Truth Page 15
Christian Churches of God
No. 168
Truth
(Edition 3.0 19960622-19991205-20070625)
Pilate said to Jesus Christ, "What is truth?" In this paper we are concerned with examining just what truth is in relation to the Holy Spirit. What did the Church get when it received the Holy Spirit?
Christian Churches of God
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(Copyright ã 1996, 1999, 2007 Wade Cox)
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Truth
Truth Page 15
In this paper we are concerned with examining just what truth is in relation to the Holy Spirit. What did the Church get when it received the Holy Spirit?
Acts 1:1-5 In the first book, O The-oph'ilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me, 5 for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (RSV)
Going on from verse 15:
Acts 1:15-17 In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 "Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. (RSV)
Peter is talking about the concept where the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David, as he had uttered prophecies concerning Judas a thousand years before. The Holy Spirit gives understanding and that is really the point here. Also, Christ had promised the capacity that was given to the Church. Before this, the Holy Spirit had only been given at the direction of God to select individuals within Judah or Israel – it hadn’t been taken outside of Israel. But this promise was that it would be given to the Gentiles. It would be given to a larger number of people who were then called and placed within the Body of the congregation of God. That was an extension of the previous capacity.
John has a lot to say about the Holy Spirit. The gospel of John is extremely important and indeed turns, or pivots, on the concept of truth.
John 14:12-21 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; 14 if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. 15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (RSV)
As Christ was in the Father, so the Father was in him and so he and the Father are in us. That is the promise, and it is the Spirit that makes that possible. Love is a function of that activity but the Spirit is a spirit of truth. We will examine the point of what it means to have the spirit of truth. What is it all about?
We’ll see how truth is a function of the Spirit and that the gospel of John contains this central message. This message is throughout John to 2John and 3John also. Truth is the essential message of John’s gospel and epistles.
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (RSV)
The Spirit gives to the elect the capacity to speak, and what we say is given through the Spirit, which is the spirit of truth.
John 15:26-27 But when the Counsellor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; 27 and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. (RSV)
So the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth and that Spirit is the witness.
Speaking to Christ, Pilate asked: “What is truth?”
Let’s look first at the concept of what it is. Later we will deal with what it isn’t. Truth is the centrality of God. It is uprightness; it is that which is factual; it is that which can be relied on and that which is correct; it implies justice, because by truth things can be determined correctly and fixed in place. Conversely, Satan, the Adversary, is the father of lies because in order to get people to do one’s will or act irrationally against the will of God one has to deceive them. The only way to do that is to lie.
We can lie in a number of ways. We can lie by making a false statement or we can lie by omission, that is, we can not tell all the truth. That is a major way of lying. For instance, a railway worker can ask if a train is coming so the track workers can move from the line and we can say: “It’s not coming”, but neglect to tell him that it will be along in five minutes and, if the job is going to take ten minutes, they could get run over. That is omission to the point of criminal negligence or criminal malice. It is lying to the hurt of another person. That is the sort of lie that we deal with in terms of spiritual deceit, because truth in spirituality is central to salvation. By manipulating the Bible text and by putting people outside the Laws of God, we deny them salvation. We put them in the second resurrection. Once we change true ideas to false ideas, we alter physical action. Truth encompasses deeds.
John 3:16-21 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. (RSV)
Truth here is a deed. It is not a statement of fact. It is a right action. Hence, deeds encompass the concept of you are what you do and, thus, having right action according to the Law of God produces right fruit. It is a true action as opposed to a false or evil action. The point here was that Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world. The world had condemned itself. In the same way Moses, when he was confronted, did not utterly condemn his people. He said words to the effect of: “I know they have sinned but, Lord, do not destroy them”.
Truth also is worship. Truth becomes a deed and a right action. In being an action it then turns to worship. Look at John 4:23-24. Christ is talking to the woman at the well.
John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (RSV)
That is the centrality. From true thinking we get true actions that lead to true worship. That is the determinate factor. The Father is seeking those people to worship Him in spirit and truth. Therefore, only truth will determine our correct worship. So the people who say they don’t care what the doctrines of their Church are, are really saying: “I don’t care what is true.” This means they can’t worship the Father in truth. If we are not worshipping the Father in truth we are in breach of these injunctions.
They are effectively saying: “I don’t care about the worship of the Father”, and indeed that is the very issue that they don't care about. That means they are not in the First Resurrection. It is a very hard statement, but that is the way it is. Christ came to preach the truth of the gospel of the Kingdom of God and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, His Father and His God. The New Testament is predominantly concerned with the nature of God and His truth.
That truth eternally existed. God is a God of truth. Look at the paper Distinction in the Law (No. 96) and then look at what God is and what His Law is. Truth is one of the five centralities of the Law and of the nature of God.
Both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ came to bear witness to the truth.
John 5:19-46
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.
Christ is saying: “I have no power of myself; I look at the Father and the Father shows me what to do and I do what the Father does”.
20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
Christ is now saying it is the Father who raises the dead and gives them life and He has given to the son the power to quicken – or give life – to whom he wants.
22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
That is a very important concept. The Father has said, “All of these people are the chosen and I give them to the son, but He judges nobody”. He is saying: “You judge them”. But He has also told Christ not to lose any that He has given to him. So we see the dual extent of that problem. God has said to Christ, “These people are all capable of becoming my sons and daughters. We have the responsibility of judging them”. In other words, He has put the responsibility on Jesus Christ to get us all into the Kingdom.
23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
We can’t honour God unless we honour Jesus Christ. So Judah is out, as is all Islam.
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
So, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ are to be believed and relied upon in order to inherit eternal life. Hence John 17:3 plus this word of God are methods of eternal life.
25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself,
Thus the Father has immortality (deathlessness) in Himself and He has given the Son to have deathlessness in himself. Christ did not possess it intrinsically. That is quite clear. If Christ were given life in himself from the beginning, then God would not need to give him the capacity to have life in himself.
27 and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man.
That is an interesting concept that follows from this centrality of truth and the determination of Christ. Christ came to delineate the word of God and to reveal the Kingdom of God to men.
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. 30 "I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true; 32 there is another who bears witness to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen; 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent. 39 You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from men. 42 But I know that you have not the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. (RSV)