Seeking Truth in Evaluating Human Examples Biblically
The prophet Jeremiah received a striking commission: to search Jerusalem's streets for even one person who "does justly, who seeks truth" [1]. This divine search for truthful human examples establishes a biblical pattern—evaluating human conduct and character against the standard of truth is not merely permissible but commanded. Yet Scripture consistently frames such evaluation within the recognition that all human examples, however instructive, remain imperfect and subordinate to divine revelation.
The Biblical Warrant for Examining Human Examples
Scripture itself provides numerous human examples for instruction, both positive and negative. The writer of Hebrews catalogs faithful witnesses from Abel to the prophets, while Paul explicitly presents Christ as the supreme example of diligence [3]. This apostolic practice of holding up human models assumes the legitimacy of evaluating conduct against truth. The command to seek diligently after God [3], to examine ourselves [3], and to guard against defilement [3] all require the capacity to assess human behavior—including our own—according to revealed standards.
The theological foundation for this evaluation rests on the doctrine of general revelation and the moral law written on human hearts. Charles Hodge observes that "all men have in the moral law, which they recognize not only as truth, but as having the authority of God" [5]. This universal moral consciousness provides a baseline for assessing human conduct, though it remains insufficient for spiritual discernment apart from special revelation and the Spirit's illumination.
The Necessity of Scripture as the Standard
While human examples may instruct, Scripture alone provides the authoritative criterion for distinguishing truth from error. The early church father Clement of Alexandria insisted that "the lover of truth...needs force of soul" and must receive "from the truth itself the rule of the truth" [8]. Without this scriptural standard, evaluation degenerates into subjective preference or cultural convention.
Hodge emphasizes that theological truth must be derived from "all the facts which God has revealed concerning himself and our relation to Him. These facts are all in the Bible" [10]. This principle extends to the evaluation of human examples: we assess them not by philosophical speculation or moral intuition alone, but by comparing them to the revealed standard. The Reformers' insistence that "the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants" [10] guards against elevating human tradition or example to the level of divine authority.
The Limitations of Human Examples
Even the most exemplary human figures remain imperfect. The incarnate Christ alone provides a flawless human example, having experienced genuine human limitations—hunger, thirst, weariness, growth in wisdom—while remaining without sin [2]. Calvin notes that Christ's human nature exhibited characteristics that "apply entirely to his humanity" while his divine nature remained unchangeable [11]. This unique combination makes Christ the only perfectly reliable human example.
All other human models, however instructive, carry the marks of fallen nature. Hodge observes that "the state of men since the fall proves that until enlightened by the Holy Ghost they are spiritually blind, unable to discern the true nature of the things of the Spirit" [4]. This spiritual blindness affects not only unbelievers but also the incomplete sanctification of believers. The biblical record itself demonstrates this reality by presenting the failures of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles alongside their faithfulness.
The Role of Spiritual Discernment
Evaluating human examples biblically requires more than intellectual analysis. Hodge argues that spiritual truth becomes known "not by any process of research or argument, but of inward experience" [5]. The Holy Spirit's testimony enables believers to perceive spiritual realities that remain opaque to natural reason. This inward guide possesses "an authority second only to that of the Word of God" [6], though it must always be tested against Scripture to distinguish divine illumination from human sentiment.
The danger lies in substituting philosophical principles or moral axioms for biblical truth. Hodge warns that "men have formed their opinions, or framed their doctrines on philosophical principles, or moral axioms, and thus have been led to adopt conclusions which contradict the inward teachings of the Spirit" [6]. Similarly, people "constantly deceive themselves by postulating as moral axioms what are nothing more than the forms in which their feelings or peculiar opinions find expression" [7]. Biblical evaluation of human examples must therefore resist the temptation to baptize cultural preferences or philosophical systems as divine truth.
The Progressive Nature of Understanding
The church's capacity to evaluate human examples biblically has developed over time. Hodge notes that "the same progress has taken place in theological knowledge" as occurs in individual Christian growth [13]. Early believers possessed genuine faith and understanding, yet the church collectively has grown in "the clearness, order, and harmony" of its knowledge [13]. This progressive understanding does not add to Scripture's content but clarifies the relationships between revealed truths.
This development affects how the church reads both Scripture and human examples. The astronomer, geologist, and zoologist discover that facts "stand in a certain relation to each other, and admit of no other" [9]. Similarly, biblical facts reveal their own internal relationships, and human examples must be understood within this revealed framework rather than imposed philosophical schemes. Hodge cautions against making "the truth of Scriptural doctrines to depend on the correctness of philosophical theories" [12], a warning equally applicable to evaluating human conduct.
The biblical call to seek truth in evaluating human examples thus requires holding together several realities: the legitimacy of learning from human models, the absolute authority of Scripture as the standard of evaluation, the necessity of spiritual illumination for proper discernment, and the recognition that all human examples except Christ remain imperfect. Jeremiah's search through Jerusalem's streets continues in the church's ongoing task of discerning truth from error, faithfulness from compromise, in the lives of those who claim to follow God.
Sources
- Jeremiah ““Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her. -- Jeremiah 5:1”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Human Nature of Christ, The — Was necessary to his mediatorial office -- 1Ti 2:5; Heb 2:17; Ga 4:4,5; 1Co 15:21; Ro 6:15,19. Is proved by his Conception in the Virgin's womb. -- Mt 1:18; Lu 1:31. Birth. -- Mt 1:16,25; 2:2; Lu 2:7,11. Partaking of flesh and blood. -- Joh 1:14; Heb 2:14. Having a human soul. -- Mt 26:38; Lu 23:46; Ac 2:31. Circumcision. -- Lu 2:21. Increase in wisdom and stature. -- Lu 2:52. Weeping. -- Lu 19:41; Joh 11:35. Hungering. -- Mt 4:2; 21:18. Thirsting. -- Joh 4:7; 19:28. Sleeping. -- Mt 8:24; Mr 4:38. Being subject to weariness. -- Joh 4:6. ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Diligence — Christ, an example -- Mr 1:35; Lu 2:49. Required by God in Seeking him. -- 1Ch 22:19; Heb 11:6. Obeying him. -- De 6:17; 11:13. Hearkening to him. -- Isa 55:2. Striving after perfection. -- Php 3:13,14. Cultivating Christian graces. -- 2Pe 1:5. Keeping the souls. -- De 4:9. Keeping the heart. -- Pr 4:23. Labours of love. -- Heb 6:10-12. Following every good work. -- 1Ti 5:10. Guarding against defilement. -- Heb 12:15. Seeking to be found spotless. -- 2Pe 3:14. Making our call, &c, sure. -- 2Pe 1:10. Self-examination. -- Ps 77:6. Lawful business. -- Pr 27:”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 54: the state of men since the fall proves that until enlightened by the Holy Ghost they are spiritually blind, unable to discern the true nature of the things of the Spirit, and therefore incapable of receiving a due impression from them. Experience confirms this teaching of the Bible. It shows that no mere moral power of truth as presented objectively to the mind is of any avail to change the hearts of men. There once appeared on earth a divine person clothed in our nature; exhibiting the perfection of moral excellence in the form of a huma”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 11: of research or argument, but of inward experience. The change may, and often does, take place in a moment. The faith of a Christian in the Bible is, as before remarked, analogous to that which all men have in the moral law, which they recognize not only as truth, but as having the authority of God. What the natural man perceives with regard to the moral law the renewed man is enabled to perceive in regard to “the things of the Spirit,” by the testimony of that Spirit with and by the truth to his heart. Proof from Express Declarations of S”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 103: guide to the knowledge of the truth. It has an authority second only to that of the Word of God. One great source of error in theology has always been the neglect of this inward guide. Men have formed their opinions, or framed their doctrines on philosophical principles, or moral axioms, and thus have been led to adopt conclusions which contradict the inward teachings of the Spirit, and even their own religious consciousness. The only question is, How can we distinguish the human from the divine? How can we determine what in our experien”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 104: justice by vicarious punishment, the Bible asserts and assumes no moral principle which does not underlie all the providential dealings of God with individuals or with nations. 4. Men constantly deceive themselves by postulating as moral axioms what are nothing more than the forms in which their feelings or peculiar opinions find expression. To one man it is an axiom that a holy God cannot permit sin, or a benevolent God allow his creatures to be miserable; and he, therefore, infers either that there is no God, or that He cannot control ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — CHAP. XVI.--SCRIPTURE THE CRITERION BY WHICH TRUTH AND HERESY ARE DISTINGUISHED.[3] (part 2): Scripture, in accordance with their lusts.[4] And the lover of truth, as I think, needs force of soul. For those who make the greatest attempts must fail in things of the highest importance; unless, receiving from the truth itself the rule of the truth, they cleave to the truth. But such people, in consequence of falling away from the right path, err in most individual points; as you might expect from not having the faculty fo”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 59: a preconceived divine scheme relating to the salvation of men; and if the proper comprehension of that scheme be thus important, the next question is, How can it be ascertained? The first answer to this question is that in every system of facts which are really related to each other, the relation is revealed in the nature of the facts. The astronomer, the geologist, and the zoologist very soon discover that the facts of their several sciences stand in a certain relation to each other, and admit of no other. If the relation be not admitted”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 8: to ascertain, collect, and combine all the facts which God has revealed concerning himself and our relation to Him. These facts are all in the Bible. This is true, because everything revealed in nature, and in the constitution of man concerning God and our relation to Him, is contained and authenticated in Scripture. It is in this sense that “the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants.” It may be admitted that the truths which the theologian has to reduce to a science, or, to speak more humbly, which he has to arrange a”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 50: Isiah 41:1, &c.; John 5:17 ; Luke 2:52 ; John 8:50 ; Mark 13:32 ; John 14:10 ; 6:38; Luke 24:39 . apply entirely to his humanity; since, as God, he cannot be in any respect said to grow, works always for himself, knows every thing, does all things after the counsel of his own will, and is incapable of being seen or handled. And yet he not merely ascribes these things separately to his human nature, but applies them to himself as suitable to his office of Mediator. There is a communication of ijdiwvmata, or properties, when Paul say”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 49: the simple Scriptural statement. Realism, however, is a philosophical theory outside of the Scriptures, intended to account for the fact that Adam’s sin is the ground of the condemnation of our race. It introduces a doctrine of universals, of the relation of individuals to genera and species, concerning which the Scriptures teach nothing, and it makes that philosophical theory an integral part of Scripture doctrine. This is adding to the word of God. It is making the truth of Scriptural doctrines to depend on the correctness of philosophi”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 37: effected by a continual and gradual progress. The same progress has taken place in theological knowledge. Every believer is conscious of such progress in his own experience. When he was a child, he thought as a child. As he grew in years, he grew in knowledge of the Bible. He increased not only in the compass, but in the clearness, order, and harmony of his knowledge. This is just as true of the Church collectively as of the individual Christian. It is, in the first place, natural, if not inevitable, that it should be so. The Bible, altho”