Grace and Truth

There is so much bickering in the church world regarding this issue and so many opinions being spouted, I thought I would throw my opinion in the mix. Here it is: I do not believe that grace is the opposite of truth. Instead, I believe they are actually the same thing.

There is an idea circulating that says some people offer a “cheap grace” separate from truth. The other extreme would be to offer a “legalistic truth” apart from grace. We are apparently supposed to meet somewhere in the middle where grace and truth balance each other. Supposedly, that eliminates legalism and cheapness. I don’t see that anywhere in scripture.

I can find grace and truth mentioned together only twice in the Bible, both in the first chapter of John’s gospel.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth. (verse 14)

For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (verse 17)

Now, from these two verses Christians have come to the (in my opinion, erroneous) conclusion that grace and truth can be separated in opposition to each other. I don’t think so.

If you read the entire passage in John 1, you will see over and over how Jesus is referred to as light. He came into a dark (Jewish) world to bring light, or revelation, or a reality known as truth. In that Jewish world, the law was paramount. Was the law truth? In a sense, yes, it was. Did God’s people experience grace under the law? In a sense, yes, they did. John says so in verse 16.

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

What is the point of replacing grace with grace? I believe it is that fact that Jesus fulfilled all of the law’s requirements, settled the sin debt, and brought what had been only a picture of grace into reality. The law was not truth in itself, it foreshadowed real truth.

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.
Hebrews 10:1

Jesus came, full of grace and truth, or grace in reality. He did not come fifty percent full of grace and fifty percent full of truth. He was full of grace which was truth. You cannot divorce the two. If you speak of grace, you’re speaking truth. If you’re speaking truth, you’re speaking grace.

My two cents worth.

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