WHAT IS THE TRUTH? I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.

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“What is truth?” Pilate asked. 

(John 18:38 KJV) Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. 

Many people still ask the same question today and there have been many different answers provided by scholars and teachers of the Word. However, some of these answers are not in context with the discussion between Jesus and Pilate in John 18. More so, Jesus said He is the Truth. In what context did He say He is the Truth?

(John 14:6 KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Let's start by studying the discussion in John 18:

(John 18:33-38 ESV) So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.

Notice that Jesus said in verse 37 that "To be king have I been born, and to be a king came I into the world in order that I may bear witness (evidence) unto the truth." His statement is saying that He is God in the flesh. It refers to His Incarnation. The statement, "for this purpose I was born" expresses His condition of being human while the other statement, "for this purpose I have come into the world" expresses His existence before assuming humanity.

The truth then is His Incarnation; of which He is the evidence or proof. He said, "that I should bear witness unto the truth". In other words, He became flesh (human) "that He should be the evidence [martyr] to this Incarnation".

He also said, everyone that knows this truth hears His voice.

(John 18:37 KJV) .....Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

In John 14:6 we read Jesus say, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". This statement is in response to Thomas's question in verse 5:

(John 14:5 ESV) Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Jesus answers Thomas’s question thus: I am the way, I am the Incarnation and the [eternal] life. In other words, I am the way to where I am going. I am the Incarnation - I existed with the Father before assuming humanity and I am going back to the Father; noone can come/ know the Father except by my revelation. I am the eternal life.

Jesus is saying, He is the self expression of God. I am the Truth means I am God [I am the Incarnation]. He said, if you have seen me [in the flesh], you have seen God. In other words, I am the Truth/ the reality/ the Incarnation/ God in the flesh.

(John 14:7 KJV) If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 

(John 14:9-10 KJV) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

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