Wednesday, January 18, 2023

God and Truth (John 17)

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The search for truth is ultimately a quest to know God. When you begin to ask questions such as “Why do I exist?” or “What is the purpose or meaning of life?” you embark on a journey that leads directly to God Himself. In the development of a Christian worldview you must have a right view of God. You must study Him, and this means to engage in theology. 

Many people in the church react negatively to the word theology. They equate it with cold, speculative religion that causes divisions and inhibits the promotion of love in the church. Such attitudes have developed unhealthy biases against sound teaching. Sadly, it is not uncommon to hear people in the church say, “I don’t want to study theology. I just want to love Jesus.” The fallacy of such a statement is that to love Jesus is to know Him, and we get to know Him more fully through theological study.

You cannot truly know and love Jesus without engaging in some sort of theological inquiry. If division and strife occur as the result of such inquiry, the blame should be cast not upon theology itself but upon theological error and upon those who espouse such error. If you sincerely want to know the truth about God, about Christ, and about yourself, you will commit to sound, thorough theological investigation into the Scriptures.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). A denial of Christ is a denial of truth. As you grow in your understanding of who God is, of His holiness, His mercy, His sovereignty, His power, and His glory, you will begin to grasp and apprehend truth in a way that will befuddle even the world’s greatest philosophers. Any investigation into truth that denies the existence of the Christian God from its thinking is not a pursuit of truth but in actuality a total denial of it.

If you really want to know truth, if you really want to know God, study His Word. Jesus prayed that His people be sanctified by the truth. That sanctifying truth is the Word itself. If you explore the Word of God with diligence, you will gain deeper and more profound insight into the nature and character of God who is the very essence of truth.

How would you respond to someone who says they want to know truth, but they deny the existence of the God of Scripture? What is the relationship between searching for truth and knowing God? Read the chapters listed below. How does a study of these engage you in theology? What do they reveal about God and truth?