We believe the Scriptures are true, that they, being inspired by God,

cannot but be true.  The Saviour Himself said 'Thy Word is truth', and

therefore, if our definitions of reality given above hold, then the

Scriptures will reveal the reality that underlies appearances.  But here we

must pause.  Take for example the simple statement 'grass is green'.  That

surely is a true statement, at least at certain times of the year.  Yet most

readers are aware that the 'greenness' of grass is but the reflection back to

the eye of the beholder of certain selected rays of light.  If we bounce a

ball against a wall, we do not confuse the ball with the wall, and if light

bounces against a blade of grass, we should not confuse the green rays of

light, with that which is but a reflector.  We would take this matter further

by saying that there is no actual 'greenness' in light itself, that quality

is but the product made by the impinging upon the retina of the eye of a

certain number of light vibrations per second.  All this, while it may

mystify some, will but show that it is one thing to say 'truth reveals

underlying reality', but in most cases, everyday matter of fact truth is

satisfied with a less scientific statement of appearance.  If we turn to the

Scriptures, we read in John 1:36 that John the Baptist looking on Jesus as He

walked, said 'Behold the Lamb of God'.  This is a most blessed truth.  It

reveals the fact that all the types and shadows of the Levitical law of

sacrifice were fulfilled in the one Offering of the Son of God, yet for all

that, we are dealing in symbolic language and not the language of pure

science.  A lamb is a member of a family of quadrupeds, or four -footed

beasts, of the genus Ovis, and though John the Baptist spoke sublime and

wondrous truth, when he said 'Behold the Lamb of God', he meant something

different from and more than the actual words contain, if taken literally.

This brings us to the third point mentioned in the preceding section,

namely that Truth is concerned with 'relationship' and this is perhaps its

fuller and deeper intent.  'Grass is green', if by the statement I speak of

the 'relation' of greenness which is associated with grass.  Christ is the

Lamb of God, if by the statement I speak of His 'relation' to Old Testament

type and shadow and the gracious purpose of redeeming Love.  If I speak of

'moral truth', I deal with the 'relation' of man to man, and of man to God;

if I speak of 'evangelical truth' I speak of man's relationship as a sinner

or believer to God's message of salvation addressed to faith that constitutes

the Gospel.  So I speak of 'Dispensational truth' and mean the 'relation' of

God to man at any particular period of the outworking of His purposes.

We must make one further step in the endeavour to unravel this

complexity and show how the two meanings of the word 'relate' are comprised

in the ministry of truth.

Ordinary language.  The art of reading, narrating or

A connection perceived or imagined between things.

A connection by birth or by marriage.

Truth is the relating, or recital of, relation in any given matter:

'The word relation has many senses, most of which are abstract.  It

approaches the concrete in the rather rare sense of a story or a

narrative, and it is fully concrete in the very common sense -- a

related person' (Fowler).