Ligonier Ministries Blog

1. Scotland and the Birth of the United States

   Scottish Presbyterianism, with its robust theology, disciplined government by elders, and strict piety, would significantly influence America through the waves of Scots-Irish immigrants that became the backbone of the Revolutionary era. Descended from lowland Scots, the Ulster Scots had begun settlement in northern Ireland during the reign of James VI and I, eventually organizing themselves into presbyteries within the established Irish Anglican Church. The Scots-Irish were required to pay taxes to support the established church; only in America would they eventually be free to practice their Presbyterianism within the context of complete religious liberty. The great American Presbyterian pioneer was Scots-Irish minister Francis Makemie (1657–1708), who was ordained in 1682 by the Irish Presbytery of Laggan and departed the next year for Maryland, responding to pleas for a Presbyterian clergyman. His early American years were spent in evangelistic work in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, where he established five congregations. Makemie's designation as the "Father of American Presbyterianism" is associated with his role in the founding of the first American presbytery in 1706 in Philadelphia. One of the reasons American Presbyterians had organized themselves was a belief that joint effort could strengthen religious toleration. Under the 1689 Toleration Act of William and Mary, Makemie and other ministers had secured Dissenter licenses. Makemie's house had been designated as an authorized preaching point in Anglican-established Virginia, but he was arrested in New York by the governor, Lord Cornbury, for illegal preaching. He was jailed and eventually tried, but was acquitted in 1707. Makemie's exoneration was a notable milestone in the advancement of religious liberty in the colonies and made Presbyterians popular with Dissenters. Within a decade of Makemie's trial, the massive immigration of Scots-Irish would commence. Beginning in 1717, a steady stream of Ulster Scots populated the Middle Colonies, particularly the frontier in western Pennsylvania. By the time of American independence, nearly five hundred thousand Scots-Irish had come to America. The Virginia and Carolina Piedmont areas were unoccupied before 1730, but Scots-Irish settlers coming down the "Great Philadelphia Wagon Road" began to populate the backcountry. By 1750, they had moved into the South Carolina Piedmont and north Georgia. Scottish Highlanders settled along the North Carolina seaboard and coastal areas of Georgia. The most remarkable spiritual event to shape Scots-Irish colonists in the generation preceding the Revolutionary War was the revival known as the First Great Awakening. Many Presbyterians were keen supporters of revivalist preachers George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, who deepened American passion for freedom to worship God according to the dictates of one's conscience. One fruit of the revival was renewed Christian piety, which many American clergy saw as central to God's blessing on the colonies. There were also millennial overtones to the Spirit's work as a sign of America's providential destiny. These elements helped create fertile soil for the American Revolution, and Presbyterian ministers utilized these themes as advocates for independence from Britain. As Presbyterian churches in the South and Middle Colonies proliferated under the revival, the need for more clergy made a theological school imperative. Pro-revival Presbyterian ministers in 1747 received a charter to start the College of New Jersey for college studies and training ministers. Several prominent leaders served as president of the new college, including Jonathan Edwards. By the 1760s, the school needed a new president, and the trustees selected a Presbyterian minister from Scotland, John Witherspoon (1723–1794), to lead the fledgling school. In 1768, the Witherspoon family arrived in New Jersey. The spirit of colonial America captured Witherspoon, who had embraced the vision of representative government. He became involved politically as he witnessed the oppression of the colonists by the British crown, believing their rights as Englishmen were being violated. In 1774, Witherspoon was part of the state convention in New Brunswick and soon was thrust headlong into the War for Independence. His first political sermon, preached in May 1776, urged resistance to tyranny as obedience to God and encouraged listeners to trust in God to bring good out of evil. The published sermon was dedicated to John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress. The sermon drew praise for Witherspoon as a patriot, but British loyalists hated him, burning him in effigy. A member of the British Parliament exclaimed, "Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson." When Presbyterians in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, got word about the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, they gathered at the Charlotte Courthouse in May 1775 and issued the Mecklenburg Declaration, proclaiming independence from Britain. Having learned the skills of using a musket in the backcountry against Indians, the Scots-Irish frontiersmen were adept fighters. The American forces that defeated the redcoats at Kings Mountain were predominately Scots-Irish, led by five colonels who were Presbyterian elders. The Scots-Irish filled the ranks of General George Washington's army for the duration of the Revolutionary War. At Valley Forge, when many had deserted, the Scots-Irish remained, enduring the cold and hunger. During the war, a Hessian officer wrote home: "Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American rebellion; it is nothing more or less than a Scotch Irish Presbyterian rebellion." When the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Witherspoon served as the only clergy delegate and signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Witherspoon also signed the Articles of Confederation (1778), helped ratify the Constitution (1787) as a member of the New Jersey convention, and served on the Board of War and Board of Foreign Affairs. The College of New Jersey was a hotbed of patriotism during the war as numbers of students entered the Continental Army. The War for Independence cost Witherspoon dearly; he lost two of his sons in battle. He was keenly aware of God's providence in the conflict and wrote several proclamations on behalf of Congress, calling on Americans to offer God thanksgiving for His mercy. One of the fascinating questions associated with American representative government is the degree to which Presbyterian church government influenced the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Only Pennsylvania and New Jersey were represented at the convention by Presbyterians, and there is no record of any mention of Presbyterian structure by the delegates. There are certainly parallels in the structures, such as the people's right to choose their own representative leaders and the idea of confederation—union of presbyteries in a general assembly and individual states' union in a federal government. There are also significant ways that Presbyterianism differed from the American constitutional government with its executive, judicial and legislative branches, two distinct legislative houses, and a powerful executive office. It is more probable that the greater Presbyterian inspiration upon American government came through Witherspoon's most prominent student, James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution" and fourth president of the United States. Madison studied at the College of New Jersey, even staying an extra year after graduation in 1771 to study Hebrew. Witherspoon had taught his students about balanced political structure where misuse of power may be corrected. Madison had apparently also imbibed from Witherspoon the old Calvinist doctrine of total depravity and man's natural inclination to vice and political corruption. Largely through Madison's influence as a chief architect of the U.S. Constitution, the genius of the American republican democracy would include a complex system of checks and balances, preventing political power from ever resting in the hands of a tyrannical few. Witherspoon believed that the maintenance of civil and religious liberties demanded both public and private virtue. The people should choose godly magistrates who would encourage a virtuous stable society. Witherspoon was also a stout defender of freedom of conscience, stating, "Everyone should judge for himself in matters of religion." Madison was a key advocate of the Bill of Rights, including its enshrinement of religious freedom in the First Amendment. When evaluating Witherspoon's influence upon the U.S. government, it only begins with Madison. In addition to his famous student who became president, Witherspoon's former pupils included a vice president, twelve members of the Continental Congress, five delegates to the Constitutional Convention, forty-nine U.S. representatives, twenty-eight senators, and three Supreme Court justices. The Scottish Reformation was a rebellion established upon the deeply held conviction that practicing one's faith, according to conscience informed by Scripture, was an inalienable right. This became a founding principle of the United States government. When George Washington was elected president in 1789, the Presbyterian General Assembly sent him a congratulatory letter; Washington replied, reminding the Presbyterians, "All men within our territories are protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of their conscience." In our time, when this liberty appears to be threatened again by politicians imposing policies that churches deem immoral, a good dose of the old Scots-Irish spirit may again be in order. Fighting for religious liberty is about as quintessentially Scottish and American as it gets.

2. The Presbyterian Rebellion

   There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. —John Witherspoon Two hundred and fifty years ago, news arrived in London that a long and protracted conflict with the American colonial possessions of Great Britain had culminated in a resolute declaration of independence. Horace Walpole, the prime minister, rose in Parliament to declare: “There is no use crying about it. Cousin America has eloped with a Presbyterian parson.” It was a sentiment shared with virtually all the royalists on both sides of the Atlantic. From the beginning of the conflict, King George III had been convinced that the leading patriot leaders were Presbyterians (a term he loosely used to describe Reformed Congregationalists as well as Presbyterians). As early as 1774, he had quipped to Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson, “Are they not Presbyterians?” In truth, the king had every reason to suspect so. The crown had struggled to suppress restive Reformed pastors and their congregants since the sixteenth century—with the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Covenanters, and the Jacobites. The king and his advisors surmised that the Scots-Irish, already comprising a third of the population of the colonies and newly reinvigorated by the Great Awakening, were fomenting fresh troubles. The king was advised by William Jones in 1776, “This has been a Presbyterian war from the beginning . . . and accordingly the first firing against the king’s troops was from a Massachusetts meeting house.” Likewise, Ambrose Serle, secretary to British General Howe in New York City, wrote to the British Secretary of State in 1776 telling him that the American Revolution was ultimately “a religious war.” Indeed, he asserted that the revolt would not and could not be sustained were it not for the Presbyterian ministers who “bred it.” He lamented the fact that almost every minister in America seemed to “double as a politician.” In November 1776, the Earl of Dartmouth was informed by one of his New York emissaries, “Presbyterianism is really at the bottom of this whole conspiracy, has supplied it with vigor, and will never rest, till something is decided on it.” A Hessian mercenary captain, enlisted by the British, told a correspondent in Wiesbaden, “Call this war, dearest friend, by whatsoever name you may, only call it not an American Revolution, it is nothing more nor less than an Irish-Scotch Presbyterian Rebellion.” A letter published in a London newspaper from a royalist in New York lamented, “Believe me, the Presbyterians have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures.” Serving in his ambassadorial role in London, Benjamin Franklin confirmed that the antipathy of the royalist was due to the fact that they believed the American Patriots were “Whigs and Presbyterians.” These assumptions were not without warrant. Amidst the fervor of the Great Awakening—a series of revivals that occurred throughout the colonies in the period between 1720–1750—the pulpits of America were ablaze with both Reformed theology and the scriptural warrant for liberty. Second Corinthians 3:17 and Galatians 5:1 were favorite texts: “Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). “For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Because of the growing cultural relevance of personal faith due to the impact of the Great Awakening, there was an increased awareness of how important religious liberty was to advancing the cause of Christ. The great Reformed Baptist leader, Isaac Backus, emphasized that the gospel of grace could only take root in a culture that allowed for the freedom for it to be proclaimed. George Whitefield often warned that political liberty could never be compromised without risking the integrity of spiritual liberty as well. He foresaw the danger that a conflict between the colonies and Britain might pose to the ongoing work of the gospel. Speaking to a crowd in Portsmouth, Massachusetts, in 1764, he said: > I can’t in conscience leave the town without acquainting you with a secret. My heart bleeds for America. O poor New England! There is a deep-laid plot against both your civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an end. You have nothing but trouble before you. He would not live to see how prophetic his words were. The “Presbyterian parson” whom Prime Minister Walpole accused of having “eloped” with “Cousin America” was John Witherspoon. He was the president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton, the first great Presbyterian institution of higher learning. Witherspoon, a prominent Scottish scholar-preacher, had dramatically developed and enlarged Princeton’s campus and academic program, adding French, history, international law, philosophy, and speech to course offerings, all in accord with a consistent Reformational worldview. He simultaneously furthered the growth of the Presbyterian Church in North America, launching an initiative that helped to plant dozens of new churches along the frontier as well as in those areas renewed by the revivals of the Great Awakening. But he was also a strong advocate of freedom in the civic arena. When the colonies began to chafe against the petty tyrannies of Parliament, Witherspoon lent his considerable reputation to the cause of independence. He was a man of presence and of great energy. Only George Washington commanded more respect than he did. According to historian Jeffry Morrison: > There was no abler advocate for American independence, or better representative of the legacy of the Reformation’s theory of resistance in early America. Although something of a forgotten founder today, in fact Witherspoon was rightly called a colossus in his own day. Indeed, John Adams confirmed that Witherspoon was “as high a Son of Liberty, as any Man in America.” Of the 478 graduates he trained at Princeton, a large proportion rose to occupy high offices. Among these were twelve members of the Continental Congress, five delegates to the Constitutional Convention, a vice president, forty-nine members of the House of Representatives, twenty-eight senators, three Supreme Court justices, eight district judges, one Secretary of State, three attorneys general, and two foreign ministers. Twenty-six of Witherspoon’s graduates were state judges, seventeen were members of their state constitutional conventions, and fourteen were members of the state conventions that ratified the federal Constitution. In addition, four of Witherspoon’s pupils held presidential offices: three served as presidents of Congress under the Articles of Confederation—Thomas McKean, Elias Boudinot, and Thomas Mifflin—and one, James Madison, served as President of the United States under the Constitution. A member of the Continental Congress himself (1776–1779, 1780–1782), Witherspoon signed the Declaration of Independence, helped to draft the Articles of Confederation and later the Bill of Rights, and was a delegate to the New Jersey convention of 1787 that ratified the Constitution. He was the only pastor, the only professor, the only college president to serve in any of those capacities. He served on at least 126 committees during his public service tenure and drafted the instructions to the American peace commissioners in France in 1781. Just two months after he was first elected to the Continental Congress, he preached a sermon in the college chapel at Princeton. “The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men,” subsequently published in Philadelphia, caused a great stir across the restive American colonies. In the sermon, he made a strong biblical argument for the Declaration of Independence—and even a war for freedom, if necessary—based on the covenantal violations of king and Parliament as evidence of God’s providential dealings in this poor fallen world. The sermon rested on foundations for a Reformational theology of resistance to tyranny that had been laid by Pierre Viret and John Knox in the sixteenth century and Samuel Rutherford and John Milton in the seventeenth century. It was predicated on the ideas of magistratal interpositionalism and covenantal jurisdictionalism—ideas that paved the way for the republicanism and federalism of the Founding Fathers. The sermon was instrumental in convincing a large number of very reluctant patriots to see the issues of independence through the lens of covenantal obedience rather than through the lens of revolutionary fervor—a critical distinction. Indeed, it was the gravitas of Witherspoon’s leadership and vision that persuaded them that “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” In the end, Witherspoon’s theological argument won the day and independence was declared. The American patriots took up the cause of the Presbyterian rebellion and a great experiment in liberty was begun.

3. Who Is Your Role Model for the Christian Life?

   Who is your role model for the Christian life? All of us learn by imitation. From our earliest days, we pattern our lives after the examples set before us. We absorb their habits and characteristics—both the good and the bad, as every parent knows too well. Ligonier Ministries has created a new book filled with godly examples from redemptive history. Request Heroes of the Christian Faith, featuring teaching from Dr. R.C. Sproul, with your donation this month. For me, faithful pastors and theologians are my heroes. The Lord Jesus Christ has given these men to His church as gifts (Eph. 4:11–12). They are on the front lines of the gospel’s advance. He used faithful preachers to lead me away from the “seeker-sensitive” approach to church growth and toward a biblical understanding of how God works through His ordinary means of grace. The church grows as pastors proclaim the whole counsel of God, tearing down strongholds of unbelief and advancing the Great Commission (2 Cor. 10:4–6) by means of the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. This is why I am as passionate as ever about the purpose of Ligonier Ministries: to spread trusted Bible teaching from gifted theologians for the health of the church. This passion drove Dr. Sproul. He looked up to faithful Christians throughout history who devoted their lives to the ministry of the Word, and he took joy in serving in that long line through the teaching fellowship he established at Ligonier. The generous support of Ligonier’s donors is vital for strengthening the church. Following our founder’s example, friends such as you help lift up God’s glorious Word so that generations to come, and nations around the world, may love and serve the Lord. The heart of Christian discipleship is learning to imitate our Savior. One way we do this is by patterning our lives after saints who have gone before us and believers who are ahead of us in their walk with the Lord. The Apostle Paul illustrated this pattern when he urged the Corinthians to “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). It matters immensely who influences us and whose example we follow. Today, many people—especially young people—model their lives after the wrong heroes. Influencers, athletes, and entertainers shape the popular imagination, yet their character typically does not drive anyone to Christ. Even within the church, many are led astray by false teaching and unbiblical ideas. Others grow complacent in the pursuit of holiness, aimless and without a guide. God calls His people not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. We must instead seek to renew our minds by His Word and Spirit (Rom. 12:2). Helping Christians cultivate renewed minds is the objective of Ligonier’s Bible-teaching outreach as we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, the Hero and Champion of our salvation. He is our hope and our highest model for faithfulness. Ligonier seeks to help Christians follow the Lord by building what we believe is the world’s greatest discipleship library—more than 30,000 theological resources from 800 teachers. This library preserves the rich heritage of God-honoring heroism in the historic Christian faith: The prophets and Apostles, whose costly obedience gave us Spirit-inspired Scripture; Courageous leaders like Athanasius and Martin Luther, who defended the truth; Great teachers like Augustine and John Calvin, who brought clarity to the church. As R.C. said, “We need examples, not only in the Bible, but in church history, of people who were willing to stand against the whole world if necessary to be loyal and faithful to Christ.” Your support of Ligonier can help more people see the rich depths of historic Christianity and the courage it instills to live for God’s glory. This month, we want to send you a new resource drawn from several of Dr. Sproul’s most well-known teaching series. Heroes of the Christian Faith is a book aiming to invigorate steadfast faith and godly conviction through the examples of twenty of the Lord’s servants, from Moses and Esther to Polycarp and Jonathan Edwards. Be among the first to receive the book with your donation. The heroes in this book stood firm by God’s grace, yet they did not stand alone. Nor can Ligonier stand alone today. Your support is crucial as we begin this new budget year with a plan to expand outreach for the further proclamation of God’s Word. Your prayers and financial generosity can help establish a pattern for Christian faithfulness by: Guiding Christians at every stage of life with more Bible-teaching resources, including the now-complete Crucial Questions series of 50 booklets; Equipping parents and teachers to model faithfulness for the next generation through the new digital Growing in God’s Word Bible curriculum and forthcoming translations; And edifying the global church by releasing new Christ-exalting teaching each week on Ligonier’s dedicated websites in the world’s top 20 languages. Please pray especially for our largest-ever distribution of the Reformation Study Bible next month. In August, Lord willing, 35,000 church leaders across four African nations will receive study Bibles in three languages. These pastors are hungry for reliable resources to help them guide their congregations to know the Lord deeply and follow Him faithfully. Outreaches like this would not be possible without Ligonier’s thoughtful donors. God works through real people—like you and me—to spread truth and further discipleship in His church. Thank you for standing with Ligonier today by making a timely gift that expands the reach of trusted Bible teaching, helping more Christians stand firm in the truth and live for God’s glory alone.

4. The Lord of the Sabbath

   And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27–28) In Mark 2:23–28, the Lord Jesus Christ cuts through the Pharisees’ legalism to recover what the Sabbath was always meant to be: a gift to man and a day belonging to its Lord. 1. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for the benefit of man. If man lives, there is a need for Sabbath, which means “rest.” God made it as a creation ordinance along with labor. In the beginning, God created the universe, then man and woman, and then the Sabbath on the seventh day. He blessed it, made it holy, and rested on it Himself (Gen. 2:2–3). The fact that He gave man work to do shows that man also needed rest. God created us to glorify and enjoy Him daily—every hour and forever. Beyond our daily worship in our homes and our vocations, the Lord has prescribed in His law a day for rest and worship. Nearly everyone follows a seven-day-week pattern. This is informed by the law of nature in us. If we work, then we should also rest. The Sabbath is a creation ordinance, just like work and marriage. 2. The law teaches that the Sabbath is to be remembered. The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, which summarize the moral law, and it is in the first table of the law. The first commandment shows that the object of worship is God alone. The second commandment reveals that the proper manner of worship is not by representation. The third commandment displays the subject of worship, the name of God. The fourth commandment points us to the time of worship. The Sabbath law is not a matter of Christian liberty or adiaphora (something neither commanded nor forbidden by God); it is the law of God. Shall we worship any other god but God? No. Shall we take the name of the Lord in vain? No. Shall we ignore the Sabbath? No. Is the fourth commandment only ceremonial and so fulfilled by Christ so that it is no longer binding? No. While under the old covenant it was to be observed on the seventh day of the week, with the resurrection of Christ the Sabbath is to be observed on the first day of the week since His resurrection. Nevertheless, the principle to keep the Sabbath holy is part of the moral law of God and perpetually valid. Like the other nine commandments, it was engraved on the stone tablet by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18). 3. Jesus did not deny the Sabbath. The Pharisees charged our Lord with laxity regarding the Sabbath. They accused Him of breaking the Sabbath (John 5:18). They said, “He does not keep the Sabbath” (John 9:16). Did Jesus respond to the Pharisees, “I’m sorry, but I don’t keep the Sabbath”? He could have told them that the Sabbath was no longer binding because He had fulfilled it. Instead, He simply took them back to the law, interpreting it accurately. The Pharisees’ interpretation of what it meant to keep the Sabbath was flawed because it was inconsistent with the rest of Scripture. Jesus took them to what David did when he was hungry. The disciples of Jesus were not harvesting corn; they were in need and hungry. This is why they plucked the ears of grain to eat. The Pharisees’ interpretation also denied the purpose for which God made the Sabbath—it is for man. God made the law for the sake of safeguarding the best interest of His people and for His glory. The law shows us our sin. It is the mirror to expose guilt, and it is also the guardian of righteousness. This is all for the benefit of man. Jesus kept the Sabbath. Where did the Sabbath day find Him, and what did it find Him doing? Was He in the field harvesting wheat? Or was He in Joseph’s workshop planing boards and fastening wood to make a table or a bed? Did He go with the disciples on a fishing expedition in Galilee? Was He taking scenic tours of the Mediterranean? Not at all. He was in the synagogue preaching the Word, doing good to distressed souls, healing them and destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). 4. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus determines and controls what happens on this day because He owns it. It is for His special use—holy to Him. He is “lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). The Lord Himself ordained the first day of the week as the day of rest and worship for the church. He did this by rising from the dead on the first day (Luke 24:1); by meeting with His disciples on the first day, prior to the ascension (John 20:19, 26); by coming to the church in the Holy Spirit on the first day (Pentecost was a Sunday); and by directing the Apostles and the Apostolic church to gather for worship on the first day (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1–2). The early church gathered on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.

5. What Is Truth?

   “What is truth?” So asked Pontius Pilate to the man who had just declared that He came into the world “to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37–38). Far from a serious philosophical inquiry, Pilate’s rhetorical question reflected cynicism toward the very idea of truth. Nevertheless, the question itself is an important one that deserves careful reflection. One thing is clear: the Bible places a high premium on truth. In both the Old and New Testaments, God’s people are enjoined to speak the truth (Ps. 15:2; Prov. 12:17; Zech. 8:16; Eph. 4:15, 25). The ninth commandment (Ex. 20:16) is expressly concerned with truthfulness, primarily in the context of a law court (Deut. 19:15–21) but also by extension in every sphere of life. As the rest of Scripture testifies, truth-telling is a moral duty, and honesty is a moral virtue. The pursuit of justice depends crucially on truthfulness, and thus the righteous are those who “love truth” (Zech. 8:16–19; see Amos 5:10). A sincere concern for truth should permeate our very thoughts (Phil. 4:8). The primary words for “truth” in the Bible are emeth (Hebrew) and alētheia (Greek). Both can connote the accurate representation of facts (as in “tell the truth”) as well as the broader concepts of veracity, trustworthiness, sincerity, and authenticity. In more general terms, it can be helpful to distinguish between propositional and non-propositional senses of what it means for something to be “true.” The former applies to things such as beliefs and statements: a belief or statement is “true” if and only if it depicts things accurately or authentically. This propositional sense is particularly in view when it comes to testimony, whether human or divine (John 5:31–32; 21:24; Acts 10:42; 18:5; 20:23, 26; 26:25; 1 John 4:14; 5:6–12). In the non-propositional sense, things are “true” if they are genuine, trustworthy, or substantial (see Luke 16:11; 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 9:24). The Apostle John is particularly fond of this usage, regularly using terms such as “true light,” “true worshipers,” “true bread,” “true food,” “true drink,” “true vine,” and “true God” in his writings. In this latter sense, “true” is often used to point beyond the transient physical realm to deeper spiritual realities (John 6:32, 55; Heb. 8:2). For the Christian, truth is far more than a philosophical concept. It is deeply theological because it is intimately tied to the nature of God and His self-revelation. The Lord is both “the true God” (Jer. 10:10; John 17:3; 1 Thess. 1:9; 1 John 5:20) and “the God of truth” (Ps. 31:5; Isa. 65:16) who cannot speak falsely (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2). Jesus Christ is “the only Son from the Father,” and thus He is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)—indeed, He declares Himself to be the truth (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit, whom the Son sends as He returns to the Father, is “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6). Satan, in sharp contrast, is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44–45). Since God’s self-revelation necessarily reflects His character, the Word of God is entirely true. Indeed, it is not merely true (adjective) but truth (noun)—the implication being that God’s Word bears the very nature of truth (John 17:17; cf. Ps. 119:160; 2 Tim. 2:15; James 1:18). The essential truthfulness of God’s Word is bound up with its perfection and trustworthiness (2 Sam. 22:31; Ps. 12:6; 18:30; Prov. 30:5; Rev. 21:5; 22:6). But what exactly is truth? Philosophers have debated whether truth should be understood as some kind of relationship to reality. According to realism, the commonsense view, a belief or statement is true if it accurately depicts or represents the world as it really is. Realism predominated until the turn of the twentieth century, when varieties of anti-realism arose, often in pursuit of a more consistent outworking of atheism. Anti-realism is closely associated with postmodernist movements, according to which “truth” is a human social construction to be created rather than discovered. It is safe to say that the Bible assumes a realist view of truth, and the great creeds and confessions of the church were forged by Christians who would have been baffled by any other stance. Besides the debate over realism, various theories of truth have been proposed. Correspondence theories maintain that truth is a relationship between beliefs and facts: a belief is true if it “matches up” with the way things actually are. Coherence theories hold that truth is more like an internal feature of a belief system: a belief is true if it meshes consistently with one’s other beliefs or ideas. Pragmatic theories propose that truth is a function of the consequences of beliefs: a belief is true if holding that belief “makes a difference” in some useful or desirable way. Christians understandably gravitate toward a correspondence theory of truth, yet the other two approaches contain some important insights. Following the lead of Augustine, some Christian thinkers have suggested that truths are ultimately divine thoughts. It is not merely that whatever God believes is true; rather, truth simply is whatever God believes. If this is correct, then we can understand how truth will manifest not only correspondence with reality, but also internal coherence (because of the orderliness of God’s mind) and pragmatic usefulness (because God’s thoughts are always wise and effective). On this view, when we apprehend truth, we are “thinking God’s thoughts after him” in the deepest sense—a truly awe-inspiring thought.