The God Of Truth

THE GOD OF TRUTH
Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, 3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior (Titus 1:1-3). In his introduction to the epistle to Titus, Paul refers to “God who cannot lie.” This is a unique and often overlooked title for God. He is the God who cannot lie. The actual Greek phrase that Paul uses is avyudhs QeoV (apseudes Theos) The Greek word yudhV (pseudes) is the word for a liar, one who never tells the truth. It is used by Paul in Titus 1:12 to describe the Cretans who “are always liars.” When a Greek word has the letter a prefixed to it, the effect is that it negates the word, something like our English prefix “non” in words such as nonsense, non-working or non-lying.

Here in Titus 1:2 we can literally translate the words of Paul to speak of “the Non-lying God.” This is a title for God. It describes who and what He is. He is the Non-lying God. The false gods that populated the Greek and Minoan mythologies are well known to us today. The ancients had a god for every conceivable characteristic. There was a god for war and a god for wine and a god for love and a god for death. But here we see a title for God that stands in opposition to all of those false gods. Never in all of the Greek or Minoan pantheon was there ever a Non-lying God.

All of the Greek and Minoan gods had characteristics much like their human worshipers. They possessed all of the human failings of the men who created them. But the Non-lying God is seen in contrast to the gods of the Greek and of the Cretans. He is seen in contrast to the Cretans who are “always liars” (Titus 1:12). He is the Non-lying God. But that is not all. There is more here than merely an interesting lesson in theology. There is more here than just another title for God. There is a vital reason why Paul uses this title here. The reason that this title is so important is because the Non-lying God has spoken. He has given promises to us.

...in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago (Titus 1:2).

Notice what it is that God has promised. It is the eternal life for which we hope. God has promised eternal life. The only reason that we can look forward to eternal life is because it has been promised to us by the Non-lying God. A promise is no stronger than the character of the one who has made the promise. When a man makes a promise, we look to the character and the ability of the man who made the promise when we determine whether it will be fulfilled. If a man's character is questionable, then we have reason to suspect that the promise might prove false.

God has a perfect character. This is seen dramatically in God's dealing with Abraham when God entered into a covenant with Him. God used a legally binding treaty ritual to bind Himself to Abraham. God did not have to do this. He could have just promised Abraham the things that He was going to do and left it at that. But He wanted Abraham to understand that the promise would be kept, so He used a legal oath. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you.” (Hebrews 6:13-14).

It was the custom in the ancient world for a man to swear by the power of something else. He might swear by his own head. Or he might swear on the head of his son. Or he might swear by his king or by his country. The idea was that the higher the object of the oath, the more solid was considered to be the promise that was given by it. The underlying idea was that, if the oath failed to be carried out, then the thing upon which the oath was made was to be cursed and destroyed.

Now we begin to see the truth significance of God's oath to Abraham. God is saying in effect, “Abraham, if I do not keep My promise to you, then may I cease to exist.” And thus, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:15-18). Do you see it? When God wanted to prove to believers that His plan on our behalf would never falter or be changed, He guaranteed it with an oath. Our salvation is as secure as the very life and existence of God. If God were to fail to keep His promise to you, then God would cease to be God. Has God ever broken His word? Has He ever spoken and it did not come to pass? Has history borne witness to the truth of His title? Is He truly the non-lying God?

Ask the wastes of Nineveh,
Ask the mounds of Babylon,
Ask the coasts of Tyre and Sidon
If God is truthful to His word.
They will all answer that God cannot lie. (Dr. S. Lewis Johnson).