Beauty of Truth

Churches today are often willing to compromise truth in order to preserve unity. Their thinking is often that it is unloving to exclude people that believe differently, yet it is incumbent upon the church to “speak the truth in love”. To speak truth and promote it is the loving thing to do, for it preserves and protects the church from becoming shipwrecked (Ephesians 4:13-15). However, unity can only truly be established upon the commonality of doctrine. The Lord Jesus in His Hight Priestly prayer of John 17 emphasized unity, but did so without sacrificing the necessity of truth. He prayed, “sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Truth, love and unity go hand in hand. Therefore, let us, as a church, renew our commitment to some fundamental truths.

  Biblical authority is of highest priority for us to uphold as the final word in all of our faith and practice. What the Bible instructs, and only what the Bible instructs, should we follow in the life of the church. We do not have the prerogative of adding to the Bible’s teachings or subtracting from its directives (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18-19). Neither man’s traditions nor his reasonings stand above the Bible. All things are subject to and subservient to the Bible’s clear teachings and principles. The Bible derives its authority from the fact that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine . . .” (2 Timothy 3:16). God is the author of every word and the recording of every event and information so that the Bible is without error in the originals and preserved for us today in our various translations (Matthew 5:18). The Bible is completely trustworthy as God’s only revelation of himself to mankind (2 Peter 1:21).

  Most importantly, the Word of God, the Bible, tells us that the only source of salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Salvation is by the preaching of the Word. Therefore, we must “preach the word . . . with all long-suffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). We must not relinquish the truth for fear of being labeled as unloving, intolerant of other religious beliefs, or divisive. Rather the most loving thing to do is to warn of impending judgement, deceptive and damning teachings, and departures from the faith, or else souls will continue on the path of destruction and condemnation (John 3:14-18).