Being the Truth in love

After a very wild teenage in Bloomsbury – It is just about 65 years since I discovered the God of the Bible. And it has been a marvellous adventure since then. I am very aware that this is not a position that I share with much of society and the media but I am happy and contented in my belief. Though I am encouraged that some 2.3 billion people in the world nominally share my Christian Faith.

I suppose the last 65 years or so have been a quest for TRUTH and I am so grateful for my tutors in Bristol (men like Alec Motyer and Jim Packer) who gave me such a good Biblical, theological and philosophical grounding. I love the marginal reading of Ephesians 4:15: the NIV has it, “speaking the truth in love”, but the word there is “aletheuontes” and would better be rendered, “BEING THE TRUTH in love.” That is what I want to be!

But we need to take Ephesians 4:15 apart and see that we need (i) TO BE TRUTHFUL. Enthusiasm, fervour and a pleasant disposition are no substitute for good old fashioned genuine honesty. (ii) We need to HOLD the truth in love. “Truth” without “love” can be hard and cold. Even evangelical truth can become a tool of a narrow bigotry, petty hatred and denominational animosity, if not held “in love.” (iii) We must SPEAK the truth in love. We must not remain dumb in the face of evils, perversions and atrocities.