美國權威字典《韋伯字典》2023年所選出的年度單字，翻譯為中文就是真實的（authentic），意即「不造假、冒充或仿造」、「忠於自己的個性、理念或性格」。人們尋求真理和真相，尋找真實可靠的事物，但要分辨真假、虛實卻不容易。特約編輯彼得．索科羅斯基（Peter Sokolowski）說：「我們能相信這篇論文真的是學生自己寫的嗎？⋯⋯政客是否真的發表過這樣的言論？我們不再總是相信自己所看到的，有時甚至不敢相信自己的眼睛或耳朵。現在我們已經察覺所謂的『真實』本身只是一個假象。」

隨着真假越來越難以分辨，許多人都渴望能尋得真理，找到真實無偽的事物。但只要我們領受並實踐聖經的智慧，便可以避免陷入這種無法分辨真理或事實的危機。約翰福音13-17章記載，耶穌在自己即將被捕、受審並且受死之前，與門徒說了一些話。祂即將與門徒分開，這是為了讓他們做好準備，祂也「舉目望天」為門徒禱告（17章1節），祈求天父說：「求祢用真理使他們成聖，祢的道就是真理」（17節）。這顯示上帝在聖經中所啟示的，並不是依據別的標準來衡量其真實性，因為聖經本身就是真理，是判斷一切事物的準則。

上帝要我們以聖經為原則，行事為人都符合聖經真理。唯有如此我們才能成為真實無偽、毫無虛假，而這正是當今世界迫切需要的。

Merriam-Webster’s 2023 Word of the Year was authentic. It means “not false or imitation” and “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” People search for truth, but discerning fact from fiction can be challenging. Editor Peter Sokolowski said, “Can we trust whether a student wrote this paper [or] . . . whether a politician made this statement? We don’t always trust what we see anymore. We sometimes don’t believe our own eyes or our own ears. We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself.”

As what is real becomes less clear, authenticity is something most people crave. This kind of “crisis of authenticity” can be averted as we take in and live out the wisdom of Scripture. Jesus spoke to His disciples just before His arrest, trial, and death (John 13-17). Preparing His disciples for His departure from earth, He also “looked toward heaven and prayed” for them (17:1). He prayed that the Father might “sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (v. 17). This implies that what God has revealed in the Bible doesn’t conform to some other standard of what’s true, but it is truth itself and the standard by which everything else is judged.

God calls us to align our lives with Scripture, to conduct ourselves according to its truth. Only by doing so can we become truly authentic, which is very much what the world needs today.