GOD IS THE STANDARD

JOB 21:14–16

Yet they say to God, “Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways”

(Job 21:14).

Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” is reflective of a deeper philosophical and, in essence, theological question. That question is “How do we know what we know?” Or to put Pilate’s inquiry into another form, “Can we really know truth”? The skeptics say we cannot, but the Christian says we can. The irony of the skeptic’s position, of course, is that he cannot even make an absolute statement without assuming that he can indeed know truth. To say, “We cannot know truth” is to make a truth claim. In other words, the skeptic is saying it is true that we cannot know truth. So, as you can see, even the most irrational pagan, who has embroiled himself in relativism, cannot escape truth.

It is not man’s prerogative to banish truth from the universe. This is God’s creation, and He has revealed Himself in it. He is truth, and as His creatures, we know Him and, consequently, we know truth. This is true for the Christian and non-Christian alike. Both have consciences wherein God has revealed Himself and His law, as it is “written on their hearts.” Both have minds, that although fallen, are able to grasp the basic realities of God’s presence and His righteous requirements of man. The problem is that man has rebelled against this absolute authority which is so manifest to them. They have, as Paul wrote in Romans 1, “suppressed” the truth, and their minds have become “darkened.” As a result, man plunges headlong into the chaos of relativism, denying that truth can be known.

Relativism claims that truth changes from one person to the next. The standard, therefore, of truth is no longer God and His revelation of Himself in Word and nature, but it is man’s own perceptions. He derives truth from the standard of his own irrational conclusions or of his own feelings. We see people doing this every day. They don’t like the idea of an absolute authority in their lives, therefore to them, there simply is not one. Their conclusions are “feeling” oriented. Instead of subjecting their minds to the truth of God revealed in their own consciences and in the Word, they make their own feelings the standard of reality. But we are not the standard. God, who is the reality to which all else must conform, is that standard.

CORAM DEO

Isaiah 53–55

1 Thessalonians 2

Think of some ways that our society makes feelings and senses the standard of truth. Do you ever believe something is true because that is how you feel, or how you perceived something to be? Spend time in prayer today, asking God to help you know His truth as He intended it, not as you misunderstand.

For further study: Rom. 1:18–32; 2:12–16 • 2 Peter 3:1–7

wednesday

october