What is Truth?

John 18:37 - Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”



When the Jewish leaders finally resolved to execute Jesus, they had to hand him to the Roman governor of their region at the time, Pontius Pilate. Reading his story we find in the New Testament, in the non-Christian Jewish writers Philo and Josephus, in the Roman histories of Tacitus, and in the coins and engravings that bear his name, we get the sense he was an ambitious and opportunistic leader. His strategy in making a decision was nearly always, “What will give me the best outcome?” However, it seems his personal trial of Jesus really confused and disturbed him. What Jesus said forced to him ask a deep question, “What is truth?” Implicitly, Pilate was asking, “Is there an objective truth? Can I know it? If so, how will that affect the way I live?” That can be a frightening question to ask, but it can also give us a very encouraging answer if we are truly willing to ask it.



Many in our generation live the same way as Pilate. They base their decisions on what they think will give themselves the most and the best. If there is no objective truth that stands above my own opinions and desires, I can create my own truth to support what I want, but if there is a truth, especially if it is Jesus’ claim to Pilate, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37, NIV), that means the final definition of truth is outside of my own ideas and even those of all of the leaders and thinkers of human history. Now, it is no longer my right to decide what is true. Jesus gives us the ultimate definition in what he told his disciples the previous night: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NIV)



Pilate obviously wrestled with accepting the truth of Jesus that Good Friday (see Matthew 27:19-24, Mark 15:-9-15, Luke 23:13-24, John 18:31-19:16). Yet, in spite of an obvious conviction of Jesus’ innocence (and likely his truth, as well), Pilate chose not to allow that truth to shape his decision. He decided what he thought would keep himself in power, but crucifying Jesus ultimately did not help him. Josephus tells us Pilate lost his governorship a few years later. Writing shortly after that, Philo indicates Pilate’s career ended in disgrace.


If we accept Jesus’ claims of truth, we may longer get to define truth for ourselves, but we do get to know and experience the eternal Truth himself.