The apostle John records Jesus telling the apostles that they would be guided into “all truth”1. A casual reading of this might lead some to conclude that the apostles literally received all truth. It is, after all, what the verse tells us. The adjective “all” means “the whole amount, quantity, or extent of” according to Webster. Likewise, defining the Greek word (‘pas’) isn’t going to lead to anything different. During these last hours of Jesus’ life in the upper room, were the apostles promised to receive literally all truth?
How Scripture answers "What ‘all truth’ did the apostles receive (John 16:13)?"
The apostles ‘all truth’ was the gospel of Christ Jesus2,5,9,10,11,13,14 (Paul’s “spiritual truths”3). It was not a literal ‘all truth’ (e.g. every true thing that could be known) since after this imparting1,2 there were still things only known by Jesus5 and God the Father7,8,12. The ‘all’ was everything (a complete revelation) needed for someone to “abide in God”11 and was the same knowledge of the truth that Jesus had1,2 and embodied6. It (the “truth”) had been a mystery10,13,14 until His coming, and proclaiming it was part of Jesus’ mission on earth10. After Jesus1,2, the apostles3,4,13,14 (and prophets13,14) were appointed/directed by God the Father1,3,13 to be His messengers of the ‘all truth’ gospel revealed to them by the Holy Spirit1,3,13,14.
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