Grace And Truth

(John 1:14, 16, 17) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

I have been meditating on the pairing of grace and truth in Christ.

Grace is not just another truth. It is not just a fact about the salvation God provided through Christ. Grace is the kindness. Grace is the unmerited love. Grace is the sweetness of the way God deals with sinners. Grace is Jesus looking at the rich young ruler and loving him even though He knew the man would walk away in the end. (Mark 10:21)

It is my opinion that we suffer from graceless truth.

If you shout the truth at the top of your voice and harangue people with the truth, but do not have grace, your truth is indistinguishable from error.

If Jesus is "full of grace and truth," can you preach Jesus in truth gracelessly? Would you not be preaching a false Jesus? When truth is presented gracelessly - is it still truth?

In our society, the art form of obnoxious opinion is a garish parody of the preaching of truth. Let us show the world the difference by being full of both grace and truth.

(Ephesians 4:15) but, speaking the truth in love, (we) may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—