I. INTRODUCTION 

One of the primary New Testament passages that instructs the believer to be a man or woman of truth is found in Ephesians 4:25. 

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are all members of one another. 

As you can see by close observation of this passage, this is a fairly simple-to-understand (and direct!) portion of Scripture written to Christ followers. It doesn’t take a whole lot of explanation for you to catch and understand at least three aspects of this passage: 

1. The Clear Contrast: laying aside falsehood 
2. The Candid Command: speak truth each one of you with his neighbor 
3. The Causal Concern: for we are all members of one another 

In context, this passage relates to the body of Christ, and how truth impacts that institution, the Church. Little stretching is required to realize how, by way of the application of this principle, this passage profoundly relates to whether the institution of Government works efficiently and effectively as well. This portion of Scripture summarily brings to our attention that

God’s ordained institutions are built up or diminished in direct proportion to the truthfulness of their members! 

The degree to which you understand truth and live according to its biblical definition is the degree to which God will honor you—and the degree to which, relative to your calling to leadership in the State, you will either edify and build-up or diminish God’s ordained institution of Civil Government. 

More broadly, what does Scripture have to say about this subject of truth? Here are some selected, pertinent passages that I have organized theologically to broaden your understanding and perspective. I hope to overwhelm your conscience with the conviction to be a truth teller at all times. There is always a better way than lying. 

II. DEFINING TRUTH IN GENERAL

A. TRUTH STANDS IN CONTRAST TO LYING 

Ephesians 4:25: Laying aside all falsehood, speak truth. 

1 John 2:21: I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 

Indwelled by the Holy Spirit at salvation, the believer possesses a new imputed nature that is characterized by a desire, among many other strengths, to be truthful. For a believer to tell a lie is to enter the world of conscientious conviction enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit Who illumines the mind to truth or falsehood. 

B. TRUTH IS PERSONIFIED IN JESUS CHRIST 

John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” 

Truth is a communicable attribute of God as is evidenced in the next point in our outline. If we are to be Christ-like we must reflect His very nature of veracity. 

C. TRUTH IS TESTFIED TO BY THE HOLY SPIRIT 

John 15:26: “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” 

In consideration of points B and C, whenever an unbeliever speaks about truth, he is in essence, acknowledging the existence and validity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the Personification, Author, and Testifier of truth; at the same time, he is suppressing attribution to the Personification, Author and Testifier of truth (cf. Romans 1:18–22). Are secularists not plagiarists, refusing to give approbation in their self-righteous aura—as if truth stems from (in essence) their subjective personal opinions? 

Truth is a communicable attribute of God’s very nature, not fallen man’s flawed opinions. 

Here then is a form of hubris and self-glorification. Indeed, all pronouncements of truth should be either directly or indirectly attributed to Almighty God: they are exclusive emanations and emulations of His very existence and glory! Per the proposition of these passages, staunch truth-telling unbelievers have in essence borrowed from and formed a conviction based upon God’s very nature, even though they simultaneously deny the Author of it! 

D. TRUTH IS A SYNONYM OF BOTH THE GOSPEL AND THE WORD 

Luke 1:4: So that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. 

This passage is Luke’s prologue to the gospel narrative that goes by his name. Herein he states the reason he wrote his gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ. To deny his gospel account of Christ or the veracity of the Word of God is to call Luke a liar because he is saying the Gospel is true. 

E. TRUTH IS A NECESSARY REQUIREMENT FOR WORSHIPPING GOD 

John 4:23: “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” 

John 4:24: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

It saddens my heart to see people attempt to worship God apart from biblical knowledge and truth about Him. 

All attempts to worship Him, if you know not the truth about Him, are unfortunately naïve, meaningless and self-deceiving. No matter how sincere you may strive to be in worshipping God, worship of Him can never be fully achieved apart from possessing truthful knowledge about Who He is! 

F. TRUTH IS INEXTRICABLY CONNECTED TO LOVE 

Proverbs 3:3: Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 

Ephesians 4:15: But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. 

1 Corinthians 13:6: Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. 

3 John 1: … whom I love in truth. 

1 John 3:18: Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 

It is impossible to be a loving person if you are not a truthful person.

G. CONSTANT LIARS ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH SATAN 

John 8:44: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” 

Those who consistently lie and have no remorse about lying are not followers of Christ, no matter what banner they may fly under. Scripture clearly testifies that those characterized by lying are under the domain of Satan. “You will know them by their fruits,” states Matthew 7:20. The proposition borne out by this week’s main passage under study, Ephesians 4:25 is this: We speak truth [in part, because] … we are members of one another. The inference here is obvious: if we lie to each other, we hurt the body of Christ! By way of application of the principle of the passage, and as stated previously, it certainly hurts the body of the State also! When a Christian lies, it has negative ramifications in the Capitol community. Note the following: 

1 Peter 1:22: Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. 

3 John 4: I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. 

III. TRUTH AS IT RELATES TO SALVATION

A. IT IS SYNONYMOUS WITH AND CHARACTERISTIC OF TRUE SALVATION 

Ephesians 1:13: In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. 

Colossians 1:5: Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel. 

2 Timothy 2:25: With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. 

Those who are truly born from above will possess a deep-seated conviction about not lying, in part because it bothers their conscience. In their God-given humility, they will always repent and turn from it because God’s attribute of truth has been imputed to them at the point of their salvation; truthfulness is now part of their new nature in Christ! It follows in contrast that they have now come to their senses and [have] escape[d] from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him [prior to their salvation] to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26). We should not act surprised when unbelievers habitually and continually lie; it is biblically predictable. 

B. IT IS DESCRIPTIVE OF ELECTION TO SALVATION 

What follows is a continuation of the above theme. John 18:37 states, Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 

2 Thessalonians 2:13: But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 

1 Timothy 2:4: Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

Titus 1:1: Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness. 

Do you tend to habitually lie? Genuine believers do not habitually lie. Check to see if you are really of the faith if in evaluating yourself you habitually lie. 

James 1:18: In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

IV. TRUTH AS IT RELATES TO SANCTIFICATION

A. IT IS THE MEDIUM OF MATURITY VIA THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

John 16:13: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” 

John 17:17: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” 

The believer is sanctified–that is, he or she grows in Christlikeness–via the intake of the Word of God, here said to be synonymous with truth. The following passage contains the same idea (in the context of rejecting false teachers and their teachings): 

Galatians 2:5: But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. 

Sanctification is based on the intake of the Word. And yes, spiritual growth is more than knowledge (it requires application of knowledge), at the same sanctification cannot be achieved apart from knowledge—biblical knowledge that is based in truth. This is why you will notice that the most spiritually mature individuals are also committed students of the Bible and participate in Bible studies. 

Spiritual maturity is more than knowledge, but it is nothing less than knowledge. 

B. IT IS TO BE UTILIZED IN CORRECTION 

Galatians 4:16: So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 

2 Timothy 3:16–17: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 

James 5:19–20: My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. 

C. IT IS A SIGN OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY 

John 17:19: “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” 

Galatians 5:7: You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 

2 Peter 1:12: Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. 

Truth is a basic building block for attaining spiritual maturity; truth is what establishes you as a believer. Nothing can replace it in terms of spiritually maturing a believer. 

Truth to the maturing believer is like what protein powder is to a body builder 

D. IT IS A KEY TO JOYOUS LIVING 

John 8:32: “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”

E. IT IS PART OF THE BELIEVER’S ARMOR 

Ephesians 6:14: Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. 

F. IT IS DEPICTING OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH 

1 Timothy 3:15: But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 

In addition to the Church, God established four other ordained institutions— marriage, family, government and commerce. Nowhere in the Bible are any of these other institutions identified as being the pillar and support of the truth. This is an important consideration: such a title is reserved exclusively for the institution of the Church. It is therefore the causal institution for change in society, whereas the other four are reflective of the health of the Church. And the degree to which the institution of the Church walks in the truth of Scripture is the degree to which it affects the world for God’s purposes. 

V. TRUTH AS IT RELATES TO TRUE AND FALSE TEACHERS

A. IT IS CHARACTERISTIC OF LEGITIMATE PASTORS 

1 Timothy 2:7: For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 

2 Timothy 2:15: Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 

B. ITS REJECTION IS CHARACTERISTIC OF FALSE TEACHERS 

1 Timothy 4:3: Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 

1 Timothy 6:5: And constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. 

2 Timothy 2:18: Men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 

2 Timothy 3:7: Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

2 Timothy 3:8: Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 

Are you a part of a biblically solid church where the pastor teaches the whole counsel of God— or do you out of family traditions or for other reasons—go to a church that is led by a false teacher who doesn’t teach biblical truth? 

VI. TRUTH AS IT RELATES TO DAMNATION

A. UNBELIEVERS REJECT IT 

2 Thessalonians 2:12: In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 

Hebrews 10:26: For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. 

2 Timothy 4:4: And will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 

B. IT IS MALIGNED BY THE PRACTICE OF SENSUALITY 

2 Peter 2:2: Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. 

Sensuality (aselgeia meaning “sexual lusts”) blinds people from truth. It dulls the spiritual senses. The pursuit of sexual fulfillment (outside of marriage) becomes their god, or what they worship, and it stymies them from the truth and sanctifying aspects of the gospel (cf. Romans 1:26–28). 

C. THOSE WHO BESMIRCH GOD’S COMMANDS ARE KEPT FROM IT 

1 John 1:6: If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 

1 John 1:8: If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 

1 John 2:4: The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 

D. NON-CHRISTIANS DENY IT 

1 John 4:6: We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 

The closer the concept of truth gets to the heart of the Gospel and the person of Christ, the greater the degree of rejection. The secularist desires and greatly appreciates the benefits afforded them by the substance of truth. For example, the absolutes of science always come out the same and are predictable because truth is objective and unchanging. But nonetheless the secularist who enjoys the absolute predictability of truth often rejects the Author of the world of absolutes and ensuing predictability. Again, they are plagiarists. 

Romans 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 

Don’t be like the duplicitous secularist who borrows absolutes when they serve his purpose but suppresses them when they’re inconvenient. 

VII. CONCLUSION 

Today, more than ever, those who name the name of Christ need to speak truth in love—and all that it entails—to both curtail division and build-up one another. Unity is critically important for you who hold office and embrace biblical precepts– especially because you hold the keys to America’s turnaround; therefore, you must be on the same page. Being fundamentally truthful is a big part of that! 

My intention in this study has been to overwhelm you with a myriad of passages that speak of the preeminence and importance of truth in the life of the believer with the prayerful hope that in so doing the Holy Spirit will bring to you a refreshing and revitalized commitment to work on your truth quotient. Truth is such a foundational and important building block in our lives and our Chistian journey if we are to grow and reflect Christlikeness in our quickly depreciating society. 

 

1. Josh Christenson, “Ex-intel officials who smeared Post’s report on Hunter’s laptop as ‘Russian disinfo’ stand by signed letter: ‘Patriotic,’” June 10, 2024, New York Post; https://nypost.com/2024/06/10/us-news/ex-intel-officials-who-smeared-posts-report-on-hunters-laptop-as-russian-disinfo-stand-by-signing-letter-patriotic/ 

2. Ibid.