What Does John 18:38 Mean?
Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Judeans, and said to them, I find no cause in him at all.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.THE KEY
The question of truth remains open, yet what is true can already be recognized.
THE MEANING
Truth can be present before you can fully define it: the absence of a charge is clear even while the question of truth hangs unanswered. The verse holds the tension between recognizing what is true and explaining what truth means.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that truth must be fully explained before it can be recognized.
THE ROOT
ἀλήθεια
alētheia
GROWS FROM
ἀληθ- (alēth-), in a word-family traditionally linked with λανθάνω (lanthanō)
Truth, what is real; the word history echoes what is no longer hidden.
The Greek word can point beyond a definition to what is real and open to witness. Here, the unanswered question does not make truth absent: Jesus has just spoken of bearing witness to it, and Pilate names no charge.
ALSO GROWS
alēthēs: true, truthful
ἀληθής
The adjective carries truth into what can be said or testified as real.
alētheuō: speak or act truthfully
ἀληθεύω
This verb makes truth something expressed, not only something defined.
αἰτία
aitia
GROWS FROM
αἰτι-
aiti-
Cause, basis, responsibility, or charge.
The Greek word can mean a cause or basis as well as an accusation. Pilate’s statement is that he finds no grounds for a charge against Jesus.
ALSO GROWS
aitios: responsible, at fault, or the cause
αἴτιος
This branch links a charge with the question of who or what is responsible.
aitiaomai: accuse or blame
αἰτιάομαι
This verb shows the word-family at work in the act of bringing a charge.
THE PATTERN
Truth is encountered inwardly, spoken outwardly, and has consequences for freedom.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward parts; and in the sealed place you make me perceive wisdom.These are the things you shall do. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor, and judge the judgment of truth and wholeness in your gates.And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.THE THREAD
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.John uses the same Greek word, alētheia, for truth. Here it stands beside an unanswered question and a finding of no charge; there, knowing this same truth is linked with freedom.
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