” Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17 ESV)
“There is only one truth, one worldview, that is sufficient to explain the world around us and the world within us. Only one fills the philosophical need of existence, of being, and it is the Judeo-Christian God—not just an abstract concept, but rather that this God is really there,” – Francis Schaeffer
The Epistle of Jude is not just a polemic against false teachers and apostates. The majority of the letter (vs. 4-19) addresses the subject of heretics and their serious threat to the church’s wellbeing, Jude encouraged his audience to be witnesses to biblical truth (vs.3), grow in biblical truth (vs. 20) and seek out those wavering from biblical truth (vs. 22-23). The truth of God, and from God, was important to this servant of Jesus Christ.
Jesus prayed for God the Father to sanctify (ἁγίασον; hagiason), dedicate and make Jesus’ disciples holy. The means for holiness is truth (ἀληθείᾳ; aletheia). Truth means what is real . Truth reflects and corresponds to reality. Jesus said the source of truth was the Word of God.
“In Scripture, truth is a very important concept because God is the God of all truth (Ps. 31:5; 108:4; 146:6), who speaks and judges truly (57:3; 96:13). He is the real source and cause of the whole universe. Scripture also focuses on the revealed truth in the gospel of God’s redeeming grace through Christ. This is the truth Christ and the apostles proclaimed (Jn 8:44–46; 18:37; Rom 9:1; 2 Cor 4:2), which was foreshadowed in the OT (1 Pt 1:10–12), and witnessed to by the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:13). The OT teaching was never false, but it was shadowy and incomplete in comparison with the revealed truth of the NT. Christ brought spiritual reality (Jn 1:17), and the Holy Spirit leads believers into the experience of all that is real in Christ (16:13).” –Tyndale Bible Dictionary
“In John 17 Jesus prays to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). This verse is interesting because Jesus does not use the adjectives ἀληθινός (G240) or ἀληθής (G239, “true”), which we might have expected, to say, “Your word is true.” Rather, he uses a noun, ἀλήθεια (G237, “truth”), to say that God’s Word is not simply “true,” but it is truth itself,” states Dr .Wayne Grudem.
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. Some scholars object that it is “too simplistic” to argue as follows: “The Bible is God’s words. God never lies. Therefore, the Bible never lies.” Yet it is precisely that kind of argument that Paul uses in Titus 1:2. He refers to the promises of eternal life made “ages ago” in Scripture and says the promises were made by God “who never lies.” He thus calls on the truthfulness of God’s own speech to prove the truthfulness of the words of Scripture. A “simple” argument this may be, but it is scriptural, and it is true. We should therefore not hesitate to accept it and use it.”
Jude is a derivative of the names Judah and Judas. Ironically, the LORD would use an individual named Jude to combat heresy within the church, when another individual, Judas Iscariot, defected from the truth and committed high apostasy against the Lord, Jesus Christ. Respectively, one man was committed to truth while the other committed betrayal against the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 13:10-11, 21-30; 14:1-6).
Throughout the Scriptures, the truth of God’s Word is paramount. Dr. Sproul, when asked how concerned should believers in Christ be for the lack of truth taught in the church, he answered:
“I don’t know how to put a ceiling on that concern. The church is to be the house of truth. The church is to be founded on truth. The church is committed to the distribution and proclamation of the truth. If you’re not concerned about truth, then what are you doing in the church at all?”
“We’re living in one of the darkest moments in church history with respect to concern for truth. People seem to be more concerned about peace and relationships. They say, “I don’t need to know doctrine, I just want to have good relationships.” They don’t understand that the truth of God’s Word is the only way you can define what a good relationship is.”
“If you don’t care about truth, you don’t care about the Word of God. If you don’t care about the Word of God, you don’t care about the Son of God. Furthermore, if you don’t care about the Son of God, you don’t care about God. We could talk all day about the vital necessity of being immersed in the pursuit of truth, the defense of truth, and contending for the truth. All of these things are a part of the Christian’s calling.”
“There’s so much falsehood in the world, and Satan himself is the father of lies. What nourishes and nurtures our souls more than anything is the truth of God. I don’t want to devote my life to something that isn’t true. Again, that truth is defined by God Himself, who is the Author of truth, the Fountainhead of truth, the Source of all truth”.
“Jesus Himself was the personification of truth: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). When Jesus prayed in the upper room for the sanctification of His disciples, He said, “Father, sanctify them.” How? “By Thy truth, Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). If you don’t care about truth, there’s no concern about sanctification. It is impossible to be a Christian and not care about the truth.”
In his epistle, Jude did not fixate on false doctrine. You would think he would have, considering the theme of truth. Rather, he focused his attention on false teachers; their character and their conduct. Identifying apostates logically leads to identifying apostasy. The latter logically follows the former. You do not have one without the other.
“The Bible is God’s Word, and God’s Word is the ultimate definition of what is true and what is not true: God’s Word is itself 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. Those assertions that conform with Scripture are “true” while those that do not conform with Scripture are not true. What then is truth? Truth is what God says, and we have what God says (accurately but not exhaustively) in the Bible,” concludes Dr. Grudem.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 