We read the words of Jesus as, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus then in that same discourse calls the Spirit the “Spirit of Truth”. We worship the Father “in spirit and truth”, and the Spirit of Truth proceeds from the Father. John rejoices that some are walking in the truth, and says this was a commandment from the Father. All three aspects of the trinity are represented in the discussion of truth. All three are not only associated with truth, but have intimate connection with truth. In fact, Jesus says He is truth. Beyond association, the Godhead is truth and true, and all three aspects of the Godhead are tied together in unbreakable bond with truth.
If the premium of truth is so high that God would associate Himself in all three persons to it, then we need to pay extremely close attention to the way that we handle this subject. For God to call Himself truth is a statement that goes deeper than “truths”, and should cause us to be baffled. What does it mean when Jesus says, “I am the truth”?
The Gospel of John starts by saying that Jesus is “full of grace and truth”. Jesus says that the truth shall set you free, and yet “whom the Son sets free is free indeed”. You must worship the Father in spirit and in truth, which is interesting considering that John the Baptist says Jesus came to baptize with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus later personifies truth in Himself. It is taking up the character of the Spirit and the Son, reflecting that which is itself truth, that we must worship the Father. Truth is, in this context, not something that we come to grasp, but something that we are. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Is Jesus not simply reiterating the same thing He expressed in John 10? He is the gate, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Anyone who does not enter by the gate is a thief. And, we can ask, what is the gate an expression of? Do we not also find the answer within John? Jesus tells Nathanel that there shall be a greater thing seen: angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This is a reference back to Jacob seeing God at Bethel, which means the House of God, and Jesus calling Himself the “house” by claiming that the temple shall be destroyed and rebuilt in three days, and Jacob also claims that place is the gate to heaven.
Jesus’ words are spirit, and they are life. The Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Truth and life also pair together within the wisdom of God. To have the truth, which is to say, to walk in truth, to follow the Way, entering through the Gate, is to obtain eternal life. It was said of Jesus that He alone has the words of eternal life, and yet Jesus Himself says, “This is eternal life: to know You” (the Father). Truth no longer stands as something that we believe and hold to, affirming it and debating it, but now opens up as a disposition, a lifestyle, and a mindset. Instead of focusing upon knowing truth, we should be focusing upon being true. Does the life that we live reflect the words that we speak? Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, because it is the heart itself that either loves truth or loves “truths”.
This is the quintessential question. Do we love truth, or do we love “truths”? Aren’t we asking whether we love knowledge about God versus loving God Himself? The difference is convicting. Our lives are built upon the rock only to the degree that we love truth more than we loves truths. We can have all of our words correct, and all of our doctrines lined up in a row, but if we don’t actually live the reality of what those words convey, then we’re as much liars as they who blatantly deny and reject those truths.
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