John 18:38 | Verse-by-Verse

Pilate looked at Jesus and said, “What is truth?”
As silence filled the room, Pilate went back out to where the Jewish leaders were waiting and said to them, “He’s not guilty. I couldn’t even find one fault with him.
John 18:38 (TPT)

What is truth? could very well be the most imperative question in society today. In a world of my truth and your truth, what is the truth?

TRUTH: Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.
Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language

The fact that Pilate felt the need to pose his question before Jesus leads me to believe that truth was as difficult to find in ancient Jerusalem as it is today. Many people will tell you what they believe the truth to be, but how much of that believe system is actually true?

It is the personal responsibilty of each individual to discover truth for ourselves. We cannot depend on what others may know or think they know or even want to know. In the end, we are all accountable for what we know—intimately experience.

Truth goes beyond fact. Jesus declared Himself to be the Truth.

Jesus explained, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through union with me. To know me is to know my Father too.
John 14:6 (TPT)

The Passion Translation footnote says that the Truth is the True Reality. What we see and experience in this plane of existence isn’t Truth. It’s a shadow. Jesus, the Light of the World, is the lamp that guides the way to Truth—Himself.

Pilate may have been sarcastic in his question, he may have just thrown it out there, or maybe he really wanted to know. We cannot know his attitude, but we can (and should) know our own. Do we really want to know the Truth? Or are we content in our blindness? We need to be willing to let go of what we think we know if we ever expect to know the True Reality.

If anyone comes to Me (responds to the good news of the kingdom), and does not hate (release attachment to) his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sistersm, yes, and even his own life (all the masks we cling to in relationship to others and ourselves), he cannot be my disciple. (Cannot follow Yeshua into an experience of the kingdom now present within all.)
Luke 14:26 (NASB), amplification by Ted Dekker, Rise of the Mystics

As a bit of a celebration for my first post in this new season, readers can download for free my visual commentary page for John 18:38. One day there may be a complete commentary, but for now, it’s simply verse-by-verse.

Visual Commentary – John 18:38 Download

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Once upon a time, there was truth. And there were lies. A great wall stood between the two and that wall could not be broken down and it could not be scaled. No one questioned the existence of the wall because it had always been there.

But one day, someone decided to build another wall. Then another. These new walls were great, but not as great as the original wall. Soon more and more walls were being built and so many walls of every shape and size existed that the original wall was almost completely obscured.

When a very wise man claimed that he was Truth, some believed him. Others did not. Truth had set out to destroy all the other walls. Those who did not believe in the Truth liked their other walls better than the original wall and they set out to destroy Truth. They brought him to a powerful man who asked, “What is truth?”

The Truth had said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

The powerful man could find no fault in the Truth and sent him away. Those who did not believe in Truth eventually won their battle against him and put him to death. But they didn’t realise that Truth had already planned for this outcome.

When Truth died, the Spirit of truth came. And the Spirit of truth did not rest on just one person, but all those who believed in Truth. That Spirit of truth guided the believers into all truth. Their eyes were opened to see beyond all the other walls and the original wall became clear.

To this day, new walls are being built. The original wall still exists, but for those who do not have the Spirit of truth, it cannot be seen. The land is filled with walls and people on every side. Only the true believers still know which side is Truth.

Daily Bible reading: 2 Chronicles 32-33, John 18:24-40