768
TRUTH
TEUTH
devote himself fully to the work which God has given him. The past is under the blood and the future is secure in the promises of God (Tholuck). And because he sees in Christ the grand purpose of God in the redemption of the world and the security for the hnal accomplishment of that pur- pose, he cannot despair of the world any more than he can despair of himself. Because he knows the grace of Christ he can gladly accept his own lot in life, and ' in the patience of hope and the labour of love 'serve and wait and watch (Lk 1235- s6,2Co5'-'- i"). Christian trust is a state of heart ; yet it has seemed better to lay stress upon its ground and essential significance than upon its psychological aspects. Christian joy and peace are effects of a power beyond ourselves. Only God can give them. It is our part to make sure of our union with Christ, and then to see that we receive not the grace of God in vain (2 Co 6'). The full realization of the meaning of Christ's promise of peace is not to be had at once. It is the goal of tiie path of trust. But if there is established the relation of such con- fidence in God that all our weaknesses, doubts, fears, and sins drive us to our sure Helper, the goal of perfect peace will surely be reached at last (of. Mt lp8-3o, He4«).
Literature. — The art. Faith is presupposed throughout, and also that of Dr. VVarfield in Hastings' DB. See also Drum- mond, Pax Vobiscum ; Herrmann, Faith and Morals, and The Communion of the Christian with God ; Kiihler, Ziir Lehre von der V'ersohnung, and Der Lebendige Gott ; J. G. Tasker, ' Trust in God and Faith in Christ ' in ExpT xi. [1900] 490.
J. E. VAN Pelt.
TRUTH. — Apart from the adverbial phrases ' of a truth' (Mk 12^2, Lk 4^5) and 'truly' {e.g. Mk 14™, Lk 9'^' 12'*^), which are used in their ordinary colloquial sense (cf. Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 227), the only occurrence of this term in the Synoptic Gospels is in the hypocritical address of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus (Mt 22^^, Mk 12^^, Lk 20--), wdiere these soi-disant inquirers compliment Him. on His sincerity as a teacher. Here loyalty to the truth is opposed to the dis- ingenuous spirit that allows itself to be swayed by fear or flattery. The impression made by Jesus on His opponents was one of fearless honesty and candour ; He was no casuist or time-server, and it was His recognized chai'acter of religious frankness and veracity which suggested their trap. For all His sympathies, they knew He would be straight- forward. They could count upon His telling dangerous and unpleasant truths, no matter what His word might cost Him. He had the courage without which truthfulness is impossible, and these Jews were cunning enough to trade uj)on His very virtues.
In the Fourth Gospel, however, ' truth ' is used in a special, pregnant sense, characteristic of the writer and of his age. It is one of the leading cate- gories or themes of the book, and its proportions, as well as its perspective, are entirely diff'erent from anything in the Synoptics. Occasionally, no doubt, tiie ordinary sense of the term occui's, as in the phrases about true witness (5^'- ^- 21-'*), or credible statements (8'^) ; here, as elsewhere, the word means no more than veracity, and its adjective represents ' trustworthy ' (cf. W^ with 7^^ 8i««- ■*"• ■^^ and 16'^). In Pilate's remark, ' Truth ! what is truth?' (18^*), however, we are on the way to a more definite conception. There is, no doubt, in this scene the implied censure of a false attitude to truth, as Cowper has pointed out. —
' But what is truth ? 'Twas Pilate's question put To Truth itself, that deigned him no reply. And wherefore ? will not God impart His light To them that ask it?— Freely— 'tis His joy, His glory and His nature, to impart. But to the iirond, uncandid, insincere, Or negligent incjuirer, not a spark.'
{Task, bk. iii. 1. 270).
Truth, in this passage, however, has the further connotation of speculative or abstract knowledge, and the majority of the references throughout the Gospel are tinged by such associations. They converge on the principle that tlie spiritual is the real, and that the truth of human life is attainable only in relation to Christ, who is at once the true Life of God and the true means whereby men appropi'iate that Divine and absolute nature.
Two small linguistic problems lie at the threshold of any attempt to investigate the meaning of ' truth ' in the Fourth Gospel, (a) Attempts have been made, notably by Wendt (fi.g. in SK, 1883, p. 511 f., and Teaching of Jesus, i. p. 259 f.), to read a,xf,t)eix as equivalent to 'faithfulness' or 'rectitude,' on tiie analogy of the LXX rendering Qxeo; xxi xX-kOnx.) for the Hebrew original of ' grace and truth.' Certainly, in H-i- 17, the OT antithesis is unmistakable. But, apart from the fact that x.^-pt; is substituted for 'Ixbo;, the author is evidently using ' truth ' here in a deeper and special meaning of his own. The general usage of the term throughout the Gospel, whether as applied to God or man, cannot be explained bj' ' faithfulness ' or ' righteous conduct,' an}' more than by mere 'veracity.' Even where the OT form of expression Is retained, the content and the substance of the thought are extended and intensified. (6) A cognate difficulty is occasioned by the use of two adjectives, a.\y,tlv,; and a.Xv,8ivi;, in connexion with «.Xy,Buo!. (see ExpT xv. [1904] 505, xvi. 42-43). No rigid distinction can be drawn between them in the Gospel (note the variant in SiG), as if they were equivalent precisely to verax and vents. 'The latter may be translated ' true,' in the sense of real, as opposed to what is counterfeit (15') or transient and inadequate (1^ &'^- 8i) ; but often what is true, in the sense of veracious and sincere, is thereby sub- stantial, the sole reality amid the shadows of falsehood, just as God, who is true ■ (cf . Field, ON iii. p. 104), as opposed to deceptive and disappointing idols, is also real, in the sense of being living and lasting. Hence ocXtiBr,; (8^6) and a.Xr,tiivc>; (72**) are applied equally to God (cf. 333), as the Father who has sent the Son, while the former adjective is used {e.g. in 6^5) where the latter, in the sense of real or genuine, would have been equally appropriate (cf. &'^ 19).