The Scriptures do not give us any formal definition of truth, but

conviction grows with inquiry, and assurance with understanding.  When we

come to the New Testament we find 'Truth' indissolubly linked with the Person

and Work of Christ:

'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that

I should bear witness unto the truth.  Every one that is of the truth

heareth My voice' (John 18:37).

It was in reply to this blessed statement that Pilate asked the question

'What is truth?'  It is evident from the words of Christ, that truth is

involved in His incarnation, in the purpose for which He became man, laid

aside His glory, stooped to the death of the cross.  All His teaching,

preaching and exhortation is summed up by Himself as bearing 'witness unto

the Truth', and salvation, new birth, justification, forgiveness and life,

together with faith, repentance and acceptance are comprehended under the

words 'Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice'.

Beginning with the word 'truth' in our own language, we find that it

signifies that which the speaker 'trows' or believes to be true, so we have

the word 'troth', a variant of trow or truth, and this enters into the word

'betroth'.  These words stress the idea of faithfulness, and so form a link

with the Hebrew word, which has come into our language in the form of the

word 'Amen'.  This word and its derivatives are translated in the Authorized

Version by 'faith', 'faithful' and the like.  If the Hebrew word gives us a

feeling of assurance, something upon which we may rest, something that is

faithful, something we can unhesitatingly believe, the Greek word gives a

more philosophic insight into the character of the truth for which we must be

grateful.  Alethes and aletheia are compounds of the negative particle a, and

lanthano 'to lie hid'.  Truth, according to the Greek word is something

unconcealed, unhidden, manifest.  It brings to light that which would be

otherwise unknown and unperceived.  Lanthano occurs in Hebrews 13:2

'unawares' and in 2 Peter 3:5,8 'ignorant'.  In the form lethe it is used in

2 Peter 1:9 with the meaning of 'forgotten', and readers may remember the

Greek myth,

'Lethe the river of oblivion, rolls

Her watery labyrinth, which whoso drinks

Forgets both joy and grief' (Milton P.L. ii).

Lethe enters into the composition of the word 'lethargy', and lathra

occurs in the New Testament where it is translated 'privily' and 'secretly'.

In the English, Hebrew and Greek we have presented the two aspects of all

truth.  There is the subjective side, 'Are you good men and true?' that is,

trustworthy, faithful, dependable; and there is the objective side, the

conformity of notions or statements to things.  We can with what we have so

far ascertained, make one important step forward in our quest.  We can place

truth in a category.  We can classify it, we can place it under the heading

Revelation, for it is the opposite of that which is hidden or concealed.

Three forms of the Greek word demand a little further examination, they are

aletheia, alethes and alethinos.

Aletheia.  Of the 110 occurrences of this word in the New

Testament 107 are translated 'truth' in the Authorized Version, the remaining

occurrences being rendered 'verity', 'true' and 'truly'.

Truth has been defined as 'revealed reality':