TRUTH
TRUTH
Sly
' Ye did not so learn Christ if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as tnith is in Jesus.' But the moral characteristics and contents and eiTertsof the doctrine appear clearly from the context. 6t. I'aul declares that the true reception of it must render it iuip<»tJiible for them to practise Bins that were common among- the (lentiles. And lie poea on to sjicak of tlie old man aSy on the other hand, 'waxing comipt alitor the lusts of deceit,' while truth is one of the determining principles of the whole nature of the new man : ' After God ' he ' hath been created in rijfhteousness and holiness of truth.'
The ethical qualities of *the truth' maybe not less forcibly illustrated from some of the passages enumerated above in which the di-f. art. is used. *Tne truth' commends itself not merely to the intellect hut to the conscience of man, by what it is (2 Co 42). The jirinciple that is most directly adverse to it is i3/*.« (Ro *>», 2 Th 2i<»- 12), the very same that is contrasted with lixtimfi.**. as an attribute of God (Ro 3*). The strenjirlh of the aiwstle and his fellow-workers lies solely in the power which Is inherent in that which they teach by virtue of its nature (2 Co 13^, and the sense of tliis lays them under the obliyation to practise the utmost sincerity in word and deed (2 Co 43 d'' 138).
iiL As might be expected from what we have already seen, St. Paul shows a high sense of the value of truth as an ordinary human virtue (I Co 5S, 2 Co 7>* 12«. Eph 425 59 6>*, 1 Ti 27).
iv. iXijflirof occurs but once in the Epp. of St. Paul, at iTh 1*, M &D epithet of God. It marks out the Cod who is reallv God in contrast with false gods. (Cf. in LXX 2 Ch 16S and Is G5"6).
S. Epistles other than those "/ St. Paul and St. John.— 'AX^.Butt occurs 7 times in this group (He Mpi, Ja Us 314 519, 1 p 1*8, 2 P 11* 22), and appears in every instance to mean, as in 2 ii. above, the doctrine delivtrcd by the apostles of Christ. Several of the same characttrislics of this ' truth ' might be illustrated from them. The Divine attribute of * faithfulness ' is asserted in 1 P 419, not only, as in OT or as by St. Paul, in regard to those who have been brought into a new relation to Qod * in Christ,' but still more largely in the unique and remarkable plirase wtrrif ttrirrrx.
Before we pass on we must note the use in Ep. to Heb. of JtXrtfnct in regard to the heavenly archetypes of the tabernacle and sanctuary of the old covenant (8- 0-'*). At 10--i, where it is applied to tutphtt, its force may be expressed by 'thoroughlj- true ■ (cf. Is 383, and see below 4 iii.).
4. The Johannine writings. — i. 'AXi^flnot is used a few times for a simple quality inherent in a person (Jn 423. a* g44 ; there does not seem to he any other clear instance).
ii. Slost commonly that is signified by it, the knowledge of which is of all knowledge the most necessary for man, and which was made known in and through Christ in a way that it never had been before. The connexion between 'the word* that is taught and 'the truth 'appearsS-*l-3-aiidl7i7, and the evangelist declares that ' the truth came through Jesus Christ' (V^).
A portion of it only could be communicated by Christ to His disciples during His time on earth, becavise they were un- prepared to receive it. And it can never be fully comprised in any formulas. Nothing <^-ould show this more clearly than its Id'-ntiflcation with a person— with Christ Himself (.In 14'^). Moreover, it evidently has intimate relations with the ideas of 'the light ' and ' the life' by which He is also described. The manifestation of the truth gives light; the inward appropria- tion of it brings life. After the withdrawal of the visible presence of Christ it was to be the ollice of the other Paraclete, who was proniispd, Ut teach the truth (Jn W^). He is called 'the Spirit of the Truth' (Jn 14»7 1526 1613, 1 Jn 4't), chiefly, perhaps, because of this function which He is to dis<:harge, but partly also, it niav be, on account of its ver>' nature; for the spiritual is pre-eminently the true, the real (cf. Jn 4^ 24). it ia even said of the Spirit, as well a.s of the Christ, that He is ' the Truth • (1 Jn 5«)- Vet His relation to the Truth as revealed iu Christ is rnrefutly defined (Jn 1613 16).
The truth ha.s been and is commended through testimonv. — thai of the Iluptibt (Jn fr'^O. that of Christ Himself (t>« 18^; a?id the testimony is believed by those in whom there is a right m'.ral disimsition (ib. cf. also 3-'). The function of the Spirit, tfK>, is dfscritied as 'bearing witness' (1 Jn 5T). His witness muBt be primarily inward, to the human Hpirit; yet it is to be rcmembtred that He acts upon each individual not only directly, but through others, and through the whole Bo<ly of Christ.