"What is truth?"
"For this I came into the world…to bear witness to the truth"
Ever heard Pilate's famous reply, "what is truth?" to Jesus scorned by JWs? 'What a fool he was, blinded by Roman and Greek philosophies and his upper-class education, no doubt.' Nevertheless, it was a good question, and it’s a shame for us Jesus didn't attempt to answer it.
If he had answered, what might he have said? What would you say?
Definitions of 'truth' from OED.
1. The fact or facts; the actual state of the case; the matter or circumstance as it really is. True statement or account; that which is in accordance with the fact. Conformity with fact; agreement with reality
This is closest to a scientific definition. I infer a gathering of information, and a collective process. I do not think Jesus meant this, but it's likely to have crossed Pilate's mind.
2. The character of being, or disposition to be, true to a person, principle, cause etc
As a soldier and statesman, Pilate may have associated truth with obedience, service, and self-sacrifice to the cause of Rome. Jesus too, may have agreed with this definition, not likely referring to Rome, but what about Israel? More likely, he meant trueness to his father in heaven, something in his case much closer to being true to one's self, so very different from Pilate's 'thought', especially when we recall that he 'found no fault with' Jesus, and passed the buck to Herod. Jesus also taught that it was the Holy Spirit who (or which) would reveal truth, "the spirit of the truth" (John 14:17 and 15:26) which seems a similar idea.
3. Agreement with a standard or rule; accuracy, correctness; accuracy of position or adjustment.
I don't know if this 'workman's sense of truth was used in Jesus day, but assuming it was, that builders and carpenters referred to correct levels and angles as 'true', is this what he meant? Perhaps the scriptures were Jesus' standard of truth, his level. However, since he railed against the Pharisees for making these 'invalid', and was so radical in his use of scripture, it seems to me that he would have found this definition too worldly and more of a conservative Pharisaic thought.
The WTBTS sense of truth comes between 2 and 3 for practical purposes: trueness being adherence to a person, principle, or cause (the WTBTS), in conjunction with conservative standards. There is an article in Insight which starts with a Hebrew definition: "['emeth']…that which is firm, trustworthy, stable, faithful, true, or established as fact." -- the sort of truth which never frightens the horses. It goes into a wide range of 'truth' usages in the Greek and Hebrew scriptures without discussing any English definitions, which seems a significant omission. However, JWs who may be questioning their faith will be pleased to learn that nowhere in the article is there a mention of the faithful and discreet slave, far less obedience to mommy equating to truth! That's a VERY significant omission.
Well done Aid to Bible Understanding (and Insight).
philo