Misconception #36 (Cont’d)
Jesus Never Answered Pilate’s Question: “What is Truth?”
According to the canonical record, Jesus—the Man of Truth, born into the world with the sole purpose of testifying to the truth—refused to answer Pilate’s question: “What is truth?”
Does that even make sense?
You mean, just when it seemed like Jesus had His interrogator right where He wanted him, just when He had reduced the previously rabid governor to putty in His hands, He could’ve answered Pilate’s question. But He didn’t.
Why? Was it because Jesus was more interested in dying for the cause than living for it? Was He worried that had He answered such a pivotal question He might have persuaded Pilate to switch sides and release Him? Had He answered the question, considering Pilate’s new state of mind, would Jesus have found Himself at cross-purposes with the will of His Father?
I suppose all of these are valid points indeed. But actually, they turn out to be moot points when one considers another source of biblical truth that we’ve become familiar with in this series of essays. I’m talking about the apocryphal literature, of course—more specifically, a text known as The Gospel of Nicodemus, formerly called The Acts of Pontius Pilate.
Story Continues Below
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Story Continues From Above
In this remarkable work, we discover a parallel narrative that covers the exact same period in the life of Jesus. In the third chapter of Nicodemus, we find the same conversation in John’s Gospel, repeated almost word for word; yet it contains one twist that puts a whole new spin on the conversation.
Instead of portraying Jesus as refusing to answer Pilate’s question, this narrative reveals something altogether different. In this version, when the governor asked, “What is truth?” he received a truly provocative response.
“Truth,” said Jesus, quite matter-of-factly, “is from Heaven.”
To which a disappointed Pilate replied, “So truth is not of this Earth; is it that?”
Undaunted, Jesus looked at the crestfallen governor squarely in the eye and, with a wry smile, said: “Don’t be too sure of yourself, my friend. Truth exists on this Earth. That is, it does for those who are governed by truth and who make right decisions because of that truth.”1
How interesting is that? Now that sounds more like the Jesus I read about in The Bible—unflinching, uncompromising, unabashed.
So what gives? Why does the canonical record leave this part of the story out? And more importantly, am I the only person to have read the Apostle John’s account and wondered: Why didn’t Jesus answer that question? How could He remain silent on such an important issue? How could He have acted so indifferently?
I suppose the most obvious answer that comes to mind is, in a very real sense, John was using Pilate as a stand-in for all mankind, who also stand bewildered as to why Jesus refused to answer him. And because there is no response for Pilate, we, too, along with him, have no concrete answer to such a momentous question.
But personally, I’ve always been left with the sneaking suspicion that something was missing from this account.
But what? And more importantly, why?
Only when we’re willing to “read between the lines,” as it were, of the canonical record, which can only be done with the aid of the apocryphal literature, do we finally begin to come to a genuine insight concerning this enigmatic scene.
In light of the alternate version in The Gospel of Nicodemus, we begin to see the canonical text differently. Unlike the record in John’s Gospel, Nicodemus has Jesus answering Pilate’s question with a reasonable and intelligent answer. The only problem: Pilate never took His answer to heart. As profound as it was, the answer didn’t move him to act on it. And by not acting, Pilate perfectly illustrated what Jesus had described: “Truth exists on the Earth, but it does so only for those who make correct decisions based on that truth.” Thus, for those who refuse to act on truth, truth does not exist.
