26. TRUE. THE TRUE
26. TRUE. THE TRUE
Both and are translated ‘true,’ but not with the same sense. The difference may be seen in the two expressions that “God is true” () in Joh 3:33; and “the only true () God” in Joh 17:3. The Latin language has two words showing the distinction, verax and verus, as in the Vulgate
signifies that which is according to truth: “Let God be true!” in contrast to the falsehood of man, Rom 3:4; but there is no good word in English by which to translate . In some passages no doubt ‘real,’ ‘genuine,’ or the old English word ‘very,’ might be used, as Wycliffe translated Joh 15:1; “I am the verri vyne.” But ‘very’ would not suit in many places, as in “He that is holy, he that is true.” Rev 3:7
Archbishop Trench observes “God is (Joh 3:33; Rom 3:4; = verax ) inasmuch as He cannot lie, as He is (Tit 1:2) the ‘truth-speaking’ and truth-loving God. But He is (1Th 1:9; Joh 17:3; Isa 65:16; = verus ) very God, as distinguished from idols or all other false gods.” He adds that is not always the true as opposed to the false. Rather it is very often the substantial as opposed to the shadowy and outlinear: thus in Heb 8:2 we have the , ‘true tabernacle,’ into which our great High Priest entered, implying that the one in the wilderness was only an earthly copy of that which had a most real existence in heaven. So too Christ is said to be , ‘the true light,’ (Joh 1:9), though John the Baptist was also “a burning and shining light” (), Joh 5:35. Christ is also , ‘the true vine’ (Joh 15:1), not denying that Israel was God’s vine, but implying that none but He realised the name to the full
Summing up, the Archbishop says, “We may affirm of the that He fulfils the promise of His lips; but of the , the wider promise of His name. Whatever that name imports, taken in its highest, deepest, widest sense – whatever according to that He ought to be – that He is to the full.”