Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
All Commentaries on John 18:38 Go To John 18
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Pilate saith unto Him, What is truth? Pilate supposed Christ to be a philosopher or prophet, who speculated about truth. And therefore he asked Him what that truth was to which He was born to bear witness. But this was not much to the point which he was aiming at, viz, the deliverance of Jesus, who was a grave, wise, and innocent man. And therefore he thought on a very fitting means for His deliverance. For he was about to set free one at the feast; and therefore compared Jesus and Barabbas, in order that the Jews should rather ask for Jesus than Barabbas. He therefore rushed out to propose it to them.
Symbolically. What is truth? S. Augustine answers (in Sententi, 386), "Truth is God Himself, who is the primal source of life, and the primal essence, as He is the highest wisdom. For He is that unchangeable truth which is rightly termed "the law of all arts, and the art of the Almighty Artificer."" And also (Epist. ix.), "The truth held by Christians is incomparably more beautiful than Helen of Greece. For our martyrs contended more boldly in its behalf against this Sodom of ours, than these heroes fought for her against Troy." Nay, Christ Himself died as the first martyr for the truth.
What is truth? Hear Lactantius (de Ira Dei, cap. ii.) pointing out its three steps. (1.) The first is to know what religions are false, and to cast aside the impious worship of gods made by man"s hands. (2.) To understand that there is one supreme God, whose power and providence created the world at the first, and governed it afterwards. (3.) To recognise His minister and messenger and delegate to man. By whose teaching we shall be set free from the error in which we were entangled, that being fashioned for the worship of the true God we might learn righteousness.
What is truth? "I am the way, the Truth, and the life." (John xiv.)
What is truth? It is the very highest good, says S. Basil in Antonius, surnamed Melissa.*;
What is truth? It is God, says S. Dionysius, inasmuch as He is in His nature one only, and not many. For the truth is one—falsehood is manifold.
What is truth? It is the faculty which brings to the light things which are shrouded in darkness, says Philo.
What is truth? The mightiest of all things, says Nazianzen (Orat. xiii.)
What is truth? It is a firm apprehension of an object in the mind, says S. Chrysostom. Hence the saying of Zorobabel, 3Esdr3, "A king is strong, wine is strong, but truth is strongest of all." And chap iv36 , "All the earth invokes truth, heaven also blesses it, and all things are moved by, and tremble at it;" and vcr40 , "There is no iniquity in its judgment, but strength and sovereignty and power, and the majesty of all ages. Blessed be the God of truth." Accordingly, Alphonso King of Arragon says, "Truth ought to be innate in all men. But it ought to be the chief ornament of kings, so that a single word of a prince ought to be of as great weight for settling the truth as the oath of private men." (See Panormitan. de Gentis Alphonsi, lib1.) Hence the Jewish High Priest bore written on his breastplate (rationali) Urim and Thummim. Exodus 28:30.
The Gentiles saw this in shadow (Stobus, Serm. xi.), and Menander says, Truth is a citizen of heaven, and alone enjoys converse with the gods.
Plato used to term "Truth" a most sweet mode of speech. Iamblicus speaks of it as "conversant with the gods and their purity of action." schines, "So mighty is truth, that it transcends all human thought." Plato again (de Legg. v.), "Truth is the guide to all good both in gods and men. Every one who would hereafter be good and happy ought to have a share in it, in order to live as long as he can a life of truthfulness." Trismegistus, "Truth exists only in eternal subsistences; and those subsistences are themselves true. All things therefore on earth are not truth itself, but merely its imitations and shadows. Truth is the most perfect virtue and the very highest good, which is neither disquieted with matter, nor encompassed with a body, but is pure, conspicuous, august, unchangeable, and unalterable good." Plutarch (in Antonius, cap. xxi.) says, "equality is tested by a balance, but truth by reasons of philosophy." And Evagrius (ibid.), "To keep back the truth is to bury gold." And Democrittis, "Piety should be openly declared, and truth stedfastly defended." And Epictetus, "Nothing should be counted more precious than truth, not even friendship, as being under the influence of our feelings, which hinder what is just, and cast it into the shade." Whence the saying, "Plato is dear, but truth is dearer:" and also, "Truth is an eternal and undying thing, for it bestows not a beauty which will gradually fade, nor does it deprive us of that confidence which arises from justice. But it sets forth those things which are just and rightful, refuting and distinguishing from them those which are unjust." Demosthenes was asked, "What should men have which is like God?" and he answered, "To act kindly, and to love the truth." (Val. Max. viii.)
Pythagoras used to say, "The most gracious gifts bestowed by God on Prayer of Manasseh , were to embrace the truth, and to devote oneself to acts of kindness; for both these can be compared with the actions of the immortal gods." (lian, Var. Hist. lib. xii.)
*Cornelius says, "In Melissa," as though it were the name of a book. Antonius, a Greek monk, was called Melissa from the character of his sermons. The book from which these extracts are given is entitled "Loci communes de Virtutibus et Vitiis." He lived in c1140. See Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. ii. p219.
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