Sometimes we hear arguments about “who has the truth”. People accuse other people along the lines, “You think you are the only ones who have the truth”. Pilate asked, somewhat cynically, "What is truth?"
The “truth” is God's “will”. The truth, at its source, is in the mind of God. Since no mortal can read God's mind (1Co 2:11), the only way any of us can “have the truth” is for it to be revealed to us by God. God's Spirit must communicate the mind of God to us accurately and in a manner that we can properly examine and understand. Only then are we in possession of the truth
In reality, therefore, everybody has the truth who has access to the Bible, for it provides the truth concerning Christ and the things of Christ. Nobody has any advantage over the other, because we all depend upon our ability to interpret and understand the Bible in order to “have the truth”. Traditionally churches of Christ have regarded the Bible, and the Bible alone, as the
The Roman church added its own laws and traditions to the scripture, and the writings of popes became regarded as the word of God. They were doing what Jesus condemned the Phraisees for doing: "You have invalidated the word of God with your tradition"
The Protestant reformation produced schisms, and they wrote creeds which they consider the truth. They even attribute the formulation of these creeds to the leading of the Holy Spirit. They have thus compromised their worthy tradition of regarding the Bible as the only word of truth and have contradicted themselves. They ought to have shunned written creeds in favour of the Bible. They acknowlege Christ as "the way, the truth, and the life"
Some two centuries after the Protestant Reformation, a new movement of "latter day" sects began to emerge. Christian Science, Seventh Day Adventism, the Mormons, Christian Israelites, are some of these. Most latter day sects have this in common: they hold the writings and utterances of their founders as inspired. They claim to hold the Bible as the word of truth yet compromise that position and contradict themselves by adding the words of their own prophets to the literature they regard as sacred and divinely inspired. They would say that we do not have "all scripture inspired by God"
In our own modern times, there is a new movement which in yet another way is guilty of the same. This movement tends to ignore the old creeds, and the denominational boundaries associated with them. The mainstream of this movement holds the Bible to be God's word. However its followers produce every day countless thousands of utterances (whether in normal language or in glossolalia) which are claimed to be direct revelations of the Spirit. This also compromises and contradicts the belief that the Bible is the only "word of truth". Instead, each person has his and her own truth, personally whispered by God, spoken by an angel, or seen in a vision
But lest we think that churches of Christ today are champions of the truth and do not fall into the same error as the catholics, protestants, latter day sects, and charismatic fellowships, perhaps we had better take pause. Let us examine whether we ourselves don't have our own peculiar form of the same anomaly which I have been discussing. Let's point the finger not only at popes, creeds, or
None of us can claim to “have the truth” except insofar as we have understood the word of Christ correctly. Let us not substitute our thinking for his truth but rather give diligence to conform our thinking to his truth, and to be tolerant and supportive of those who are doing likewise. Then we will not compromise our tradition of “Bible only” or “simply Bible” and contradict ourselves by insisting that our interpretations and understanding be regarded as the truth. The question is not whether we have the truth but whether we understand it properly. That must always remain an open question, to be answered by going to where the truth is... "Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth"