Truth of life

Speaking the Truth

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another”.

Authentic Christian living requires mind and heart to work together in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Without knowledge of what the Lord wants from us, we cannot serve Him rightly. At the same time, all the knowledge in the world is insufficient to make us lead a life that glorifies God. If we have no love for the Creator and His law, then we cannot forsake all other gods but Him (Ex. 20:3; 1 John 5:21). Whatever we love more than the Lord and His will becomes, essentially, our god.

Ephesians 1–3, in a sense, focuses on the heart aspects of the Christian life. To be sure, these chapters present objective content that we must know and believe for salvation. Still, this content describes the horrible predicament from which we have been saved, and it presents our glorious destiny as one unified and sanctified people. This cannot help but make our hearts leap with joy. Recalling what our Savior has done, we grow in our affection for Him, becoming increasingly eager to do His will. Thus, we take off sin and put on Jesus willingly (4:17–24).

Yet the command to put on Jesus is a bit abstract, and we are left with this question: What does it mean to clothe ourselves in Christ in terms of practical, everyday living? Paul answers this question in the latter part of Ephesians 4, explaining, in a manner that our minds can easily grasp, how those who have put on Christ must live. Verse 25, for example, tells the Christian to “speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” The apostle emphasizes truth-telling here, especially within the church. Lying to others, particularly fellow believers, is not an option for the Christian. We are members of one another, and lies weaken the unity of Christ’s body, sowing seeds of division, discord, and distrust.

A propensity to lie is a particularly clear indication that we are refusing to put on Christ. “All mankind are liars” (PS. 116:11) because those who are in Adam hate the truth. They prefer to twist facts to advance themselves, tear down other people, excuse their failings, and even avoid needed confrontations that can break the peace between friends and family. In Adam we are liars, hiding our sin and the sins of others to maintain a veneer of peace. But we are in Christ — who is truth Himself (John 14:6) — and so truth must be our highest goal.

The Suppression of Truth

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (v. 18).

The Gospel Paul preached is a revelation of the righteousness of God (Romans 1:17). It is a revelation of God Himself, and particularly of His character and justice. Man, made in God’s image, lost his conformity to God’s character and righteousness when he rebelled against God. When God reveals Himself and His righteousness to a sinful man, that man is destroyed by God’s wrath. Now, however, God has revealed His righteousness in such a way that a man may be saved and restored to conformity to God’s character and justice. This righteousness, says Paul, is received by faith.

In verse 18, Paul begins to expand on the thought that when God reveals himself to sinners, they feel His wrath. His wrath is manifested against the ungodly because they suppress the truth by their wickedness. Translations vary, and some say that the wicked hold the truth in wickedness. This verb hold means “clasp, seize, possess, hold tightly,” and is used positively in places where we are enjoined to hold tightly to the truth of God.

Here the idea is that all men know the truth and they clasp it, but in such a way as to suppress it. Men are not ignorant of God’s truth. They know God and they know about His righteous character. They know that they hate Him and reject His righteous character; but in order to reject Him, they must know Him. Paul says in verses 19–20 that they know this because (1) God Himself actively makes it known to them, and (2) the creation clearly reveals Him and His truth.

All Truth Is God's Truth

Sometimes the slogan “All truth is God’s truth” is used to justify dealing in any sphere of knowledge as an act of worship or stewardship. The impression is given that just knowing God’s truth and recognizing it as such is a good thing, even a worthy end. But the problem with this is that the devil does it.

“If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:2-3). Which I take to mean that until we know in such a way that we love God more because of it, we do not yet know as we ought to know.

Alongside “All truth is God’s truth,” we need to say, “All truth exists to display more of God and awaken more love for God.” This means that knowing truth and knowing it as God’s truth is not a virtue until it awakens desire and delight in us for the God of truth. And that desire and delight are not complete until they give rise to words or actions that display the worth of God. That is, we exist to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and merely knowing a truth to be God’s truth does not glorify him any more than the devil does.

All truth exists to make God known and loved and shown. If it does not have those three effects it is not known rightly and should not be celebrated as a virtue.

I give thanks that unbelievers see God’s truths in the natural world in a limited way. They know many scientific and cultural facts. But they do not feel desire for God or delight in God because of them. So these facts are misused. This is not a virtue.

I also give thanks that that believers may learn many of God’s truths from unbelievers and see them rightly and thus desire God more and delight in God more because of those truths, so that unbelievers become, unwittingly, the means of our worship.

Thus an unbeliever’s knowing God’s truth is not ultimately a virtue—that is, not a knowing that accords with God’s purpose for knowing—nevertheless that knowing may be a useful knowing for the sake of what God makes of it for his self-revealing and self-exalting purposes in the world, contrary to all the expectations of the unbeliever whose knowing God uses.