Truth
Can Truth Be Known?
We cannot know everything, and honest people hold their conclusions with humility. But the claim that truth cannot be known at all quietly undoes itself, because it claims to be a known truth. In practice we do know many things, and can pursue more. Christianity goes further, saying that the deepest truth can be known because it comes to us as a Person willing to be found.
The human question
It is fashionable to say ‘you have your truth, I have mine,’ and there is real humility in admitting how little any of us sees. But taken all the way, the idea collapses: to say ‘truth cannot be known’ is itself a confident claim to know a truth. We live, unavoidably, as if some things are really so. The honest path is not despair about truth but humble, open-eyed searching for it.
What Jesus said
Jesus did not treat truth as unreachable. He spoke of it as something that can be known, and even promised guidance into it.
The Christian confidence is not that people can figure everything out on their own, but that truth is not hiding. If the deepest truth is a Person, then it can be known the way a person is known, by drawing near, paying attention, and being willing to be met.
You are welcome to come and see
None of this asks you to pretend, to sign up, or to have it all figured out. The invitation of Jesus was always gentle: come and see. Read his own words, watch what he does with the tired and the hurting, and decide for yourself. The Gospel of John is a kind place to begin, and it costs you nothing but a little quiet and an honest heart.
Meet JesusRead the Gospel of JohnAsk for prayerJesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- Can we really know the truth?
- We cannot know everything, and humility is honest. But the claim that truth cannot be known at all is self-defeating, since it claims to be a known truth. In practice we do know many things. Christians add that the deepest truth can be known because it is personal.
- Isn't truth just personal opinion?
- Some things are matters of preference, but not all. Whether the earth orbits the sun does not depend on opinion. Christianity holds that reality is really there, and that ultimate truth came near in a Person who can be known (John 8:32).