Truth vs. True

According to correctme.org, “the difference between truth and true is that truth is a noun, while true is an adjective. The word true means something is based on facts, not imagined. Truth, on the other hand, refers to the real facts about something.”

On Thanksgiving morning, I sat outside having my God time in 60 degree weather with 23 mph winds. It was joyous for Florida! I felt led to read Psalm 25 – A Plea for Deliverance and Forgiveness. While reading, the word “truth” stood out to me. I’ve read Psalm 25 many times, yet never highlighted anything in this chapter…until that day.

Psalm 25:4-5 – “Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.”

I wanted to better understand its original context so I went to blueletterbible.org. If you’re not familiar with this fabulous study tool, definitely check it out! It’s an in-depth study of the Bible with a free online reference library and fantastic study tools like commentaries, encyclopedias, maps, and my favorite tool, the Lexicon search using Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, which gives you the original Hebrew and Greek word for every word in the Bible.

“Truth” is Strong’s #H571, the Hebrew word ’emet’ (eh-meth) which means sureness, reliability, stability, continuance, faithfulness. Truth as spoken, of testimony and judgment, of divine instruction, truth as a body of ethical or religious knowledge, true doctrine.

I had recently finished leading a women’s Bible study with my oldest daughter, Casey, called “Adamant: Finding Truth in a Universe of Opinions” by Lisa Bevere. It was excellent and one of the biggest impacts that stuck with me was her teaching on Truth vs True. Before that study, I pretty much used those words synonymously. “Truth” never changes and is absolute while “True” can change and is relative. If I told you it was 4:36pm, it would be true. But in one minute, what I said would no longer be true. However, God’s Word, the Truth, never changes.

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 explains, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Bible I use has deeper study tools like Word Wealth and Kingdom Dynamics. This is what the Word Wealth said for Truth for Psalm 25: certainty, stability, rightness, trustworthiness. Emet derives from the verb ‘aman‘, meaning “to be firm, permanent, and established.” Emet conveys a sense of dependability, firmness, and reliability. Truth is therefore something upon which a person may confidently stake his life.” WOW!

The world we live in changes constantly and who or what we often lean on or count on changes as well. I have sadly counted on and stood on what I thought was immovable or secure only to later have the rug pulled out from under me. I don’t know about you, but I long for stability, sureness, faithfulness, trustworthiness, continuance, and reliability and that can only be found and established through the Truth which never changes, which is God’s Word.

How much would my life and your life change if we took Jesus at His Word and confidently staked our life on His Truth? Where would we be by 2025 if we do?

Image – True vs Truth perspective. (Gale, 2019 via ResearchGate).