John 18:38 — Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
Pontius Pilate asked a critical question. What a pity he didn’t wait for the answer. What do you suppose he meant by his question?

I’m afraid we are living in Pilate’s world now. If I asked the question, how many people would say “Don’t be silly! Truth is truth. Especially, truth is what God says!”? What answers would I get? What did Pilate mean?

Perhaps Pilate was being a pragmatic Roman. “I’m in charge and truth is whatever I say it is … now let’s go and deal with the situation.” A lot of people today work that way — the truth is whatever they need it to be; for governments it’s whatever suits government policy.

Another popular idea of truth is “truth is what I can feel, or taste, or see, or smell, or hear.” Truth is whatever can be experienced by the senses. Perhaps Pilate thought that the truth of Jesus was what he could see in him … and he could see no harm. This idea of truth is related to the idea that truth is what can be felt emotionally — always popular with young people, and seemingly more so now than ever.

Then there’s the belief that truth is what can be proved logically. Truth must be rational to be believed. Rationally, Pilate could only see a man, and “logically” a man with no army could be no threat …so move on. Tell the Jews there is no fault, and move on.

There’s another idea — it doesn’t really define truth so much as what is not true. Something that doesn’t fit in with everything else can’t be true. Truth is defined by a collection of items that are consistent with each other. Perhaps Jesus didn’t fit into Pilate’s system and so he turned away from him.

Francis Bacon perhaps implied that Pilate didn’t want to know the truth — “What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer“. Pilate did not stay for an answer. He did not wait to hear “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. His life spiraled down after Jerusalem. What might have happened if he had known the truth?

We are in a world now when, for many people, truth is individual. “It’s O.K. For you to believe what you believe, but I believe what I believe.” Francis Schaeffer said “Today not only in philosophy but in politics, government, and individual morality, our generation sees solutions in terms of synthesis and not absolutes. When this happens, truth, as people have always thought of truth, has died.” It’s tragic, because all those theories of truth are wrong. Truth is objective — and ultimately it’s what God defines it to be. It cannot be convenient, felt, defined by feelings or reason — it can only be believed.

Don’t be a Pilate. Have faith. Let truth live in you.