CHRIST THE TRUTH by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 16.

CHRIST THE TRUTH.

By Editor

Two weeks ago we considered very briefly "Christ the Way." We will now consider "Christ the Truth," for such Jesus declares himself to be in John 14:6. We will not attempt to define truth, for our readers will understand the word itself as well as they would its definition. Suffice to say it is perfect harmony and absolute consistency with itself. Every part of truth is in harmony with every other part; there can be no dissonance between them.

Truth is from God, the Author or Fountain of all truth. He is called a "God of truth" (Isa. 65:16); his word is declared to be truth (John 17:17); "he keepeth truth forever;" his "law is the truth;" the gospel is the gospel of truth. Such terms might be multiplied indefinitely. As God is said to be love and light, so he is truth, and "in him is no lie." And as Christ came to manifest forth the Father to the world, and as it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, therefore truth dwelt in him, and he could very properly say, "I am the truth." Truth is personified to the world in him.

The word of God is the truth (John 17:17), because it came through him. It was the Spirit of Christ which spake through the apostles (1 Cor. 2:13; John 16:13, 14; Acts 1:3); the prophets also spake by the same Spirit (1 Peter 1:10, 11). So also Christ is called the word, because it all came through him. John 1:1-3. In fact, all that has been revealed to man of the greatness, majesty, and goodness of the Godhead has been revealed through Christ. See 1 Cor. 8:6.

When the Bible says God's word is truth, it makes no exception. The Scriptures are "the Scriptures of truth." That truth is to sanctify and keep those who receive it. John 17:17; 2 Thess. 2:10-12; Ps. 91:4. Peter says in one place (1 Peter 1:22) that we are purified by obeying the truth, and in another (Acts 15:9), that we are purified by faith, both of which are the same thing, for the truth is God's word, and faith is based on God's word (Rom. 10:17); and this word is the light of God (Ps. 119:105; Prov. 6:23).

But it is needless to multiply these statements; the word of God abounds in them. The word, the truth, the light of God, are all one and the same, and all find their center in Christ, who of God is made unto us all that we need. That word, therefore, partakes of his power and life (John 6:63), and effectually works in the lives of all those who receive it as the word of God (2 Thess. 2:13).

Another thought. God's word is not many truths but one truth, for Christ is one. We see different phases, different forms, different manifestations, but it is all the same truth. Just like the physical Christ. We might see an arm only, or a hand, or the head, or the foot, but these are not so many independent bodies, but are all parts of the same unit, or individual.

It is thus with every word or ray of God's truth or light. If received into the heart as the word of God, and followed with honest, earnest desire, it will lead to Christ, even as every solar ray leads back to the sun, even as every nerve fiber leads back to the brain. The words of Christ being Spirit and life, and the word of God being his words, therefore every word given of God is truth and Spirit and life. There is therefore salvation in every word of Christ, in the smallest part of his truth if we do not detach it; for if we "follow on," we shall find him the central Sun, the Author of truth, the Light of the world. Jesus touched sinking Peter with his hand, and he was saved as truly as though he had been clasped in his arms. The afflicted woman touched only the hem of his garment and was made whole just as much as though she had grasped her Redeemer with both hands. Such is God's truth.

The way that he saves is therefore the way of truth. Jesus does not save irrespective of truth, but by the truth. His way is "the way of holiness;" it is also the holiness of truth. He who ignores Christ ignores the way. He who thinks he has the way regardless of what the truth may teach, does not know the way, does not know Christ. Christ is the true and only Way; he is the way of truth, and he would have those who worship him, worship in spirit and truth. Reader, in rejecting God's truth, you are thus rejecting Him who is the Truth.