Relative Truth in the Bible

Postmodern culture has popularized the idea that 'truth is relative,' meaning that each individual or culture defines its own truth. Scripture rejects this view radically. John 14:6 records the declaration of Jesus: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.' Truth is therefore not a human construction; it is a person, Jesus Christ himself. John 17:17 adds, in the Lord's own prayer: 'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.' Relativism is incompatible with the Christian faith, because if everything is true then nothing is. To affirm that 'truth is relative' is itself an internal contradiction, for that very statement presents itself as an absolute truth. Scripture warns against blind confidence in subjective perception. Proverbs 14:12 cautions: 'There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.' Our feelings do not determine reality; God alone defines what is true and good. Biblical truth is not a prison but a liberation. John 8:32 promises: 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' If truth were relative, no one could be genuinely free, for there would be no stable foundation for any value or right. Living in a culture that speaks of 'your truth' and 'my truth' requires the believer to remember that Jesus did not say 'I am one truth among many,' but 'I am the truth.' The Christian faith rests upon objective truths that do not shift with passing fashions.