There are a number of striking examples in the Scriptures of people who discovered that their origin, not their past, culture, or anything else, is the most accurate reference for truth. Let’s start with Jesus Himself.
Jesus replied, “You’re right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true because I know where I’ve come from and where I go next. You don’t know where I’m from or where I’m headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don’t make judgements like that. But even if I did, my judgement would be true because I wouldn’t make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father”
John 8:14-16
Jesus makes the statement that the dependability and truth of His words concerning Himself are based on the fact that He knows His own origin and destiny. He then emphasises this concept by saying that He does not make judgements from the narrowness of His own experience. Did you get that! Jesus says that the record we have of what he did and said is not the best reference we have to His identity! No wonder Paul writes at a later stage that he no longer knows Christ according to the flesh. Jesus discovered that the greatest truth about Himself and His own identity, is found in understanding His origin and destiny. Compared to that, personal experience is narrow, short-sighted and a poor communicator of identity.
