TRUTH, TRUE

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”

And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life,

no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 8:32; 14:6

            This is the translation of the Greek words aletheia and aletes. The words are a compound made up of lanthano which means “to escape notice, to be unknown, unseen hidden, concealed,” and the Greek letter Alpha prefixed. When a Greek wants to make a word mean the opposite to what it originally meant, he prefixes the Greek letter Alpha. For instance, dikaios means “righteous,” adikaios, “unrighteous.” Thus lanthano means “hidden, concealed,” and alanthano means “unhidden, unconcealed.” The Greek idea of truth is therefore that which is unconcealed, unhidden, that which will bear scrutiny and investigation, that which is open to the light of day.

            Thayer defines aletheia the noun (truth) as follows; “verity, truth, what is true in any matter under consideration.” In reference to religion, the word denotes “what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man.” When used of the body of truth in Christianity, it refers to the taught as taught therein respecting God and the execution of His purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposed alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles, the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers. It is used also of that candor of mind which is free from affectation, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit. It is also used of sincerity of mind and integrity of character, also of a mode of life in harmony with divine truth. The noun aletheia (truth), the verb aletheuo (to speak the truth), and the adjective alethes (true), are all translated in the N.T., by the words “truth” or “true.” There is another word alethinos which is also translated by the word “true,” but which has an added content of meaning that throws further light upon the places where it is used.

            The word alethinos, used twenty two times in John’s writings and only five times in the rest of the N.T., means, “that which has not only the name and semblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name.” It is particularly used to express that which is all that it pretends to be, for instance, pure gold as opposed to adulterated metal. In every respect it corresponds to the idea signified by the name. It is real and true, genuine. It is opposed to that which is fictitious, counterfeit imaginary, simulated and pretended. It is what we mean by the expression, “All wool and a yard wide.” It contrasts realities with semblances. It is opposed to that which is imperfect, defective, frail uncertain. The differences between alethes, and the word alethinos are covered up in the A.V., since both are translated by the one word “true.”

            For instance, in John 3:33 and Rom. 3:4, God is the alethes God in that He cannot lie (Tit. 1:2). He is the truth-speaking and the truth-loving God. But in I Thes. 1:9 and John 17:3, He is the alethinos God. He is not like idols and other false gods that are the product of the diseased fancy of man. But a God who in His completeness of Being has the real nature corresponding to the name. He is in His Being all that the term “God” implies. In every respect He corresponds to the idea which is signified by the term “God.” In the words of the Nicene Creed, the Lord Jesus is very God of very God. The Latin Vulgate distinguishes between the word alethes and alethinos by the use of verax for the former, and the word verus (very) for the latter. By the words “Very God of Very God” we mean therefore that the >lord Jesus is alethinos God. He is in His Being all that the term “God” implies. We have almost lost the word verus (very) as an adjective, retaining it only as an adverb. Thus the word “truth” must do duty for both words, with a consequent loss of part of the meaning of the second word. Wycliffe’s translation of John 15:1 is, “I am the verri vine,” that is, the alethinos vine, the vine that corresponds in all details to what one would expect of the Lord Jesus as a Vine. This does not deny that Israel also was God’s vine (Ps. 80:8; Jer. 2:21). But it does imply that no vine except the Lord Jesus realized this name in the sense that He was all that the name implied, and that to the full.

                                                           (Wuest’s Word Studies, Vol. iii, pag. 88, 89)