Summary
Truth as an Attribute of God
Truth is not merely something God speaks or knows—it is something God is. Because God exists of Himself, self-determined and dependent on no other, He is the standard by which all truth is measured. When Moses asked for His name at the burning bush, the answer given was simply, "I AM WHO I AM" Exodus 3:14. No further explanation is offered, because none is needed. God is, and therefore God cannot not be truth.
Scripture testifies to this in one voice. Through Isaiah the Lord declares, "I am the LORD; that is my name. My glory I give to no other" Isaiah 42:8, and "before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me" Isaiah 43:10. John opens his Gospel with the eternal Word who was God and through whom all things came into being John 1:1-3. In Revelation, Jesus identifies Himself as "the Alpha and the Omega" Revelation 1:8. The God who created order, wisdom, and existence itself is the one true God—not one option among many, not a regional deity, not a truth alongside other truths.
The Danger of Watering Truth Down
The temptation to soften, bend, or reshape God's truth is as old as Eden. The serpent's three words—"Did God say?"—planted the seed of doubt and opened the door to the idea that God's Word might be subjective, negotiable, something the creature could weigh and edit Genesis 3:1. That same temptation presses on the Church today. Consider a straight plank of wood: by itself it will not bend. But soak it long enough, steam it, work it, and a craftsman can shape it to his liking. The wood has not changed in essence, but it has been weakened. So it is when human beings try to mold the Word to their own preferences. The truth itself does not change—God remains who He is—but the version men present to one another is a watered-down counterfeit.
Paul names this clearly: "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" Romans 1:18-23. Our questions, our discomforts, our cultural moods do not alter who God is or what He has revealed. The arrogance that wishes to be God for ourselves—deciding what is true and what is pliable—is the very sin of our first parents.
How We Know the Truth
John writes to a church beset by false teachers with striking certainty: "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" 1 John 5:19. That confidence is not self-generated. It rests on the promise that "to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" John 1:12. We are born into a world under the spell of the evil one, but God in His grace did not leave us there.
The clearest demonstration of God's truth stands on a hill: two unbent, unwatered planks of wood on which the Son of God was crucified. That Jesus of Nazareth was put to death on a Roman cross is historical fact, not pious exaggeration. That His blood atoned for sin and that His tomb stands empty is the eternal truth of the gospel. Before His suffering, Jesus promised the Spirit of truth who would guide His people into all the truth John 16:13—and that Spirit opens hearts and minds to receive what God has revealed.
Living in the Truth
John concludes, "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" 1 John 5:20. God cannot lie. Therefore when the devil sows his seeds of doubt, when our own hearts waver, when the world insists every truth is equally valid, the Christian returns to the promise and clings to it: we know we are God's children.
This is the heart of the teaching in "Truth" 8-14-22. A fisherman may stretch his story for sport, but the gospel needs no embellishment. God's love for you is true. His mercy is true. His grace, poured out daily, is true—and not at all exaggerated. The Christian's calling is to carry that unbent, unbroken truth into every corner of life, with the confidence that the God who is truth will keep His people unmoving in the faith He has given.
Video citations
- "Truth" 8-14-22 — Tell me if you have ever heard or told something that goes a little bit like this. I was out on the lake the other day. I was sitting in my boat. I cast a line into the water. Nothing had been…