Pilate's question (John 18:38) finds an echo in many bewildered minds inside and outside of the Church to­day. He himself was probably familiar with the conflict­ing hypotheses of contemporary schools of philosophy. Each had its own theory as to the whence and whither, the why and how of human life. Perhaps he had never pondered any of their views seriously, but it may well be that their very diversity had left him sceptical. Nothing seemed less likely to him than that his unusual Galilean prisoner held the secret which others had failed to discover. So he asked his question cynically and hurried out, caring little whether or not Jesus was prepared to reply. Thus, like many who are unwilling to give the claims of Jesus due consideration, he allowed an opportunity of great moment to slip forever from his grasp. For Jesus had told him that His whole mission had reference to truth. While not denying His kingship, He pointed out that His kingdom is essentially a realm where truth is known and regulative. He is in fact God's answer for every age to the question which Pilate too lightly assumed to be unanswerable.

Who He Was⤒🔗

To understand the significance of this we must begin by recalling who He was. Jesus had a deep sense of mission. He expressed it at different times in words which were relevant to the particular occasion. Among the socially ostracised He said, "I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance". To His disciples, aspiring to worldly honour, He stated plainly that "even the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to surrender his life as a ransom for many". But before Pilate, when the point at issue was the difference between His kingship and those of the world, He explained it in these words, "To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth". The language underlying the translation here conveys something more than is brought out in the Authorised Version. For instance, the pronoun preceding "born" is emphatic. It thus distinguishes His relation to truth from that of other men who may deal with the question incidentally, or because the experience of life compels them to face it, or merely from love of speculation. But much more must be noted. While all men approach this life and its tasks by the gateway of birth, His birth was in itself an event without parallel. None of the four Gospels gives greater prominence to this fact than the Fourth, although it does not contain any reference to the circumstances of the birth. In the beginning of his book John insists that when Jesus was born nothing less took place than the incarnation of the eternal Word Who was with God in the beginning, was Himself God, and apart from Whom nothing created came into existence. All this is repeatedly confirmed by the claims of Jesus found in the course of the narrative. Addressing the people at Capernaum He said, "I came down from heaven". In a discussion at Jerusalem, he made the unqualified statement, "I and the Father are one", and instructing His disciples a few hours before His arrest, He told them that He had come into the world from the Father and was about to return to Him.

If then God broke into history in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ in order to bear witness to the truth, ought not such testimony to ultimate realities to have the supreme claim on our attention? For He came from the realm of reality with the specific purpose of giving liberating guidance to men in a world whose order is controlled by the Father of the lie. Rudyard Kipling describes God as "the God of Things as they are". He sees them as they are. He knows why they are as they are. He regards them in their true perspective and deals with them accordingly. But with men it is different. Limited knowledge, conflicting opinions, prejudice and sin often blur their vision, pervert their judgment and leave them restlessly dissatisfied or cynically indifferent.

How He Bore Witness←⤒🔗

But we must also inquire how Jesus bore witness to the truth. One way in which He did it was by acknowledging, re-affirming and interpreting truth that had been revealed already. He upheld the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures while setting aside the authority of the tradition by which the orthodox party of the day interpreted them. At the same time, He showed that parts of the Mosaic law had only a temporary reference, and He focused attention upon Himself as the unique Person upon Whom all lines of Messianic prophecy converged. But He also brought a flood of fresh light to bear upon the human predicament and God's relation to it. For He not only taught but embodied the truth. This is implied in the highly significant saying preserved in John's Gospel, "I am the way, the truth and the life". It is the evangelist's own testimony that Jesus was "full of grace and truth". His human life was the perfect pattern of what God desires man's life to be. It was a life of unfailing obedience to revealed truth. It was sustained and guided by the Spirit of truth. But over and above this aspect of His life, the presence of the Son of God on earth in human nature, the character of the work of pity and power in which He engaged among the distressed, the shameful death to which He submitted to provide a sacrifice for sin, the triumphant resurrection and ascension with which His career in this world ended, all have a revelatory value of the greatest importance. Thus not by His teaching alone, apart from His Person, life, death and resurrection, nor by these alone, apart from His teaching, but by all taken together He is the truth.

If therefore it be asked what light is shed by the fact of Christ, so regarded, upon the deepest problems of our existence, it may be briefly replied. Sin which has set man in revolt against God is the root cause of all his distress. But Christ is God's sole and sufficient answer to man's total need as a sinner. Through Him not only free forgiveness of sin but also the Holy Spirit and God's abundant grace become available to all who trust and obey. When Christ and not man is accepted as the measure of things, when to serve, follow and be like Him becomes the aim, life finds an inspiring ideal and a unifying principle. And although some of its dark mysteries and perplexing problems may meantime remain unexplained, His servants, being assured of God's goodwill, can face the future with hope, and courage, in the prospect of eternal life.

Jesus left nothing in writing when He departed from the world. But a short time before the Ascension He told His disciples that when the Holy Spirit came upon them they would be His witnesses "unto the uttermost part of the earth". He also commissioned them to evangelise the nations, teaching obedience to all that He had commanded. Moreover He promised that the Holy Spirit would remind them of what He had taught and lead them into all truth. It is to the fulfilment of these promises in the experience of the apostles and their circle that we owe the writings of the New Testament, which, along with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, constitute the supreme rule of faith and conduct for the Reformed Churches. In them we have the record of the truth to which Jesus bears witness and He has entrusted them to the Church for the benefit of succeeding generations.

In several New Testament Epistles reference is made to the function of the Church with regard to this sacred deposit. Writing to the Philippians Paul mentions the duty of holding forth, or proclaiming, the word of life. But it should not be overlooked that he links this closely with an exhortation to lead lives exhibiting the moulding power of the truth. It is in the measure in which the Church is itself obedient to the truth that it may expect Christ to honour its witness-bearing, by the conversion of sinners, the edification of its members and the elevating of the moral tone in the surrounding community. In 1 Timothy the Church is described as "the pillar and bulwark of truth". If the figure of the pillar brings before us again the obligation to make the truth known, the bulwark suggests the idea of defending it against misrepresentation and contradiction. A similar thought is present in Jude's exhortation to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints". But it is noteworthy that in 1 Timothy it is the Church indwelt by the living God that is entrusted with the proclamation and defence of truth. Apart from the gracious aid of God the Spirit no lasting success will crown the efforts of the Church in either direction. Observe further that in both 1 Timothy and Jude the occasion for stressing the duty of defence is clear. In the one case, warning is given against persons departing from the faith and destitute of truth, and in the other, mention is made of those who while professing allegiance to the truth at the same encouraged lax morality. Occasions for defence of truth will vary from time to time and it is for the Church to see the occasion and to give clear expression to those aspects of truth that are being overlooked or surrendered at a particular time.

Now this twofold function of proclaiming and defending the truth requires much prayer and thought if it is to be worthily fulfilled. The unchanging truth must be clothed in contemporary language and set forth in such a way as is likely to help men to see its relevance to their own circumstances and need. Nothing is more evident about the teaching-method of Jesus than the care which He took to present what He said in a form that would tend to make it attractive and memorable to the hearers. Again the defence of truth must be undertaken in humility and love. It is all too easy in this connection to assume a censorious and self-righteous attitude which is itself an offence against the truth. At the same time, to speak the truth in love is still to speak it in loyalty to the truth.

To a company of professed disciples Jesus once said, "If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free". Let us all desire grace to know the truth, to be consistently obedient to the truth, to experience the liberating power of the truth, and so to make known the truth as that, please God, many others may come to acknowledge it also.

Thou art the way, the truth, the life,
Grant us that way to know,
That truth to keep,
that life to win
Whose joys eternal flow.