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Bible Study 2: I am... the Truth

Néstor O. Míguez (24 September 2002)

How many truths there are?

The story is about a second grade teacher in an elementary School. She introduced that day's class asking the children about their father's jobs. Everything went well until she arrived to Charlie. "My father is a good man. I love him and he loves me. He cares for me," he said. The teacher insisted that it was about jobs, but could get no other answer from the boy. Finally she pointed out that Charlie's father was unemployed, that he just rambled around to make a living. Charlie began to shout in tears, obsessively: "My father is a good man. I love him and he loves me." Who is saying the truth, who is being true? From a certain point of view, if truth is the correct answer and an accurate description of a given fact, the teacher was saying the truth, and sooner or later Charlie would have to come to terms with it. But if it was about a defence of his dignity, about what makes life human, what allowed Charlie to hold himself whole in front of his classmates, he was being true to his affections and his outbreak was the last possible defence for that truth that his teacher was unable to understand.

Another story, about five years ago. A Bible workshop for Christian leadership in the Chaco, with the Qom aboriginal people. When we started all the members of a family were missing. "They will come tomorrow. Today they are at the funeral of a cousin," I was told. The following day I had the chance to question them about the events. They had been fishing together the whole day. Near dawn, they found they had enough fish and went home. This chap had decided to stay, he wanted some more. He had gone into the river, fell and was not able to emerge. Probably he stumbled with his fishing pike and fell under a mass of "camalote". He could not untangle himself and drowned. That is what the police forensic report said. At night, during the camp fire, one of the elders, pastor of the local church, took me aside... "This boy was not a good fellow. He wanted to fish more than needed, he did not follow his family, he went into the river shouting and cursing..." And in a very low and subtle voice, making me feel that an extraordinary confidence for a white man was disclosed, trusting I could understand, he added: "One should not defy the Nohuet[1] ... The 'blackies'[2] of the river took him. He had not die because he drowned, but because he denied wisdom..." -I agreed. Once again, which was the truth? The police report, or the ancient wisdom of the piogonaq? Truth is also about cultures, about understanding the different worlds in which we live.

The "True" Words in the Bible.

The idea of "true", if we can credit linguistic scholarship, was born as a verb and then turned into an adjective long before becoming a noun. This is specially valid for the biblical literature. The Hebrew word most frequently used for truth, hemet, is originally a verbal stem hmn which means to be steady, to support, to confirm, and in that way, to nurture. It can also signify to believe, to be confident, to trust. Is the same root that we have in "Amen": So be it, truly, verily. That stem gave origin to a whole family of words. "True" is a quality that is said of things, words, peoples and God prior to the existence of the idea of something called "truth." Things which are solid, that are consistent, that endure are "true". So are persons that are able to hold together, to be of one piece, steadfast and loyal. So, for example, the psalmist metaphors: "YHWH is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold" (Psalm 18:2) are all forms of saying "YHWH is my true God".

When applied to a person it characterises his or her conduct, speech, attitudes or thinking. It talks about the ways in which that person backs with his or her own self whatever he or she does, says or proposes. What we could call today "someone of integrity"[3]. This quality, of course, is of supreme importance for the leaders of the people. So, when Moses seeks for those to be called to help him in the judgement of the people, they should be, according to Jethro's advice, "men that fear God, true men" (Ex 18:21). But that attribute is vital also in anyone that is to testify as a witness, since the life of others rely on his[4] words (Pro 14:25). In that line, the stem can also be translated as faithful, or trustworthy. As a matter of fact, in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the so called Septuagint, of the 126 occurrences of hemet, even if most of the times "aletheia"(truth) is used, the interpreters had to resort to pistis (faith) or dikaiosyne (justice) in different occasions to capture the diverse shades in the meaning of the word.

Obviously, then, the idea of "true" found its utmost relevance when applied to God. In a curious anagram, the Rabbi proposed that the origin of the work hmt was an acrostic that meant "God is forever King". God's eternity and wholeness hold things together, God's wisdom and strength sustain and support creation, so if there is anything true, it is because YHWH is eternal and rules. Yet, to be true is also to be merciful. The strictness of God's being true, without the mercy of God's true being, can become a destructive force, since no person nor anything would be able to stand solid in front of God (Psa 130:3). Even mountains melt like wax at God's presence (Psa 97:5). However, because God being true to Godself is also being true to God's patience and love, the Psalmist can exclaim with what are to become Jesus words at the Cross: "Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, YHWH, faithful [true, hemet] God" (Psa 31:5).

When we come to the New Testament, under Hellenistic language and influence, things look slightly different. The Greek word aletheia points in another direction: that which has to be uncovered, disclosed. Since lethe is the place of forgetfulness, the a-letheia would be to "un-forget", that is, to recover a real understanding of things, going beyond the appearances that tend to distract us, the "phenomenon". So the real thing lies under that what is evident, the opinion, (doxa), and to uncover the true being requires wisdom (sofia). Thus, what is true is concealed under the cover of what seems obvious, but that might not be true. So, in this other conception, to be true is to search into the depths of things. Words (logos) and intelligence (nous) are the tools that wise men (and women) have in order to go into this quest.

To know something to be true, then, is the outcome of a judgement. Truth is a process of unveiling, of getting to know the truth. Here we are faced with the noun. For sure, this usage of "truth" as a noun can be found also in Hebrew. In the Hebrew Bible it mostly expresses the certainty that comes after investigation, and that is why we find it mostly related to legal language. So truth is open to investigation, to find if an accusation rests on facts or on calumny. As different from the more sophisticated Greek search for the Truth in a philosophical manner, the Hebrew still clings to the more concrete and practical use of the idea in the legal arena. So, when applied to the religious realm, it always carries on the metaphorical weight of its origins. It might become personified: "Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter" (Isa 59:14). In this verse, through the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, we can see the idea of truth as complementary of justice, righteousness and uprightness. It is a cluster of concepts that, in Hebrew understanding, are attitudes in life more than "virtues" in the Greek sense. It is an ethical concept more than an ideal entity.

In the New Testament, both traditions merge. On the one hand, truth appears as something that is solid, on which one can rely. On the other hand, it is not always evident, so while the faithful looking at Jesus can say: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), Pilate, standing before Jesus, can hold this dialogue: [Jesus said] "everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. -Pilate asked him, 'What is truth?" (John 18:37c-38a). So truth is something you say, but also something you must do, and, basically, you must perceive and unveil through faith.

The dynamic truth. Going into John's Gospel.

John's Gospel is the one text in the New Testament where we find more uses of the "true" words. It would take more time than what we have here to study how the Gospel of the beloved disciple uses these words and the many shades that appear in them. But let me try a brief outline. From the prologue of the first chapter on, once and again true-related words appear to point to Jesus. Sometimes as an adjective (the true light, the true life, the true bread, the true vine, the true prophet). Jesus is mentioned also as the one who allows us to know the truth (1:17 "The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"), who declares the truth about God (8:26, 17:8). And, finally, in the passage we are studying, Jesus says that he himself is the truth. In the same sense, as the Christ is the logos of God, he is truth because God's words are truth (17:17).

The disciples share that life in truth through their participation in Jesus' truth. Specially meaningful in that sense is chapter 8, the chapter where the word true and its cognates appears more times. To be a true disciple one must keep Jesus' words: "Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (vv. 31-32). Truth is not only an idea, that we might achieve through an exercise of our intellect, as in Greek philosophy, but what we might call an active dynamic. The idea of a dynamis, a force but also a moving drive, is what I find as the best concept to understand what "truth" is in John's Gospel. The truth is known in the following of Jesus, in the participation of his ministry. Keeping the words is not simply a remembering of some religious statements, but a way of behaviour, an attitude in life. That is why the truth is able to make someone free. Truth is a practice: "But those who do truth[5] come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God" (3:21).

"True" words are also related to the work of the Spirit. The Spirit is also called the "Spirit of truth" (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). And in this case I think that the same understanding of truth as a Godly given dynamis is valid. "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come" (16:13). Truth is not something we can grasp or possess, but a way into which we have to be guided. We are guided into that truth through a teaching process, that will make us aware of God's presence and action, of the continuing mission that we are assigned in Jesus' name and following. "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you" (14:26). It keeps alive the remembrance of Jesus words and actions, but also gives us the confidence and power to live accordingly, because the Spirit abides in us (14:17). Yet, the world cannot recognise the truth because the world does not have the Spirit, and has to be convinced of sin and justice. That dynamis of truth is the power of the witnessing community.

Truth as trust. The true witness.

Other cluster of "true-words" in John's Gospel groups around the image of the witness. The Old Testament concept comes again to the fore. Truth is what comes out of the mouth and life of a trustworthy witness. A reliable witness is not only one who "speaks" the truth, but one who puts his or her own self as a support for the words said. But, curiously enough, when we would expect that Jesus would be called a true witness of the true God, this seldom happens (perhaps with the exception of 3:11 and 3:32-34[6]). Instead what we have are different witnesses to Jesus as the Truth.

This series of witnesses starts from the opening of the Gospel, when John the Baptiser is presented as a witness (1:7). He was called to testify "to the light". Emphasis is added to the fact that he is not the light but its witness. Later on Jesus will say "I am the light". But John's task is to testify about him, what he surely does (1:29-34), affirming: "and I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God." Afterwards, the Samaritan woman at the well becomes a witness to Jesus in front of her village (4:39). In the discussion with the Jews in chapter 5 we find even more astonishing phrases: not only John is a witness (v. 33), but Jesus' works, given to him by the Father, are also his witnesses (v. 36), and finally the Father (v. 37) and Scriptures (v. 39) are witnesses for him. As we have seen, the Spirit is also a true witness to Jesus.

Finally, the Gospel's author and the Gospel text in itself are true witnesses. When the Gospel narrative reaches its climax at the cross, the author cannot refrain from interrupting the sequence in an advocacy of his own witness: "He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth" (John 19:35). At the very last end of the Gospel, the community takes the word to assure the reader of the truthfulness and trustfulness of the testimony heretofore contained: "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true" (John 21:24). Now, the truth and trust of the witness is necessary since the possibility of one becoming oneself an eyewitness is no longer available. The possibility to come to the truth, that is to the knowledge of Jesus, and to the knowledge of him as Saviour, as the Son of God, now relies exclusively on the witnesses. That is the test Thomas was not able to pass. He did not doubt about Jesus, he doubted of the words of his comrades disciples. And he was granted, the last, to become an eyewitness. From now on the telling and believing the story, however incomplete, is the only chance left to get hold of that truth. For John, on that possibility of building a witnessing community rests the entire hope for true life (1 John 1:1-4).

Witness to life, witness to the Truth.

One of the more puzzling phrases in John's Gospel, for many generations of Christians, has been John 14:12 "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." It is part of the ensuing explanation to Jesus saying He is the Truth. How can we do greater works than his? I have pondered over this question many times, and certainly have not arrived at any conclusive answer. But let me share with you the ways of my thoughts in this line. The "works" of Jesus is letting us know the Father, of achieving an understanding of life in plenitude, of the possibility to become God's children. That is the work that Jesus came to do: "Even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father" (John 10:38). "The works", then, are being so true and trustworthy as to cause believing.

Jesus was himself that truth, so he said. But we are not. Yet we share in his life and love, and so we share in that truth. "Greater works" are the challenge to be true and trustful witness to that truth. While those that surrounded Jesus and were driven to believe in him by his presence, could "hear, and see, and touch with our hands", as Thomas requested, we, centuries after, cannot do that, at least not in the same way. We face a greater challenge, and a greater work: to achieve the same faith, to live in the same truth, but to do it out of sheer trust in the testimony of John, Matthew, Mark, and the others. From eyewitnesses to heartbelievers, and then on. That is a "greater work." But because Jesus is Truth and is with, and in, and one with the Father and Creator of all human kind and the whole of things and life that through the Word were created, those "greater works" are possible.

To finish, then, let me come back to my two short stories at the beginning. We live in a plural world, of many cultures and attitudes, and, consequently, of many "truths." Is "Jesus the Truth" yet another understanding of those truths, that has to displace the others as wrong, false or fake? Is "believing in Jesus" the assertion of certain accurate words, to which everyone should adhere, describing divine reality for all people, in all cultures, in every attitude in life? I do not want to answer those questions for you, but I ask to myself how can we become a faithful and trustworthy community for Charlie and his teacher, how can we help them to face that if truth kills life and affections it is not true, but that one cannot live always denying the wretchedness of the reality that we have to face. Would it be "telling the truth" to say to my brother piogonak (as many missionaries did, obtaining only to loose the confidentiality of the people) that if he believes in Jesus he cannot credit, at the same time, the nohuet, and that the blackies of the river do not exist?

For me, Jesus is the truth, not of a given culture or of a given understanding of the world, or of certain attitudes in live, but as the dynamis that allows us to search, under the guidance of the Spirit, in all and every culture, in all and every living world, in the variegated attitudes that humans have, the plenitude of life, the Presence of the God of all Justice. That dynamis that can transform a bunch of diverse and imperfect people into the trustful witnessing community that faces with faith, in mutual accountability and in response to the everyday world, the challenge of love.

Notes

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