Truth is a timeless universal buzzword. I’ve found people are much more open to discussing the concept of truth than the concept of redemption. Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” That same question can be a springboard from which to share the gospel.

Truth is, few people take the time to consider the origin of truth. So let’s follow the logical progression from the concept of truth to the concept of redemption.

1. People throughout all time and every culture have understood the concept of truth. The very fact that we have a concept of truth demonstrates the existence of truth. French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “We know truth not only through our reason but also through our heart. It is through the latter that we know first principles, and reason, which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to refute them.”

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”—Romans 1:18-19

2. For truth to exist, it must be absolute and cannot be self-contradictory. One cannot claim personal truths because an absolute truth cannot be relative.

3. Truth is, therefore, pure. Any deviation from its unadulterated state transforms truth into a lie.

4. Truth must have a source. People dismissively attribute the concept of truth to conscience, but what is the source of conscience? What is the basis of morality?

5. The source of truth, like truth itself, must be pure. The biblical equivalent for “pure” is “holy.”

6. Truth must derive from a holy God, who Himself is truth.

“God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”—Numbers 23:19

7. The God of the Bible declared His word is truth. 

“Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.”—John 17:17

8. Jesus, who declared Himself God in flesh, said He Himself is truth. You must either accept Jesus as God in flesh or discredit Him altogether. We have no other logical option. 

As former atheist C.S. Lewis said:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”—John 14:6

9. Sin is a rejection of the truth. Think for a moment back to the garden. 

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.”—Genesis 3:1-4

The enemy —Satan in the form of a serpent (no surprise to snake haters)—twisted God’s words and flat-out lied. Eve did, in fact, die: She began dying slowly the moment she embraced the lie. So do we all.

10. Salvation is an acceptance of the truth. Lies enslave; truth frees.

“Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”—Romans 8:2

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”—John 8:32

Your transformed life is a testimony to the truth. Now swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. And He will.