God is the absolute truth. His truth doesn't depend on a set of circumstances, place or time. Truth is true for all people everywhere all the time. Truth is eternal. In John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” God is the epitome of truth. In Him is the true nature of truth, which is diagonally opposite of error. Saying that God is truth is an ontological way to refer to truth as one of His moral attributes. Saying that God is truth extends beyond Him being truthful to declaring that truth itself finds its very source in His nature. Other things can be truthful, but only God Himself is truth. Truth flows out of His very nature. The truth of God, in its broadest context, means, sincerity, faithfulness, stability etc. When we connect this with the other attributes of God such as immutability, infinity etc, we can comprehend that God is the absolute truth. This truth never changes and is rock solid.
While many things can have the truth, only one thing can be the truth, with that one being God Himself. Scripture refers to this fact about God directly in a number of places. For example, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”, and He called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth” John 14:17 “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 15:26 “ But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” A more indirect affirmation that God is the truth is given in Hebrews 6:18, which says “ That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:”
If we go through the Scriptures, we will realise that “Scripture attributes truth to God, and it tells in what sense he is true.” John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Doubting God’s truthfulness led to the first sin, which is the ground of all sin in the present as well. To commit sin, a man must for the moment believe that things are different from what they really are. He must accept a lie as truth and vice versa. Because doubting and, in the end, denying the truth of God is the prerequisite and basis for sinning, standing firmly upon His promises and truthfulness is also a basic defence and defiance against sin.
One overlooked aspect of truth in the Scriptures that applies to God is the relationship between righteousness and truth, and between unrighteousness and falsehood. Truth and righteousness go hand in hand. The converse however is equally true about falsehood and unrighteousness. Romans 2:8 “But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,” When we are in Christ, we submit to His truth and let it prevail in our lives and over all our opinions or desires. This is the truth.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
laddertoheaven.co.in