Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:171
God is true. To be true is, as Webster’s says, “[to be] in accordance with the actual state of affairs.”2 That is, to be true is to agree with reality. Since God is true, everything that comes from Him is correct. He knows no deception, no falsehood, no ignorance, no incorrect information. He can only ever speak the truth.
2 Timothy 3:16 teaches that Scripture is inspired by God; He breathed it out. If we believe that Scripture is from God and believe that God is true, we are naturally led to believe that God’s Word is true. If the Bible is God’s word, and God only tells the truth, then the Bible we have must be entirely true.
While this is the logical conclusion, it is also the clear biblical conclusion. In John 17:17, Jesus prays for His disciples; “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Wayne Grudem’s explanation of this verse is quite helpful.
This verse is interesting because Jesus does not use the adjectives alēthinos or alēthēs (“true”), which we might have expected, to say, “Your word is true.” Rather, he uses a noun, alētheia (“truth”), to say that God’s Word is not simply “true,” but it is truth itself. The difference is significant, for this statement encourages us to think of the Bible not simply as being “true” in the sense that it conforms to some higher standard of truth, but rather to think of the Bible as being itself the final standard of truth.…Thus we are to think of the Bible as the ultimate standard of truth, the reference point by which every other claim to truthfulness is to be measured.3
If what is written in the Bible is the standard of truth, what it says must be important. In fact, not only is it important, it is most important, above any other standard. The Bible stands above every other human writing, scientific discovery, or mystical experience. Regardless of what we read, see, think, or feel, the Bible must dictate our beliefs.
We learn about what is true by studying the Bible. If we want to know God, we must study Scripture. We cannot have good theology, keep a pure gospel, or live God-honoring lives without submitting ourselves to the true Word. The Bible shows us things as they actually are, because God sees things as they are. To truly know God, we must understand His Word—the Word of Truth.
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2011.
- “True,” Merriam-Webster, accessed December 2, 2019, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/true.
- Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 83.