...And The Truth Shall Set You Free

"Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," reads John 8:32. That this statement is the gospel truth is quite obvious. What is less obvious though, is what is meant by the truth, and what is meant by free. What exactly does the truth set us free from? Why is it that some would not wish to be free? As Christians, do we have the obligation to be free of pleasant illusions? And if so, what responsibility do we have for the pleasant illusions of others? Do we honor truth tellers, or reward hypocrites and liars who paint false, but pretty, pictures? Is it necessary to embrace unpleasant truth? I do not pretend to know the answers to all of these questions, but I do think about them, and my own life reflects my own provisional answers to these questions based on careful research and my own rather prickly personal experience (which is different from that of others--a fact I respect even if they do not respect it in return).

Before I get too far into the thorny issue of what the truth sets us free from, and why we may not always be enthusiastic to be free, it is important to look at the truth. What is true, and what therefore is of vital importance that we know. We can know many things, should we have the inclination, though not all of those things are worth knowing. For example, we can know all about how to make an atomic bomb, but such knowledge is not likely to be very worthwhile. The same would be true, for example, of the knowledge of how to commit sin in the most picturesque manner. It is relatively obvious that some knowledge is proper and some is improper, even if defining the precise barrier is difficult. It is that thorny task I would like to deal with at this point, because it is the subject of much disagreement and controversey.

Ephesians 4:29 states: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that may minister grace to the hearers." This verse is certainly an important verse, but first it must be made clear what is corrupt, what is meant by communication, and what is good to the use of edifying and grace. It is only after we answer these three questions that we can determine what sort of communication this entails, and if this has any bearing on the sort of truth that sets us free. Is there any kind of truth that is corrupt communication or not?

The word used for communication in this verse is logos, the Greek word translated elsewhere as a title of Jesus Christ (as the Word). It refers to any words, thoughts, or writings that we may have. The word is of rather expansive meaning, and includes all forms of communication. Therefore, communication is a fitting word to use for this. So whatever this verse refers to, it can refer to any way we have of thinking and expressing those thoughts to others, which is quite serious.

The word used here for corrupt is sapros, which means rotten, worthless, bad, or evil. This word is used both for the literal sense of rotten fruit or meat, for example, as well as moral rottenness. Judging by the context of the word in the verse and passage, it is rather clear that the word is referring in this case to the moral rather than to the literal sense.

The word used here for edifying is oikodome, which refers to structure and architecture, and means building (as a verb here, not as a noun). The question, therefore, is what sort of building up is meant here. The verse itself refers to grace, and therefore suggests that the building up is not merely that of flattery, which builds us up, but is meant in the spiritual sense. As is true with physical construction, however, sometimes it is necessary to tear down an existing structure in order to build up a better one. Therefore, it would appear that this verse does not denigrate unpleasant truthtelling at all, but rather harshly condemns communication which entices others to sin. This is of some importance.

Several of my favorite stories in the Bible invovle the prophet Nathan. I was named after him and given, by some perverse sense of humor, a similar sort of attitude when it came to telling the truth. All of the characters in the Bible named Nathan or derivatives of Nathan (like the apostle Nathanael Bartholomew) are known for their rather blunt truth-telling, which is respected by godly characters. This will be more important later on, but suffice it to say for now that our attitude towards truth telling determines whether we are godly or not. The classic story of Nathan the prophet involves the sin of David and Bathsheba. David committed the sin of adultery, in private, and then covered up this sin by murder, behaving in both instances as a tyrant, by abusing his power as king for his own personal pleasure. Though his sin was private, though, his position in authority meant he had to be condemned in public, and that his sin and the price of his sin would be open to all as a demonstration of divine justice. And so it was.

Therefore, it is clear that Nathan's actions in publicizing the sin of David, which had hitherto been private, was not corrupt communication, even though it dealt with the sins of a powerful leader. The exposing of sin of leaders is a sacred duty of believers, and public confession of sin is the first step to restoration (as we saw in my previous post). Those leaders who deny the existence of their sin (all of us have sin, and thus have no room to be self-righteous or judgmental when it comes to dealing with the sins of others) and who punish those who expose the truth about them are not godly leaders. They are unrepentant and presumptuous sinners in danger of the gehenna judgment. Those who God places in positions of responsibility have very high standards to maintain, and their sins set the example for everyone else (without, of course, absolving people of their own personal responsibility). Therefore, the sins of leaders are taken very seriously by God. Both David and Paul (another example of a notorious sinner who became a leader in God's church, and who always remembered, and admitted, his previous conduct before conversion, as an example of the grace and mercy of God towards all of us sinners).

The consistent attitude of righteous individuals when confronted with sin is the acceptance of righteous judgment, no matter who that judgment came from. Truth is truth, whether it said by a small child, an old man, a parent, a child, a servant, or anyone else. Whether it was the righteous rebuke of Judah by Tamar or the repentant attitude of David when faced with the stern rebuke of the prophet Nathan, unplesanat truthtelling is edifying (as Psalm 141:5 makes plain). Therefore, no matter how unpleasant the truth, it builds us up by removing from us the pleasant fiction of illusion that surrounds us. The Bible does not whitewash its characters, but presents them in a balanced view, with both their virtues and vices in full view. Our lives as Christians should be without hypocrisy and without secrecy. We should be open to the view of all, and sometimes that view is not going to be very pleasant. We are all capable of grave sin (I speak of myself personally at least as much as about anyone else in this regard), and we all need mercy from God, for justice would be the death of us all.

What, then, do we need to be free of? It is clear that we need to be free of illusion. Illusion is all around us, and those societies that are more corrupt have more illusions than other societies. During the Middle Ages, for example, knowledge of the Bible was considered threatening to the preorogatives of the Catholic hierarchy, and therefore the faithful illiterate peasants of Europe had to content themselves with pretty pictures in stained glass windows in massive cathedrals, rather than having access to the true words of God, which spoke differently than the wicked leaders of the Catholic church. Our society is becoming less of a reading society, and more visual, and this is dangerous, as pictures lie and smooth over the complexities of life, but the truth lies with words, and the truth is always complicated and generally unpleasant. If we reject the truth, God rejects us. This is true of the dark truths about ourselves that lead us to repent of our sins and be baptized, realizing that on our own we are without hope of salvation. This is true of the dark truths about how we can become twisted by power, fame, and fortune, and how we can abuse our gifts and responsibilities for personal gain and for sinful pleasure. Truth is truth, regardless of the power and authority of the truthteller, and those who are godly will recognize truth and not judge merely by appearances.

Know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Are you willing to be free of the illusions that constantly surround us or not?