DISCOVERING REALITY

The Christian Approach to Truth
(1 John 1:1-4)

Rob Yule, Greyfriars' Senior Minister, is convinced that the Christian message has sound truth credentials and answers the search for reality pursued by the world’s greatest thinkers and philosophers. In this first message in a series on the first letter of John in the Bible, preached at the inaugural Classical Service at Greyfriars on 25 June 2006, Rob shows how God, the ultimate reality, has made himself known to us through the human person of Jesus, who we can encounter for ourselves in a life-transforming way.

How do we know what is real? How do we discover reality? How can we know what is true? Historically, there have been two different answers to these questions.

The Theoretical Approach to Truth

The first and most ancient path to truth is the theoretical or intellectual. This approach, represented by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in the 4th century BC, seeks truth by thinking, through the contemplation of universal ideas or forms. It is the search for truth in beauty, symmetry, or form.

Today, this would not only be the approach of Platonist philosophers, but of pure mathematicians and theoretical physicists. The greatest exponent of this path to truth in modern times would be the Jewish physicist Albert Einstein: a man who sought to plumb the depths of reality by intellectual reflection on the fundamental nature of the universe. Another example would be Roger Penrose, Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, who has just published The Road to Reality, a massive 1100 page 'complete guide to the laws of the universe'.

The Empirical Approach to Truth

The second path, represented by Aristotle, is the empirical or observational approach to truth: the examination of particular instances or facts; the search for truth by accumulating evidence or examples of general laws.

Aristotle was a pupil of Plato, but took a practical rather than a theoretical approach to knowledge. He was the greatest observer of the natural world in ancient times, especially in biology. He accurately observed, dissected and described nearly 600 species of animals, including insects, crustaceans, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds, all written up in 6 books. His observations in zoology were unsurpassed till the 19th century.

Today, this is the approach of the experimental and observational sciences. We live in an age where the achievements of science are quite extraordinary, studying the macroscopic universe out to the limits of its mind-boggling immensity, and the microscopic-world right down to below the atom and the gene.

The Personal Embodiment of Truth

The Christian approach to truth unites, fulfils, and goes beyond these two classical approaches to truth. We could call it the personal, or perhaps better, the incarnational, approach to truth. The Christian doctrine of the incarnation affirms that the two classical approaches to truth are united in a person: the one who said 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14:6).

Christianity emphasises that the Son of God became a human being. 'The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.' (John 1:14). There is a close similarity between this profound opening of the Gospel of John, and the simple opening of John's first letter. This letter to Christians in Asia Minor (modern western Turkey) was written by the apostle John when he was an old man towards the end of the 1st century AD.

In his simple opening words John summarises the Christian approach to truth. He tells how God's living Word entered our world so that we could experience his life-changing reality and share that reality with others.

Jesus is the living embodiment of truth. In his own person he combines and fulfils these classical approaches to truth and brings reality to us in a form in which we can discover his life-changing reality for ourselves. Jesus is reality personified: the ideal in the actual.

John says three things about Jesus and reality:

1. Jesus' pre-existence: he existed before us (1 John 1:1a, 2b)

John speaks of 'That which was from the beginning' (1 John 1:1a), '. . . the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us' (1 John 1:2b). This is what Christian theologians call Jesus' pre-existence.

What John is saying is that what is truly or ultimately real exists independently of us. From all eternity Jesus shared in God's glory and majesty, the peace and beauty of God's reality. He is the invisible Word or Logos, who existed before the universe was made. Through him everything was created, everything holds together, everything has meaning.

Einstein once said, 'The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.' The fact that the universe is comprehensible to our minds, means that there must be a mind behind it. Christians say that mind is Jesus Christ, God's living Word, whom John calls 'the Word of life' (1 John 1:1b).

2. Jesus' incarnation: he lived among us (1 John 1:1b-2a)

Ultimate reality is not afar off, unapproachable or unknowable. On the contrary, John testifies that he has met and experienced this reality for himself: 'That . . . which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched' (1b). 'The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it' (1 John 1:2a).

This is what theologians call Jesus' incarnation, his 'becoming flesh'. God's living Word entered into our world, was born as a human being, entered our humanity.

Einstein also said, 'To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty.'

Einstein admired Jesus. But these words of his are true in a way he never fully appreciated, and sum up exactly what Christians believe: that in Jesus the Jewish Messiah what is ultimately real manifests itself to us as the highest wisdom and most radiant beauty. As John says in his Gospel, 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory . . . full of grace and truth.' (John 1:14).

3. Jesus' message: he transforms us (1 John 1:2b-4)

Finally, John says that Jesus' message is life-transforming. It makes a difference in our lives.

'This we proclaim concerning the Word of life,' says John (1 John 1:1b). 'We proclaim to you the eternal life', he says (1 John 1:2b). 'We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard' (1 John 1:3a). This message is truly an evangelion, 'good news'. It's worth spreading and proclaiming, worth telling others about.

When you meet Jesus you discover reality. He changes your life. It is so motivating to discover that he is the truth, to encounter ultimate reality in a person, to have something or rather someone to live for. To encounter for yourself the one who holds the key to ultimate reality is something that grips you, changes your life, and motivates you to go and tell others.

When influential New Zealand distance-running coach Arthur Lydiard died, former world mile record-holder John Walker said, 'Arthur died doing what he loved best, preaching the gospel of distance running as the key to stamina and fitness in all sports.'

That should be able to be said of Christians - that we live and die doing what we love best, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ as the key to discovering reality and finding purpose in all of life.

The message of Jesus Christ can change your life. John says it gives us fellowship with God, and with one another. It's worth believing, and sharing with others. It makes our joy complete (1 John 1:4).

Rob Yule, 25 June 2006
© 2006, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church