Is truth relative? Many people today say that right and wrong depend on the person or the culture, but the Bible teaches that God is the source of absolute truth. Some customs really do vary from place to place, yet moral truth doesn’t. Relativism contradicts itself, and almost no one consistently lives by it. Everyone places faith in something, and the Bible points us to Jesus, who is the truth.
What People Mean by “It’s All Relative”
When someone says “it’s all relative,” they usually mean moral relativism: the belief that right and wrong vary from person to person and can’t be objectively known. A close cousin is cultural relativism, which says each culture sets its own morality. In Western culture, this idea is often applied to sexuality and personal choices, while violence or stealing are still treated as clearly wrong.
It’s helpful to separate customs from morals. Whether women wear head coverings in public, how people greet one another or what they eat for breakfast really can differ from culture to culture. But some tribes once considered cannibalism and headhunting acceptable, and no thoughtful person would call those mere cultural preferences. The Bible describes what happens when people make themselves the final authority on right and wrong.
Judges 21:25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
That verse closes one of the darkest books in Scripture, filled with violence and chaos. When everyone becomes their own standard, things don’t become more peaceful. They fall apart.
Why Relativism Doesn’t Hold Up
The statement “all truth is relative” is itself a claim about absolute truth. If it’s true, it’s false. That’s a big problem for any worldview. And in real life, people who say morality is relative still make moral judgments all the time. Steal their car or lie about them at work, and they’ll insist that what you did was wrong, not just wrong for them.
History makes the point even sharper. Slavery was once legal and widely accepted in the United States. Was it good back then simply because many people believed it was? Almost everyone today would say no. Slavery was wrong then and is wrong now, which only makes sense if there’s a moral standard above every culture. The Bible says God has written that standard on every human heart.
Romans 2:14-15 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)
Your conscience is evidence that moral truth is real. It’s not just a feeling we evolved; it’s a fingerprint of the God who made us.
Everyone Lives by Faith
We all exercise faith every day. You trust the chair you’re sitting in won’t collapse and that you’ll make it home safely tonight. The question isn’t whether you have faith, but what you place it in. Many people today put their faith in human reason, trusting themselves to decide what’s right. Others trust only the material world, believing nothing exists beyond what we can see, touch or measure.
Both are faith positions, and neither can answer life’s biggest questions. Materialism can explain why we might feel that murder is wrong, but it can never say that murder truly is wrong. It can’t tell us what we ought to do or what life means. The Bible invites a different kind of faith, one grounded in the God who exists and who welcomes those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Biblical faith isn’t blind. It’s trust placed in a God who has revealed himself in creation, in Scripture and most clearly in Jesus.
Truth Is a Person
If absolute truth is so reasonable, why is it hard for people to accept? Often it’s not about evidence at all. Admitting there’s a God who defines right and wrong means giving up control. Some people are also angry at God because he didn’t meet their expectations, and they’d rather have a god they can shape to fit their preferences. But a God we invent can never rescue us.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus didn’t just teach truth; he claimed to be the truth. That means truth isn’t only a set of rules to follow but a person to know and trust. He proved his claim by rising from the dead, and he offers forgiveness to everyone who comes to him. If you’d like to learn more about putting your faith in Jesus, check out How can I become a Christian?
The Takeaway
Is truth relative? Customs may change, but moral truth doesn’t, because it comes from God himself. Relativism undercuts itself, and everyone lives by faith in something. The best place to put that faith is in Jesus, the way, the truth and the life.
