Friday, 24 July 2009
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The Truth is Not the Gospel
“Preach the truth.” That’s what they said to me. “Stand for the truth” sounded like pretty good advice at the time. “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” That one’s from the Bible. But will the truth set everyone free from everything? No, it will not.
1+1=2 is truth, and to learn this truth will indeed set an individual free from mathematical ignorance, but will it free a heroin addict from her love affair with death? No. Truth indeed will set the captive free, but in reality, people are held captive by different things.
The first intrepid souls who crossed the Atlantic to forge a new life in a new world found themselves instead facing extinction. The pilgrims were perishing for lack of knowledge. They were starving. They knew nothing of North American agriculture and simply could not grow enough food to feed their families. What did they need to survive? Truth? Yes, truth, but not just any truth, they needed native American agricultural truth. They needed knowledge of how to work the soil of this strange and foreign land. Nothing else would do. For a man to come along and see the pilgrims starving in ignorance and then begin to teach them that 1+1=2 imagining that he was liberating them from their predicament because he was teaching them the truth and that the truth would set them free, would be ludicrous!
The pilgrims would have gone to their graves with mathematical truth rattling around in their heads but without the truth that they so desperately needed, the truth that would have put food in their children’s bellies, life in their bodies, and would have kept them upright and breathing.
The man who would help such pilgrims must bring the truth that meets their most urgent need, not the truth that is most conveniently at hand.
The same applies to the message of the Bible. Remember this: The gospel is truth, but all truth is not the gospel. Everything in the Bible is truth, but everything in the Bible is not the gospel. And it is the gospel that Paul said is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe.
1+1=2 is a truth that cannot free the souls of men. We know this. But we often miss that, “Blessed are the peacemakers” is also a truth that cannot purchase one moment of reprieve from the shackles of slavery. Why? Because the particular truth that sets men and women free from bondage is the gospel of Jesus Christ and no other!
You’ve probably heard that the word “gospel” means “good news.” So is just any ”good news” the power of God unto salvation? No. It is the good news of Jesus Christ! The good news that He has come and conquered and now offers to us not only His pardon, but the opportunity to be partakers with Him in His victory; to tread upon the serpents and scorpions within our souls and upon all the powers of the enemy that should beset us.
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” is truth, but it was truth before Christ came to this earth and died. “Thou shalt not kill” is truth but it was truth before Jesus ever rose from the grave. That it is good for men to pray and to study God’s word is truth but it was truth before the sacrifice of Calvary; and if these truths had the power to set the captive free then Christ died in vain!
The loftiest truths in the Bible can be read, studied, preached, and memorized and will never be lived out unless the glorious truth of the gospel has dawned, bringing salvation to those who behold it.
The man or woman who would help the wandering pilgrims of the human race must bring them the scripture truth that meets their most immediate, urgent and dire need, not the biblical truth that is least controversial, most convenient, socially acceptable, comfortable, or culturally relevant.
What most men and women desperately need, is something that most, especially in the church, think they already have . . . salvation.
The truth that man is hopelessly lost and dead in trespasses and sins is part of the Christian message and must be presented clearly and with love but without apology. It is a truthful and accurate description of the condition of mankind but this truth is not God’s solution to man’s condition and can hardly be called “good news”.
The truth is not the gospel; and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and nothing else that is the power of God unto salvation.
This is why Paul said, not that he would “preach the truth,” or that he would, “stand for the truth,” But that he determined to preach nothing but Christ, and Christ crucified, glorying in nothing but the cross.
The mere preaching of truth, even biblical truth, apart from the gospel will never save a single soul from the clutches of death.
Christ condemned the Pharisees saying, “You search the scriptures for in them you think you have life; but the scriptures all testify of Me; and you will not come to Me that I may give you life.”
Scripture truth is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end. It is the cross of Christ, not the canon of scripture that makes men into new creatures, that speaks to dead men’s bones and causes dust to come to life.
How many professing Christians, both liberal and conservative, have gone to their graves with orthodox, theological truth rattling around in their heads but without the truth that they so desperately needed, the truth that would have put Christ, the Bread and Water of Life into their parched, starving souls, and would have kept them from ever having to hear those chilling words, “I never knew you”.
There are many truths one can learn that will inform, but only one that transforms.
The only transforming truth is the gospel.
The only saving truth is the good news of Jesus.
He has come to be the Savior and Redeemer of all men; of both the atheist filled with facts and fiction as well as the Pharisee filled with Divine doctrine. The Gospel, the good news, to both the Hypocrite and the heroine addict is the same, “He came to save his people from their sins.” And He is now present and ready to save all those who will look to Him and believe.
He is the way. He is the truth. And it is He who is salvation.
Preach Christ.
Stand for Christ.
Know Christ.
The truth is not the gospel. Jesus is.
Never forget it.
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Comments (17)
And, Jesus said to them - I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. He who BELIEVES IN ME though he shall die will have eternal life.
Great point. Though ironically, the verse you quote about "the truth will set you free" makes precisely the same point in context:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)
True- we need to preach the gospel Truth to all mankind first and foremost. Also equally true is the fact that we need to stop bringing "theology" to people before we bring them the Gospel.... just makes no sense.
However, once a person has heard the gospel, understands the gospel, been convicted of, and accepted the gospel, Then that person needs to begin to study the other parts of the scriptures. There was a tremendous amount of importance placed in the OT writings, and even in Pauls writings as Peter pointed out.
Preach the gospel, know the gospel, and mature onto the meat of Christianity (which is practicing what the scriptures as a whole teach us).
But the gospel is truth.
So as opposed to lies, my vote is still for the truth setting you free.
I think it's another cliche sort of term that's all.
Gospel is the Truth of Jesus...
And while Christians might not like to hear this... it is possible that this is not a Truth so much as a belief. We want it to be truth.
We pray and hope and believe that it is the Truth... that Jesus will save our souls.
But there are many religions in the world. And the fact is that we can not be absolutely sure this is the TRUTH that we should be following.
We believe... We learn... we hope to understand.
But until we meet our Maker, we will not know for sure if Jesus is the TRUTH.
I believe it with all my heart... but... I will find out in the end. I pray I am right.
Jesus claimed to be Truth. Your post argues against itself. It might be more accurate to replace your term "truth" with the phrase "written truth" or "informational truth" or the like. Ultimate Truth is the person of Jesus Christ.
i think you mixed up truth and knowledge at the beginning there.
I dunno what gospel you read, but the four I go by are about Jesus. Makes your post kind of pointless.
a dead person will not be brought to life by reading about Job.
i agree, we hope to know, and we will all know in the end, then what if you don't?
I can't help but join the semantics bandwagon...Jesus is the truth. Therefore, the truth is the Gospel. Fact is not the Gospel. You can know facts without knowing Jesus. You cannot know real, complete truth without knowing Jesus.
But all of those word games aside, I get what you are saying.
@karadarling@xanga - I think I can relate to your comments, as a part of me thinks that way at times too. It is a very reasonable, logical way of looking at it.
Still, the Bible tells us we can KNOW the truth, and that we can know that we are children of God.Just because we don't know everything doesn't mean we cannot know truth. A key part of our belief is that what we believe is true.
I'm not entirely sure what this post is about, and I'm usually pretty good at fabricating a point to some pointless rant.
Are we arguing semantics here, or is there something of spiritual or theological value to be presented? The truth vs. the gospel seems like an argument between the Father and the Son. If the author's point is that the gospel does not encompass all truth, I'd agree. However, while the gospel of the life, death and resurrection of Christ (and the life he taught us to lead) is the only means to salvation (to God, through Christ), all truth offers some amount of freedom. It is true that many of these truths are useless and burdensome without the saving truth of the gospel, but it is a mistake to somehow discount these truths altogether.
People of God need to focus on ALL truth: begin with Christ and end with a relentless pursuit of truth. The truth, indeed, will set you free. Having an understanding of the gospel of Christ is salvation, but application (both in word or knowledge, and in deed) of that truth (including application of other truths) is the justification of that salvation.
Not all truth is God's Truth.
@karadarling@xanga - Believe me, I understand where you're coming from about wondering where the real "truth" is in different religions. Even as a Christian I still wonder about that. But according to Christianity, Christians know they have the truth because that's what Jesus claimed to have, and we know this because of his death and ressurection. So if there was some other religion out there that's the "real" one, that would make Jesus' death meaningless. And since the death of Jesus was planned by our Father, we have every reason to believe that He knew what He was doing!
um. no? why don't you figure out what truth is before you go ahead and bash it. 1+1=2 isn't truth, it's made up. 1+1=2 is not true. i'm not being sarcastic. do you understand?
No one can be truly free, every living thing including human beings are bound by different rules. But yes, knowing certain truths can set one free from certain superstitions that are bad for us or bad for those around us (such as a Chinese superstitious belief stating that all who retain their beard must be evil).
Well, Gospels may not be the complete truth of Jesus and Jesus is the real Truth. We can never fully know the true Jesus, think about it; even after living with your daughter for 18 years, there is a great chance that you do not know her. For example if she wants to hide things from you, it would make understanding her a hard thing. I myself is a person who is very hard to understand, my mother and I cannot communicate well, since she has given up in trying to know the real me. All she is trying to do is to change me into who she wants me to be. She wants me to do things the way she wants me to do them, but this is honestly too much for me to take. I cannot and will not do everything her way. I cannot and will not and must not change into who she wants me to be. I lied to her all this time, trying to minimise conflicts with her; but I knew that she must know the truth about me some day. Jesus as the Son of God must be a very complex person Himself, but His character (from the way the Scriptures described) is truly admirable and remarkable and I am learning from Him. I am on the way, on this path. The path of a true Christian is the path of a true follower of Jesus Christ.
As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught us by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned".
(1 Cor 2 :12-14)