Talking Points with President Woodford: The Word of Truth
What is truth? How do you know it? Who gets to determine it? Where does it come from? From morality to mathematics people look for it. From Aristotle to Einstein people contemplate it. From detectives to doctors people are constantly searching for the truth.
You want to know it. I want to know it. Even Pilate while questioning Jesus wants to know it. “What is truth?” (John 18:38). This is what the world is asking. It’s an age-old question.
It is a bit ironic that a world that so desperately searches for truth so regularly rejects it. Jesus proclaims Himself to be “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) but so often, like Pilate, many turn away from Him and look for some other source of truth. However, it is His word of truth that gives life and makes clear the truths of this life. The Apostle Paul says it like this: “13In him [Jesus] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…” (Eph. 1:13).
This word of truth undergirds all of reality, in more ways than one. I’m not simply speaking theologically or philosophically here. I am speaking mathematically and scientifically. This word of truth is the word that created all that there is. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the way He did it was by speaking this word of truth. He said, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:1), and an explosion of light came to exist.
Scientists like to call this the “big bang.” Scripture tells us this was God simply speaking. Nonetheless, since before the time of Einstein, physicists have been attempting to explain the origins of the universe.
Perhaps it doesn’t have to be so complicated or expensive. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, and this Word created all that there is” (John 1:1-3). God said “let there be light” and “bang” there was an explosion of light. God said let the earth exist, and “bang” it came to be. God said, “Let us make man in our image” and “bang” male and female He made them. He did it all with His Word.
However, physics isn’t necessarily concerned with the truth of God’s Word. Physics isn’t interested in sin and forgiveness. It’s concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. But it’s amazing how even matter and energy are affected by God’s Word. They couldn’t exist without it.
What is more, when sin came into the world, it affected all matter and energy. The curse brought death (Gen. 3:17-19). Matter would decay. Energy would be reconstituted. And therefore, it was necessary for the Word of Truth to become flesh and make His dwelling among us. In other words, this Word of Truth was used not only to create the foundations of the world, but to redeem this fallen world and the people in it. The Apostle Paul acknowledges this truth: 4He chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Ephesians 1:4).
This is the Word of Truth that you live by. It governs the foundations of the world and the foundation of your faith life. Yet that is why the devil, and the world seek to undermine truth. Satan will use any means to confuse you about what is and is not true. He’ll use love. He’ll use anger. He’ll use philosophy. He will even use physics.
Einstein first posited his theory of relativity (E=mc2) in 1916 to demonstrate that space and time should be considered together and in relation to each other, relative to the speed of light. (I don’t understand it all either.) But since then, philosophers have highjacked the idea of relatively. Now the thought that says truth is relative has entered into our culture. In other words, there is no absolute truth. It can be whatever you want it to be. To be sure, Satan is cunning.
This is why God the Father sends His Word of Truth to become incarnate (John 1:14). By His shed blood on the cross we have the forgiveness of sins. By His resurrection from the dead, we have the hope of eternal life. To be sure, He is the way, the truth, and the life. In Him all things hold together. Be it mathematics, theology, philosophy, or physics, Jesus Christ is the Word of Truth who leads us into all truth.
The Apostle Paul brings it altogether for us:“7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him” (Eph. 1:7-10).
In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford
President, MN South District, LCMS
