John 18 | In the Beginning was Truth

“‘What is truth?’ Pilate asked.” (John 18:38)

An interesting question, especially when you take a peek into the world Pilate lived in. In the Roman Empire you had the Greco-Roman mythology. You had the Greek philosophy of the likes of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. You had the paganism of the Near Eastern nations and Egypt. Then you had the Judaism of the day and now Pilate stood face to face with this Nazarene who claimed to be a king, but from some place other than this world. Against such a confused backdrop it is a very logical question: What is truth?
Pilate didn’t stick around for the answer but what would Jesus have replied if he had? Jesus had actually explained it before. In John 17:17, Jesus said while praying, “Your word is truth.” He also said in John 14:6 that He was the way and the TRUTH and the life (caps mine). The very first words of John’s gospel tell us that the word was from the beginning and that the word was God. If God’s word is truth and Jesus is the truth, then it is accurate to say:
In the beginning was truth.
Before there was anything else there was truth. Truth is the fundamental constant of all that exists and ever will exist. But in the smorgasbord of different religions and philosophies in the days of the Roman Empire, truth was an elusive concept.
It’s very similar today. We live in a post-modern age of relativism that rejects the idea of absolute truth. Christians must understand that this rejection of absolute truth is a rejection of God himself. Paul speaks of this rejection of truth in Romans 1:18-20:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.“
Today, evolution is taught in schools as if it were fact. The ‘truth’ is, evolution is not even a good theory. It has been completely disproven by the known laws of physics. But in the present world which denies the existence of God, the truth doesn’t matter. However, just because human beings deny the existence of truth and therefore, the existence of God doesn’t affect whether God exists. As W. Clement Stone said:
“Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance.”  
God doesn’t cease to exist because wicked people suppress the knowledge of God or because they don’t believe in Him. God is. Truth is and always will be. The question is will we believe.
Pilate asked, ‘what is truth‘ but then walked away before Jesus could answer. What will you do?