Pilate asked the question in the trial of Jesus, “What is truth?<\/em>” (John 18:38), which has been asked many times. Many believe that truth is relative. Relative truth means that each individual determines the truth and what they believe the truth to be. Is this how truth is determined, or is there an objective source of truth?<\/p>\n As we consider the idea of relative truth or truth determined by what an individual thinks, let us consider what the scriptures teach. First, the scriptures warn us, saying, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death<\/em>” (Proverbs 14:12). Again we are warned, “It is not in man that walks to direct his own steps<\/em>” (Jeremiah 10:23b). Certainly all would agree that these wise and inspired men were not giving warnings to which there was no real danger. All will surely admit that there have been times in their lives or in the lives of friends that have seemed good, but in the end, they were not right but wrong.<\/p>\n Jacob provides us with a good example of this from the scriptures as we think of truth being determined by what we think or how we feel about what is true and right. Genesis 37 records the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and hated him greatly. Their hatred for Joseph got to the point that his brothers wanted to kill him. But instead of killing him, they plotted together to sell Joseph as a slave to a band of Ishmaelites who were passing by on their way to Egypt (Genesis 37:12-28). In their plotting, they decided to take a coat of many colors that Jacob had given Joseph, dip it in blood, and show it to their father. In Genesis 37:31-33, we read:<\/p>\n “So they took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood; Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, ‘We have found: this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?’ And he recognized it and said, ‘It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn in pieces.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The plot of the brothers worked; Jacob believed Joseph was dead. Jacob made an honest assessment of the information he had. He was honest, but he was wrong. Jacob could not have believed anything to be truer than what he believed to be true about Joseph. Was Jacob’s conclusion right because he believed it with intensity or because it seemed the correct assessment? No, he was wrong. Truth is never changed because of how convinced one may be that something is true.<\/p>\n Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). This means that we must take the Bible, the word of God, and study it openly, honestly, and carefully. We must compare what we believe to be true with what the Bible says, and if they do not match, we must understand that God is true and accept what is taught in God’s word.<\/p>\n The Bereans were a good example of this type of people who looked, longed, and searched for the truth. Paul in describing those of Berea said, “these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the scriptures daily find out whether these things were so<\/em>” (Acts 17:11). We must be like those in Berea in searching and looking for the truth, not just accepting it because “good ole’ brother so-and-so” said it. Let us seek the truth, desiring to know what truth is.<\/p>\n To really know the truth and profit from it, we must love it. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, spoke of those that were deceived, who thought they were right, but were deceived because they “did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 2:10). Paul simply states that some were lost because they did not love the truth enough to accept it and obey it.<\/p>\n Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free<\/em>” (John 8:32). Let us ever desire to live as God’s Word directs and to know the truth. This means applying the principles of truth found in the scriptures and making the proper application in our lives.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David A. Cox via Biblical Insights, Vol 15. No. 1, January 2015 Pilate asked the question in the trial of Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), which has been asked many times. Many believe that truth is relative. Relative truth means that each individual determines the truth and what they believe the truth to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-85187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28501,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-know-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":85187,"position":0},"title":"Can We Know the Truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ward Hogland Not too long ago I received a phone call from a young preacher in Tennessee. He said, \"Brother Hogland, I am in a quandary. My elders called me in on the carpet and told me to stop saying that I preach the truth. They advised me to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-telling-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":85187,"position":1},"title":"Who Is Telling the Truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry Falk A friend on Facebook recently asked, \"How do you know 'facts' are truth or lies?\" Apparently, he was referring to the current political climate in the United States. I took his question a step further. If we reject the existence of God and dismiss biblical morality, on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/questioning-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":57042,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-truth-determined\/","url_meta":{"origin":85187,"position":2},"title":"How is Truth Determined?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Oscar C. Miles What probably bothers me most about Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons is that they do not allow any possibility that they might be in error. It seems to me that they have been programmed to resist the possibility of fallibility in their organization. They believe that they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54358,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-difference-between-truth-and-lies\/","url_meta":{"origin":85187,"position":3},"title":"The Difference Between Truth and Lies","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 18:33-38 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Truth is critical \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Truth brings stability to a nation - Proverbs 29:14 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Truth makes us free - John 8:32 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus is the way and the truth - John 14:6 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus\u2019 words, which are truth, judges us - John 12:48 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0E.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What distinguishes truth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45580,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/setting-your-mind-on-the-things-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":85187,"position":4},"title":"Setting Your Mind on the Things of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer What we are trained to think about truth will be determined by whether we are thinking the things of God or the things of man. Recall that in Jesus' rebuke of Peter's reaction to Jesus talking about His own death, Jesus said, \"For you are not setting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54354,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-cultural-problem-with-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":85187,"position":5},"title":"The Cultural Problem with Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer The truth shall set you free (John 8:32). To borrow an idea from another well-known statement, had it not been for the truth, I would not have known lies. Oxford's word of the year in 2016 was \"post-truth.\" That should not really be a surprise. For decades\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Matter of Relative Truth<\/h2>\n
How Can We Determine What Is True?<\/h2>\n
Look to the Right Source<\/h3>\n
Look for the Truth<\/h3>\n
Love the Truth<\/h3>\n
Live the Truth<\/h3>\n