Grace and Truth: Friends, not Foes
A line from our Life Group literature bugs me this week.
"Scripture tells us Jesus was full of both grace and truth (John 1:14). We should emphasize both in the church as well. If we swing too far toward grace to the neglect of turth, we can wink at sin and fail to confront wickedness suh as hypocrisy. On the other hand, if we ingore grace and focus solely on truth, we can become Pharisaical, judging others harshly without love."
I understand at one level what this writer is saying, and for most Christians who have minimal theological training, it makes sense. But I fear we are missing the point. I don't think that John 1:14 means that Jesus was an almagam of opposites, and I think we are wrong when we see grace and truth as opposites. Grace is only grace if it is truthful and gracious about truth; truth is only truth if is truthful and gracious about grace. Grace includes truth; truth includes grace.
Hopefully, I am not splitting hairs. Grace that "swings too far" to the neglect of truth and winking at sin is not grace; I'm not sure what it is, overtolerance maybe, but it's not grace. If a person thinks she is being gracious in such a situation, she is not. Truth that swings too far to excuse Pharisaism is not truth, because it's denying basic doctrines of grace.
My point is to stop portraying them as binary opposites.
"Scripture tells us Jesus was full of both grace and truth (John 1:14). We should emphasize both in the church as well. If we swing too far toward grace to the neglect of turth, we can wink at sin and fail to confront wickedness suh as hypocrisy. On the other hand, if we ingore grace and focus solely on truth, we can become Pharisaical, judging others harshly without love."
I understand at one level what this writer is saying, and for most Christians who have minimal theological training, it makes sense. But I fear we are missing the point. I don't think that John 1:14 means that Jesus was an almagam of opposites, and I think we are wrong when we see grace and truth as opposites. Grace is only grace if it is truthful and gracious about truth; truth is only truth if is truthful and gracious about grace. Grace includes truth; truth includes grace.
Hopefully, I am not splitting hairs. Grace that "swings too far" to the neglect of truth and winking at sin is not grace; I'm not sure what it is, overtolerance maybe, but it's not grace. If a person thinks she is being gracious in such a situation, she is not. Truth that swings too far to excuse Pharisaism is not truth, because it's denying basic doctrines of grace.
My point is to stop portraying them as binary opposites.
Comments