Grace and Truth

One of the most mind-boggling attributes of God’s character is His combination of grace and truth. He is both severe and merciful at the same time. It is difficult to understand how someone could be a combination of both of these things to the same degree. We as humans are constantly tempted to go to one extreme or another. It is very hard to balance the two of these attributes for humans. However, God has no problem being both grace and truth. Jesus ‘character is described as being full of grace and truth. I believe every person of the trinity expresses this same balance of character as Jesus.

John 1:14 “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.”

The truth portion of His character is the intolerance of sin and the grace portion is His incomparable love for humans, even desperately wicked ones.

The difficulties raised by this attribute include difficulty understanding or being able to predict which way God will react in certain circumstances. The showing of grace is not always logical. It would be easier to understand if God always acted in predictable ways, ie. harshly towards sin. Grace is never really logical, yet it is predictable that God will show it towards man (at first). It seems only when grace is rejected does God show judgment. God gives grace to all, but only some will accept it. Some think they do not need it. The love God shows towards us sinners completely defies logic. 

This is the gospel:

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We see Jesus acting in a surprising way as showing grace to the adulterous woman that the Jewish leaders wanted to stone.

John 8:1-11

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

This was a surprising show of grace, yet Jesus was utterly ruthless toward the Pharisees at times, being very harsh and truthful, calling them whitewashed tombs, brood of vipers and sons of hell. 

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Matthew 23:33 “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Another showing of Jesus’ condemnation of sin is in cleansing the temple and turning over the money changer’s tables.

This attribute of grace and truth is significant to us because God’s behavior is always good. He always acts in the best way, defining what the definition of good is for us. He is not always kind, but He is always just and He is always good. He always does what is right.

This attribute of grace and truth is our saving grace. It is the only thing that can save us. Jesus saved us by enduring the severe wrath of God on our behalf. In this act of atonement we see the greatest display of God’s combination of truth and grace. We are saved by true costly grace, not unending cheap grace to be taken advantage of. As humans we sometimes tend to go to one extreme or the other. Either we accept God’s grace and abuse it and take advantage of it, or we reject it all together. We ourselves need to learn the balance that God shows to accept His grace without abusing it, and recognizing its priceless cost and never forgetting it.