When Pilate asks Jesus "What is truth?" in John 18 he doesn't wait for an answer. He's not actually interested. It's a cynical question from someone who lives in a world where truth is whatever serves power. But Jesus has already answered the question earlier in John's Gospel: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
In other words, if it doesn't set you free, it's not true.
Truth isn't about whatever makes you comfortable or serves your interests. Truth is what actually liberates. And liberation has an objective standard! You can measure it. You can see it in people's lives. That's not relativism. That's the opposite of relativism.
I know this can sound dangerous to some. It sounds like I'm saying truth is just whatever feels good, whatever lets you do what you want. But that's not freedom. That's just another form of bondage, slavery to your appetites or fears or need for approval. Real freedom often comes through hard truths. The truth that you've been wrong about something important is deeply uncomfortable, but it sets you free to grow. The truth that you've harmed someone requires painful repentance, but it opens the door to reconciliation. The truth about your own limits forces you to depend on others and on God.
So the freedom test isn't about comfort. It's about flourishing, about becoming what you were designed to be rather than being conformed to something else.
Think about Romans 12: "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind." The Greek word for "conformed" is suschēmatizō, to be formed according to a mold or schematic, like putting a caterpillar in a Play-Doh mold of a cockroach. The word for "transformed" is metamorphoō, to be transfigured into what was already there, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
That's the kind of freedom truth creates. Not the freedom to be whatever you want, but the freedom to become what you actually are.
But our freedom can't require someone else's oppression. If your theological system liberates you while marginalizing others—excluding LGBTQ+ people, subordinating women, maintaining racial hierarchies—it fails Jesus' freedom test.
I can already hear the objection: "But my theology does set me free! Free from sin, free from the world's lies, free from confusion about God's design." And yes, some of what gets labeled as "traditional" or "conservative" theology does liberate people. The truth that God loves you unconditionally? Incredibly freeing. The truth that your worth isn't based on your performance? Life-changing.
But if what sets you free requires keeping others in bondage—if your clarity about gender requires women's submission, if your sexual purity requires LGBTQ+ people's exclusion, if your understanding of God's design requires a hierarchy of human dignity—then it's not actually the truth Jesus talked about. Because authentic truth creates mutual freedom. It doesn't liberate some people by binding others. It doesn't create zero-sum competitions where your flourishing requires my diminishment.
This is why liberation theology isn't a radical departure from Christianity. It's built right into Jesus' preaching. As James Cone writes, "The content of Christian theology is the liberation of the oppressed. Any message not related to the liberation of the poor is not Christ's message."
So here's the test: Look at what you believe about God, about yourself, about others. Is it setting you free to become what you were designed to be? Is it setting others free to do the same? Is it creating the kind of mutual flourishing where everyone gets to breathe? If not, no matter how traditional, how popular, or how "biblical" it claims to be, you might be standing with Pilate rather than with Jesus. Asking "What is truth?" cynically while Jesus stands right in front of you, embodying the answer.
Wild Bible fact
The Hebrew word for Spirit (ruach) is grammatically feminine, and the same verb used for the Spirit 'hovering' in Genesis 1:2 appears in Deuteronomy 32:11 where God is compared to a mother eagle caring for her young.
Linklove
1. Human Dignity Was A Rarity Before Christianity — David Bentley Hart
Hart traces how the Gospel narratives subtly revolutionized human worth by treating a peasant's tears as worthy of record and a crucified slave as bearer of ultimate truth. The concept of universal human dignity we take for granted was scandalous rebellion in the ancient world.
2. The Great Crime Decline Is Happening All Across the Country
America's cities are experiencing historic drops in violent crime—even with fewer police officers. The surprising explanation may be the massive post-pandemic investment in community services, youth programs, and public spaces through ARPA funding, suggesting that prevention through community investment works better than we thought.
3. Mary Oliver on Time, Concentration, and the Creative Life
Oliver distinguishes between our "ordinary selves" (which keep the world going round) and the "third self" required for creative work—one that needs solitude, concentration, and the freedom to pursue something beyond the ordinary. A beautiful meditation on what it means to honor the creative calling.
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