Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TRUTH

The most common term for truth in the OT is Heb. ʾĕmeṯ, meaning a reality which is “firm” or “certain.” It contains the idea of solidity, validity, faithfulness, and steadfastness. When referring to an individual’s speech, action, or thought, truth denotes a quality of integrity in line with what is “true.” In the LXX this is most often translated by Gk. alḗtheia, “truth,” or one of its forms.

As a legal term ʾĕmeṯ denotes authentic facts which can be verified. If charges brought against a bride by the husband are not false but “true,” then legal action is justified based on evidence (Deut. 22:20). A charge of idolatry may be punishable by a sentence of death if the “charge is proved true” (Deut. 17:4). The queen of Sheba verifies that the report of Solomon’s accomplishments and wisdom was “true” by visiting to see for herself (1 Kgs. 10:6-7). In Daniel’s vision of the last days the word revealed to him was “true” and indisputable (Dan. 10:1).

Truth proceeds from the nature of God, as seen in the words of a prophet. Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son from the dead was proof to her that “the word of the Lord” in his mouth is truth (1 Kgs. 17:24). Zechariah sets forth the essence of prophetic moral teachings as rendering “true judgments” along with showing kindness and mercy (Zech. 7:9). The judicial aspect of ʾĕmeṯ is also present in Zechariah’s instruction to “speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true” (Zech. 8:16-17).

The concept of truth in the OT appears most frequently in the religious sense, denoting an experiential reality or feeling apart from any essential forensic meaning. God desires “truth in the inward being” (Ps. 51:6[MT 8]). One who speaks “truth from the heart” has the moral qualification for a cultic position in the congregation; he has a mind fixed on truth, “walking blamelessly” and “doing what is right” (Ps. 15:2). God’s judgments are called ʾĕmeṯ by the psalmist, who seems to equate truth with Scripture (cf. Dan. 10:21). “Truth” may also denote the Jewish religion (Dan. 8:12; cf. 1 Esdr. 4:36-40).

In rabbinic literature “truth” denotes a human attitude which reflects the divine reality. Rabbi Simeon stated that “The world rests on three things; on righteousness, on truth, and on peace” (ʾAbot. 1.18). In the legal sphere the execution of law by humans has a religious dimension. God is the divine Judge who judges all things according to ʾĕmeṯ. The Torah itself is “truth” as an expression of the divine Word. The essence of God is ʾĕmeṯ.

In the hymn of praise to “truth” (1 Esdr. 4:36-40), truth (Gk. alḗtheia) is personified as a powerful actor in nature and society whose righteousness stands in stark contrast to the unrighteousness of wine, the king, women, and all human beings (4:37). She endures and is strong forever. While this hymn in praise of truth, “the strongest thing in the world,” comes out of the general wisdom literature of the ancient Near East, it has been adapted to fit the character of God as Lord of nature and society as found in the OT.

In the NT the meaning of alḗtheia is determined partly by the Semitic use of ʾĕmeṯ and partly by the Greek and Hellenistic use of alḗtheia. In the original Greek usage, alḗtheia has the basic meaning of disclosing that which has been concealed. The historian would use it to indicate a real state of affairs as contrasted with a myth or legend in which reality has been concealed or hidden. Philosophers would use the term to distinguish a real state of existence from one which had only the appearance of reality. In Plato the real world was the world of ideas which could only be comprehended through thinking, not through the senses. In certain Hellenistic quarters, however, “truth” takes on an “eschatological” meaning with comprehension of this reality available to mortals only through ecstasy or revelation from the divine realm. This understanding of “truth” is developed in the gnostic writings as well as in Philo and Plotinus.

Early Christian use of alḗtheia reflects the diversity of meanings which ʾĕmeṯ has in the OT and rabbinic sources as well as Greek and Hellenistic usage. The author of Ephesians uses alḗtheia in the sense of that which “has certainty and force” in contrast to pagan ways and of the “truth” that was in Jesus (Eph. 4:21). Likewise, for Paul “truth” means a legitimate standard, that which is “genuine” or “proper,” which could be used to measure the claims of his opponents against him (Gal. 2:5). It is also used in the sense of “uprightness” (e.g., “do the right thing”; John 3:21; 1 John 1:6). “Truth” is the opposite of wrongdoing (1 Cor. 13:6). It can also designate that which is reliable or trustworthy, as opposed to human falsehood; likewise, it can refer to God’s justice in contrast to mankind’s injustice (Rom. 3:3-7). “Truth” can also simply mean “sincerity or honesty” (2 Cor. 7:14).

Truth can also indicate “the real state of affairs” in the Greek philosophical sense, as when Paul speaks of people giving up the “truth about God for a lie,” serving the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). This is reflected in 1 John 3:18, which exhorts the reader to love “not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” “Doing the truth” may also have this meaning, but seems to allow also the interpretation of truth with the divine revelation (John 8:40, 45; 5:33).

Sometimes “truth” simply means the “sober truth” or a “statement of fact,” as in Paul’s response to Festus’ judgment that Paul’s defense reflected his insanity (Acts 26:25) and in Jesus’ statement of fact about the widows in Israel during Elijah’s time (4:25). Paul calls the gospel “truth” (2 Cor. 4:2); Col. 1:5 speaks of the preaching of the gospel as the “word of truth.”

For John “truth” could mean a saving knowledge, not simple knowledge in general. It could free one from sin and slavery (John 8:32). Although some see gnostic overtones in the antithesis between divine and antidivine reality which John draws in his Gospel, it is more likely that John understood “truth” and “falsehood” as real possibilities for human life rather than permanently opposed cosmological “substances” (John 8:44). The Holy Spirit promised by Jesus is the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; cf. Mark 13:11; Acts 1:8). This “truth” functions as a part of revelation, a witnessing spirit in the community (1 John 5:6).

Bibliography. R. E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I–XII. AB 29 (Garden City, 1966); R. Bultmann, G. Quell, and G. Kittel, “alḗtheia,” TDNT 1:232-51.

William R. Goodman, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TRUTH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)