Growing up in the 1950s, I remember the television series Dragnet. Each episode began with the notes of an ominous theme. Then the rich voice of announcer George Fenneman intoned, “The story you are about to see is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” Producer and actor Jack Webb narrated each program in the first person and also starred as detective Joe Friday. With the help of his partner, Friday dug into every case with fierce attention to detail. With many other viewers, I looked forward to the moment each week when a witness asked the detective, “What do you want to know?” Joe Friday invariably responded with something like, “All we want are the facts, Ma’am.”

I’ve been thinking about how that trademark moment relates to our own search for truth. When trying to answer the tough questions of our own lives, do we look for “just the facts”? Or do we look for what a well-known Rabbi had in mind when He said, “If you abide in My word, . . . you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

To see why this is worth thinking about, and whether we are more in line with Jesus or Joe Friday, it’s important to keep in mind the Jewish perspective. The spiritual leaders of Israel saw truth as more than words and facts grounded in the reality of God. Their Hebrew Scriptures also saw truth as a condition of the heart that corresponds to that reality.

Truth in words. Sensing that his days were numbered, the apostle Paul was deeply concerned that the knowledge entrusted to him by his resurrected Lord be guarded and passed along to others. So he wrote to a young friend named Timothy, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:1-2).

In this letter Paul repeatedly emphasized a kind of truth that could be expressed in words and therefore taught to others. He urged Timothy to protect “the pattern of sound words” that had been entrusted to him. In addition, the apostle challenged his young understudy to work hard to faithfully interpret and communicate “the word of truth” and never to forget the immeasurable value of inspired Scripture (1:13; 2:2,7,14-15; 3:14-16; 4:2).

But Paul also made it clear to Timothy that the truth he had entrusted to him was more than just information.

Truth in attitudes. When Paul wrote his last letter to Timothy, he urged him to do more than pass along the words and facts of right doctrine. Paul knew the danger of good words being drowned out by bad attitudes.

Repeatedly, Paul’s letter to Timothy calls for hearts that express the compassion, patience, and faithfulness of God. Without diminishing the importance of objective truth, the apostle wrote, “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth” (2:24-25).

Again in 2 Timothy 3, Paul affirms the importance of attitudes that correspond to the truth when he wrote, “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance” (3:10).

What Paul passed on to Timothy was not doctrine-light or thin in character. His teaching was well-grounded in Scripture and well-rounded in his own experience. His message and heart were consistent with the facts and attitudes of a loving, faithful, and gracious God. Even more important, Paul’s facts and attitudes mirrored a truth that he saw as being perfectly and powerfully personified in Christ.

Truth in a Person. As the apostle saw his time on earth coming to a close, his mind and heart were consumed by what he regarded as the greatest of all facts. Along with hundreds of other eyewitnesses, he had come to know the truth in a Jewish man whose name meant “Savior.”

The story of this Person was true. In heaven, angels worshiped Him. On earth, He stood beaten, bruised, and subdued in spirit before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.

Behind closed doors, Pilate asked Jesus if He saw Himself as King of the Jewish people. Outside, religious leaders incited a mob to call for His death.

“Are You a king then?” Pilate asked. Jesus replied, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38).

That moment may be filled with more irony than any other moment in history. Where else can we find someone asking the ultimate question while unknowingly standing in the physical presence of the ultimate answer.

If only Pilate could have seen what we now see, he would have fallen on his face in worship. If only he could have understood what we now understand, his cynical question about the truth and his self-protecting political posturing would have melted before the One who stood before him. If only Pilate could have seen that the ultimate issue of truth is not a what, but a who.

And us? May we always remember that the One who stood before Pilate in our behalf now calls us to far more than a Joe Friday approach to facts. May we cultivate a vision of truth that encompasses the words, attitudes, and Person of Christ in us.

Father in heaven, please help us to give Your Son the worship He deserves. Please give us minds to understand the facts that correspond to Your reality. Please give us the attitudes of Your Son that fit Your truth.