On my recent vacation, I read an excellent book by Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox. It is based on John’s statement in John 1:14 that Jesus was “full of grace and truth”. Some churches (and Christians) today emphasize grace over truth while others do just the opposite. Christ did neither. He was full of grace and truth.The book is small (92 pages). It is part of Multnomah’s “Small Books, Big Change” series. Yet it has a big message. It is very easy to read, yet some of its principles are potentially life-changing, and merit thoughtful contemplation. To that end, I will finish out this “review” by providing some quotes from the book itself, and let Randy do the talking.
A grace-starved, truth-starved world needs Jesus, full of grace and truth. (p. 14)
Some churches today embrace truth but need a heavy dose of grace. Other churches talk about grace but cry out for a heavy dose of truth. (p.15)
Truth-oriented Christians love studying Scripture and theology. But sometimes they’re quick to judge and slow to forgive. They’re strong on truth, weak on grace.
Grace-oriented Christians love forgiveness and freedom. But sometimes they neglect Bible study and see moral standards as “legalism.” They’re strong on grace, weak on truth.
Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry, and other relationships are failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other. (p. 17)
Why should we have to choose between conservatism’s emphasis on truth and liberalism’s emphasis on grace? Why can’t we oppose injustice to minorities and to the unborn? Why can’t we oppose greedy ruination of the environment and anti-industry New Age environmentalism? Why can’t we affirm the biblical right to the ownership of property and emphasize God’s call to voluntarily share wealth with the needy? Why can’t we uphold God’s condemnation of sexual immorality, including homosexual practices, and reach out in love and compassion to those trapped in destructive lifestyles and dying from AIDS?
We cannot do these things if we are first and foremost either liberals or conservatives. We can do these things only if we are first and foremost followers of Christ, who is full of grace and truth. (p. 80-81)
If we minimize grace, the world sees no hope for salvation. If we minimize truth, the world sees no need for salvation. To show the world Jesus, we must offer unabridged grace and truth, emphasizing both, apologizing for neither. The Colossian church “understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Colossians 1:6)
Truth is quick to post warning signs and guardrails at the top of the cliff. Yet it fails to empower people to drive safely–and neglects to help them when they crash.
Grace is quick to post ambulances and paramedics at the bottom of the cliff. But without truth, it fails to post warning signs and build guardrails. In so doing, it encourages the very self-destruction it attempts to heal. (p. 87-88)
Grace and truth are both necessary. Neither is sufficient….We who are truth-oriented need to go out of our way to affirm grace. We who are grace-oriented need to go out of our way to affirm truth. “Hate the sin, but love the sinner.” No one did either like Jesus. Truth hates sin. Grace loves sinners. Those full of grace and truth do both. (p. 88)
In Jesus, “mercy and truth have met together” (Psalm 85:10, NKJV). Grace and truth met face to face on the Cross. (p. 92)
I have read this book as well… highly recommended!
How easily we compartmentalize! Christianity is a both/and religion, not an either/or religion. The more I learn, the more I learn how common this tendency is. Too many of us simply can’t (or won’t) walk and chew gum at the same time!
Only by God’s grace will we find it in us to do so.–>
[…] I think his description is worth pondering, and not just pondering in the sense of earmarking others who fit his description. Think of yourself and your group, and ponder how his description fits or doesn’t. Let us, as fundamentalists, seek to keep a large measure of grace along with our truth. (See this post on Grace & Truthby Randy Alcorn, for some helpful thoughts in this regard.) […]
The “hate the sin, love the sinner” theology is not based on truth. Psalm 5:5 and 11:5 both say that God hates the workers of iniquity. The truth says that Jesus paved the way for grace to be applied to the “repentant” sinner. Also knowing that the scripture (1 Timothy) also indicates that repentance is a gift of grace. Forgiveness is our God given responsibility but it must be based on the truth of our own forgiveness recieved through faith in Christ’s work.
This is exactly why Jesus teaches us in His word that we “Must be born again”. With man, (human intellect) this is impossible. But with God all things are possible.
I asked our heavenly Father once, “What about these teachings that divide your body?”
He answered, “Both are right and both are wrong, each member has something to provide that the other is lacking, but man’s religious pride will not allow him to receive that part which the other has.”
Why are we divided into camps? I believe it is simply that much of what we call “church” is often built around the personality of a man, or a particular type of teachings. Not built on the cornerstone, Jesus Christ, who is both the lion and the lamb, the alpha and the omega, our strength and our redeemer.
Jesus prayed in John 17, “Father make them one, as we are one, that the world would know that you sent me.” Amen