fond — that God is the truth. I grant that not a few divines say so too. They are not aware that they are rationalizing when they thus speak. No doubt they mean nothing wrong; but very surely they are wrong. Scripture is right, and nothing but Scripture is divinely authoritative. How comes it then that Scripture calls Jesus the truth? and why is it that neither God nor the Father is ever said to be the truth? The reason is this: God could not be said to be the truth because "the truth" means the expression of what a person or thing, is — the revelation of what it really is. The statement which reveals another fully and truly is the truth. Consequently God, being the self-subsisting One who alone can say I AM, has been pleased to reveal Himself, not in the written word only, but in and by One who is God and became man, and thus alone could be the expression of Himself to man. The truth means the expression of what God is, not merely the being of God. Hence the blessedness of revelation by the personal Word, the Son who when none saw God at any time declared Him the Father. Christ is called therefore in Scripture "the image of the invisible God."

Truth is thus revealed, for Jesus is the truth, the expression of that which God is, so as to put all things perfectly in their place, in their true relationships with God and with each other. Faith and love find the occasion of their existence in the revelation of the Son of God, of God as a Saviour in Christ.

When the fulness of time came and it pleased God to give a perfect revelation of Himself in Christ, then it could be said "We beheld His glory … full of grace and truth," (John 1:14), for truth is REALITY — the revelation of all that God is, with the consequent putting of everything into its right position in regard to Him. He who knows God as revealed in Christ, and is by that knowledge taken out of the mists of error, has been brought into the realm of truth.

The word of God is truth and right through the New Testament books "truth" is mentioned, yet the word occurs with special frequency in the Gospel and Epistles of the apostle John and in the first and second Epistles to Timothy. Inasmuch as these are amongst the latest of the New Testament writings, this shows us that when error began to raise its head within the church the Spirit of God began to emphasize "truth." In contrast with the error the "truth" aspect of Christianity was brought to the fore.

For the truth is the manifestation of every person and every thing as it is Hence Christ is declared to be "the truth," and this not personally alone but as making known every one and every thing really. It could not be till He came. God Himself dwelt in the thick darkness; but Christ declared Him as He is, not only as Saviour in Christ to every one who owns his sins and believes on Him through whom He saves, but as the Father of all who believe, His Father and their Father (as He Himself said), His God and their God. For this is life eternal to know the Father and the Son; as it is through His word and Spirit. It is not law, but the truth, "the grace and truth" which "came through Jesus Christ."

The truth, and the true God, cannot be disconnected. God is what He reveals Himself to be, and when the Son is revealed in us we truly receive the revelation of God. Christ, the eternal Word, is the perfect expression of the mind of God, and the written word is the revelation of Christ. The word is the means used by God to communicate His thoughts to man, and by it, He, through His Spirit, communicates to us eternal life.

What I greatly desire, in this course of meetings which I will hold with some of you, is that the truth, God's truth, may simply pass before us, and I shall make no apology for Scripture. I believe it to be the Word of God. I believe it to be a revelation from God, of His mind, of His thoughts, of His purposes, and of His counsels; that we have in the Scriptures the truth written, and that in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ we have truth incarnate. The result is, that the man who receives the truth of Scripture, in the power of the Holy Ghost, will invariably be brought into contact with Christ, who is the Truth.

Take God at His word. He always speaks the truth. Men can tell lies, for "they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Ps. 58:3). But God is true, and always speaks the truth, though He is not the Truth. What is the Truth? Christ. The truth is the absolute and perfect expression of that which is. Christ is that. God is love. God is gracious, holy, tender, and merciful. How do I know it? Because it has all come out to man in the Person of the Son of God, for He was the Truth. To have "faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" is to credit Him with being what He says He is. Abraham illustrates this. We read that "Abraham believed God." God showed him the stars, and said, "So shall thy seed be." Abraham took Him at His word, and was a justified man on the spot.

Now God has been manifested here on earth and this is specially set before us in John's writings, hence the frequent occurrence of the word "truth" there. That revelation has reached us in the Lord Jesus Christ who could say, "I am the truth" inasmuch as He could also say, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." He it is who makes God real to us and perfectly expresses all that He is, and hence we have in the knowledge of Christ the key that unlocks all reality everywhere.

But now all that God is, in His attributes and nature, has been declared, along with all the purposes of His love. Nothing has been kept back; so that John can tell the babes that they “know all things” (1 John 2:20). The depths of God, the depths of man, the depths of Satan—all have been sounded, and the moral foundations of every work, human, devilish, or divine, have come to light. “The present truth” does not differ at all from the truth that “shall be with us for ever” (2 John 2). We know that Christ is in us (John 14:20), and ever with us (Heb. 13:5); the Spirit of truth is also in us, and abides with us for ever (John 14:16-17), and so it is with regard to the truth itself, it is “in us, and shall be with us for ever” (2 John 2). Christ is the truth, the Spirit is the power by which it takes effect in our souls, and the Scripture is the God-given record of it, the means by which it is made known to us in word and doctrine.

It is set before us in Christ: He is the Truth. In Him we see God in manifestation: “He that has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Apart from Him nothing can be learned regarding the nature of God. “He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Marvellous and blessed revelation!