from Israel My Glory, Vol. 62, No. 5
The Foundations of Faith:
God is True and Truth
by Renald Showers
The Scriptures repeatedly associate
what is true and truth with
God. The primary Old Testament
word used for this association is emet. Its
foundational concept is “certainty,
dependability”; and it is used “in several
categories of contexts, all of which relate
to God directly or indirectly.”1
Furthermore, the word “is used
absolutely to denote a reality which is to
be regarded as amen ‘firm,’ and therefore
‘solid,’ ‘valid,’ or ‘binding.’”2 It can have
“reference to facts which always demand
recognition by all men as reality, to the
normal state which corresponds to
divine and human order, and which is
thus to be respected.”3 “It thus signifies
what is ‘true.’”4
Other related Old and New
Testament words that are translated
“true” and “truth” communicate the
following concepts: “total dependability,”
“faithfulness,”5 “certainty,” “trustworthiness,”
“revealed reality,” “truth
of statement,” “true teaching or faith,”
“divine reality,” “constant,” “real or
genuine,” and “righteous.”6
Associations
of ‘True’ With God
Associations With God Personally.
In the Old Testament the Spirit of God
moved the prophet Azariah to identify
the Lord God of Israel as “the true
God”—true in the sense of being “the
absolute and exclusive God” (2 Chr.
15:3–4).7 The prophet Jeremiah indicated
the same when he declared, “the
LORD is the true God; he is the living
God” (Jer. 10:10).
In the New Testament the apostle
Paul referred to “the living and true
God” (1 Th. 1:9), and the apostle John
wrote about “him that is true; . . . the
true God” (1 Jn. 5:20). Jesus stated, “he
that sent me is true” (Jn. 7:28). These were
assertions to the effect that the God of the
Bible is “genuine” or “real,” “in contrast
to other gods, who are not real.”8
Associations With the Word of
God. The words of the only God who
truly exists are true. After David
received specific revelation from God
in the form of verbal promise of
blessing, he wrote, “O Lord GOD,
thou art that God, and thy words are
true” (2 Sam. 7:28).
David was saying that God’s words
of promise were true in the sense of
certain to be fulfilled. Through his
assertion, “the ordinances of the LORD
are true” (Ps. 19:9), David referred to
“Holy Scripture.”9 He thereby claimed
that the Bible is God’s trustworthy,
reliable Book of truth for mankind.
Psalm 119:160 claims that every word
God has given to mankind from the
beginning is true and will endure forever.
The person who accepts “the words
of God” that Jesus spoke during His
earthly life thereby indicates his conviction
that “God is true” (trustworthy,
reliable) in that verbal revelation
He gave to the world through His Son
(Jn. 3:33–34). Jesus claimed the same
thing about God when He said, “He
that sent me is true; and I speak to the
world those things which I have heard
of him” (Jn. 8:26).
The apostle Paul indicated that, just
“as God is true” (trustworthy, dependable)
in His Word that He revealed to
mankind, so the “word” (message)
concerning Jesus Christ that he
preached to the Corinthians was true
(2 Cor. 1:18–19).10
The apostle John was given a preview
of the souls of Tribulation
saints who “were slain for the word
of God, and for the testimony which
they held” (Rev. 6:9). In asking God
how long it would be before He
would judge their murderers, they
asserted that He is “true” (Rev. 6:10).
They indicated that they could
depend on Him to keep His word to
judge the wicked.11
An angel spoke of “the true sayings
of God” (Rev. 19:9). The word
translated “sayings” is the Greek
term for “words.” This was the
angel’s way of referring to genuine
words of God.12
Other Associations of ‘True’ With
God. Peter indicated that the grace of
God in which believers stand is “true”
(real, genuine; 1 Pet. 5:12).13
God’s ways of ruling and administering
wrathful judgments on the
wicked and aspects of their godless
world system are declared to be true
(done in harmony with absolute truth;
Rev. 15:3; 16:7; 19:2).14
Associations
of ‘Truth’ With God
Associations With God Personally.
When the Lord passed by Moses on
Mount Sinai, He said, “The LORD, The
LORD God, . . . abundant in . . .
truth” (Ex. 34:6). God thereby indicated
that truth is an essential aspect of
His nature.15 The fact that God is
“abundant” in truth implies that He
is the fountainhead or ultimate
source of truth. Thus truth is “the
very essence of God”; and truth “has
its essence in God.”16
God referred to Himself twice as
“the God of truth” in Isaiah 65:16.
He thereby emphasized the fact that
He is the God who really exists in
contrast with all other gods, which
are nonexistent.17
In response to the unique way God
led Abraham’s servant to find Rebekah
as a wife for Isaac, the servant referred
to the Lord God’s truth (Gen. 24:27).
He had in mind God’s dependability to
lead people in the right path to accomplish
His purpose.18
Moses declared that God is “a God of
truth” (Dt. 32:4), totally dependable.19
David referred to God as “LORD
God of truth” (Ps. 31:5), indicating
that He is the “Guarantor of moral
and legal standards.”20 David also
declared that God is “plenteous in
. . . truth” (Ps. 86:15). Since David
used the same Hebrew words that
God used for Himself in Exodus
34:6, he was asserting that truth is
an essential aspect of God’s nature
and that He is the fountainhead or
ultimate source of truth. Because
truth is an essential aspect of God’s
nature and He is the fountainhead
or ultimate source of truth, the Lord
can reveal “the abundance of . . .
truth” (Jer. 33:6).
Because God is eternal (Dt. 33:27; Ps.
90:2) and unchangeable (Mal. 3:6) and
truth is an essential aspect of His
nature, then His truth “endureth to all
generations” (Ps. 100:5) and “endureth
forever” (Ps. 117:2). God “keepeth
truth forever” (Ps. 146:6). This means
that God’s truth is eternal. It will never
change, and God will never deviate
from His truth.
Associations With the Word of
God. Because God’s truth is eternal
and will never change and because
God will never deviate from His
truth, then the verbal statements of
His eternal truths that God has
revealed to mankind are eternal. They
will never change, and God will never
deviate from them. Thus Psalm 119:89
declares, “Forever, O LORD, thy word
is settled in heaven.”
Jacob called all the verbal promises
and instructions that God had
revealed to him “all the truth, which
thou hast shown unto thy servant”
(Gen. 32:10).
Ethan the Ezrahite recorded how
God in His truth had sworn verbal
loving-kindnesses unto David (Ps.
89:49). Psalm 132:11 indicates that
God had sworn a verbal promise in
truth to David and “will not turn from
it.” Both of these passages emphasize
that God is absolutely dependable
and keeps His Word.
For this reason the Lord moved
Balaam to state, “God is not a man,
that he should lie; . . . Hath he said,
and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good?”
(Num. 23:19). In line with this statement,
the Scriptures assert that in the
future, God will “perform the truth”
that He swore to Abraham and Jacob
long ago (Mic. 7:20).
When God glorifies Himself by
keeping promises He has made or fulfilling
revealed prophecies of future
events, He demonstrates that His
Word is truth (Ps. 115:1).
The Scriptures declare that God’s
“law is the truth” (Ps. 119:142), all His
“commandments are truth” (Ps.
119:151) and “are done in truth” (Ps.
111:7–8), and His “counsels of old are
. . . truth” (Isa. 25:1).
A heavenly being revealed to
Daniel things that were recorded in
“the scripture of truth” (literally, “the
writing of truth”; Dan. 10:21). This
verse refers to a written record of
truth in heaven concerning future
events that God had decreed. These
events that were certain to occur
became part of the Scriptures as
Daniel recorded them in chapters
11—12 of his book.21
Jesus declared that God’s “word is
truth” (Jn. 17:17). Paul referred to “the
truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:5) and
claimed that his apostolic teaching was
“in truth, the word of God” and “not as
the word of men” (1 Th. 2:13).
Other Associations of ‘Truth’
With God. All God’s “works are
done in truth” (Ps. 33:4). In the
future God “will direct” Israel’s
“work in truth” (Isa. 61:8). King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon declared
that all God’s “works are truth”
(Dan. 4:37). God’s judgment “is according
to truth” (Rom. 2:2). Believers
know “the grace of God in truth”
(Col. 1:6). God dwelling in Jerusalem
will cause it to “be called a city of
truth” (Zech. 8:3).
Conclusion
This study prompts the following
conclusion expressed by Jack B. Scott:
“It becomes manifestly clear that there
is no truth in the biblical sense, i.e.
valid truth, outside God. All truth
comes from God and is truth because it
is related to God.”22
E N D N O T E S
1 Jack B. Scott, “emet,” Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris (Chicago: Moody Press,
1980), 1:52.
2 Gottfried Quell, “emet,” Theological Dictionary of the
New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1964), 1:232.
3 Ibid., 234–235.
4 Ibid., 233.
5 Scott, “emunah,” “omen,” 1:52.
6 Rudolf Bultmann, “aletheia,” “alethes,” “alethinos,”
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard
Kittel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 1:242–245,
247–249.
7 Quell, 236.
8 William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, “alethinos,”
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957), 36.
9 Quell, 236.
10 Arndt and Gingrich, “pistos,” 670.
11 Arndt and Gingrich, “alethinos,” 36.
12 Bultmann, 249.
13 Arndt and Gingrich, “alethes,” 36.
14 Arndt and Gingrich, “alethinos,” 36.
15 Scott, “emet,” 52.
16 Quell, 237.
17 Bultmann, 249.
18 Scott, “emet,” 52.
19 Scott, “emunah,” 52.
20 Quell, 236.
21 John F. Walvoord, Daniel (Chicago: Moody Press,
1971), 250.
22 Scott, “emet,” 53.
 Dr. Renald E. Showers is an author and an international conference speaker for the Friends of Israel.
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