Chapter 1
- The
Salvific Truth
1. The Truth is a person
When Pontius Pilate asked
Christ if He was King, the
Lord replied: "For
this cause I was born, and
for this cause I have come
into the world, that I
should bear witness to the
truth. Everyone who is of
the truth hears My voice.." (John 18:37)
Then Pilate asked: "What
is truth?"
(John 13:38)
But with this phrase, the
question was not posed
correctly. The truth
is not a thing, nor is it an
abstract meaning, so that we
might ask "what the
truth is". The truth
is not "something"; it is
"someone". It is not a
thing; it is a Person, and
that is the reason we must
ask "Who is the truth?"
The answer to this question
was given by Christ to His
disciples. He had told them
that He was going to His
Father and that He would
return to collect them and
lead them there, so that
they would thereafter all be
with Him. "where
I go you know" He said to
them, "and the
way you know " (John 14:3-4).
Then Thomas said to Him: "Lord,
we do not know where You are
going, and how can we know
the way?"
And the Lord replied to him:
"I am the Way and the
Truth and the Life;
no-one comes to the Father
except through Me. If
you had known Me, you would
have known My Father also;
and from now on you know Him
and have seen Him"
Then Philip said to Him: "Lord,
show us the Father, and it
is sufficient for us."
And Jesus said to him: "I
have been with you for so
long, and yet you have not
known Me, Philip?
He who has seen Me, has seen
the Father; so how can you
say 'show us the Father'?"
(John 14:5-9, cmp
Hebr.10:19-20)
All the above are proof that
Christ - when speaking of
the truth or the path that
leads to the Father Who is
Life itself - was speaking
of the same thing: I am the
Truth; I am the Way, I am
the Life; whoever therefore
knows Me, also knows the
Father.
The Truth, therefore, is not
something; it is Someone -
it is the Person of our Lord
Jesus Christ; in other
words, the incarnate Logos
(John 1:14), Whom we must
become familiar with in
order to have life (1 John
5:13, cmp John 6:47)
Christ is the truth. Only He
can lead man to the heavenly
Father, in order to render
him a participant of God's
life (John 14:6, 17:2-3,
Luke 10:22). "Grace
and truth came, through
Jesus Christ" (John
1:17)
However, the disciples of
Christ were unable to
"contain" this truth under
their own power. That is why
the Lord was going to send
the "Spirit of Truth" - to
guide them to the full
truth. The Spirit "will
take of what is Mine and
declare it to you"
(John 16:12-14.)
From these words by Christ,
we can see that the
knowledge of God -and
theology- commence from the
event of the revelation that
was manifested in the Person
of Christ "in
these
last days" (Hebrews
1:1) and from the event of
the presence of the Holy
Spirit inside the heart of
man.
The Apostles were always
near Christ; they would
constantly hear His sermons,
and witness His miracles.
However, it was still
impossible for them to know
the truth through their own
abilities.
When, at another time,
Christ had asked His
disciples to tell Him WHO
they thought He was, and
Peter replied that He was
the Son of God, the Lord
replied with those famous
words. Basically, that
Peter was not led to that
truth with his own human
abilities; rather, God
Himself revealed it to him.
(Matthew 16:17)
2. The example of Job
We all know the story with
Job. He tried to penetrate
the mysteries of God through
conversation and logic,
without any results.
But when God revealed
Himself to him, he
comprehended that it was
impossible for him to
achieve on his own that
which he desired, and was
deeply overwhelmed. "Whereas
before I would hear an aural
report of You",
he said to God. "now,
however, my eye has seen
You; therefore I disparaged
myself and wasted away, and
I regard myself as dust and
ashes."
(Job 42:5-6),
Therefore, what is
significant is not the words
that pertain to God; it is
humility and the purity of
heart, during one's search
for God. "It is a great
thing, for one to speak of
God", says Saint Gregory the
Nazianzene, but, he adds "it
is an even greater thing, if
one cleanses himself for
God."
3. The revelation given to
Moses
We said that man cannot find
God on his own, and that it
is necessary for God Himself
to reveal Himself inside the
heart of a person.
In what manner does God
reveal Himself to man? We
can observe this, in the
example of Moses.
"And
the Lord said to Moyses,
“When you go down, testify
solemnly to the people, and
purify them today and
tomorrow, and let them wash
their clothes, and be
prepared for the third day.
For on the third day the
Lord will come down upon the
mountain Sina before all the
people."
(Exodus 19:10-11)
Elsewhere, Moses receives
the instruction from God to
take Aaron, Nadab and Abihu
and seventy elders and to
ascend the mountain, after
instructing the population
to remain at the foot of the
mountain (Exodus 24:1-2)
Moses, according to God's
instruction, offers a
sacrifice and sprinkles the
population with the blood of
that sacrifice. He then
climbs up the mountain,
together with the persons
that God had appointed. On
the mountain, Moses'
companions did not see God;
they only saw "the place
where the God of Israel
stood" - and that place "and
that which was beneath his
feet, like something made
from lapis lazuli brick and
like the appearance of the
firmament of heaven in
purity."
(Exodus 24:10)
Moses then received the
following instruction from
God: "Come
up to me into the mountain,
and be there. And I will
give you the stone tablets,
the law and the commandments
that I wrote to legislate
for them."
(Exodus 24:12)
Then Moses took Joshua of
Navi with him and they
climbed to the highest
summit of the mountain,
which was covered by the
cloud. (Exodus
24:13-15)
"And God’s glory
descended upon the mountain,
Sina, and the cloud covered
it for six days, and the
Lord called Moyses on the
seventh day from the midst
of the cloud. Now the
appearance of the Lord’s
glory was like a flaming
fire on the top of the
mountain before the sons of
Israel. And Moyses entered
into the midst of the cloud
and went up into the
mountain, and he was there
on the mountain for forty
days and forty nights.."
(Exodus 24:16-18)
"...and
sounds and lightning and
dark cloud were occurring
upon the mountain Sina...
Now the mountain Sina was
smoking in its entirety,
because God had come down
upon it in fire, and the
smoke was rising up like the
smoke of a furnace...
Moyses was speaking, and God
answered him with sound...." (Exodus
19:16-19; cmp. Deuteronomy
4:11-12 and 5:22)
God, therefore, is found
"in thick
darkness", a dark
cloud... (2 Chronicles 6:1
and Ezekiel 10:4).
"He
caused him to hear his
voice, and he led him into
the deep darkness, and he
gave him commandments
face-to-face, a law of life
and knowledge, to teach
Iakob a covenant and Israel
his judgments [...]."
(Wisdom of Sirach 45:5)
4. Man's receptiveness
Thus, inside the cloud,
where it was not possible
for Moses to discern
anything with his corporeal
eyes and with human abilities - God speaks to
him and reveals Himself.
This was the way that Moses
was able to comprehend that
the revelation of God's
glory was not the result of
an intellectual endeavour,
but a work of God - the
fruit of the presence of the
Holy Spirit within his
heart.
For God to speak to the
Israelites, they had to be
cleansed internally and be
purified, and the divine
revelation was to be
analogous to the internal
cleanliness of each one of
them.
The multitude - which had so
many times wavered in its
love towards God and in the
cleanliness of their hearts
- had progressed only as far
as the foot of the mountain.
As such, it was only able to
see the glory of God from
afar - like a fire on the
mountain top.
Moses' escort had climbed up
the mountain together with
him, and could see "the
place where God had stood".
Joshua of Navi had climbed
even further up.
Finally, God invited Moses
to enter the cloud - on the
uppermost point of the
mountain - and to remain
there for forty days and
nights, in order to receive
the full revelation of God.