Strongholds of Truth
For several weeks we have been thinking about truth. For Christians, truth is rooted in the nature of God. The Bible captures this in its phrase, “the God of truth” (Isa. 65:16). The Psalmist confessed, “You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth” (31:5). We have noted that God sent His Son as the embodiment of divine truth. Thus, Christ could say, “I am the … truth” (John 14:6). The permanence of the incarnation of Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, according to Hebrews 13:8, serves to remind us that our unchanging Christ is forever the embodiment of truth.
To safeguard the truth as revealed in Christ, God inspired the writing of the Bible as the enduring sourcebook of revealed truth. Being like incorruptible seed, the Bible is without any mixture of error. It is the believer’s safe deposit of God’s revealed truth. Christians will want to ask of any truth claims — Do those claims square with the Bible? In order that the truth might be vouchsafed to the followers of Christ to perpetually remind every generation of believers of that truth, God sent forth His Spirit whom His Word calls “the Spirit of truth” (John 15:26). The Holy Spirit bears witness to the Bible’s truth.
To these strongholds of truth, this week’s Theology 101 considers yet another guardian of divine truth, the Church. We read of this in 1 Timothy 3:15, which calls the church “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, “the pillar and ground of the truth.” The term for “pillar” brings to mind the columns that support a building’s roof, thereby adding untold strength and stability to the edifice.
While the church has numerous roles in God’s plan of the ages, one of the most important has to do with preaching and teaching God’s revealed truth by holding fast to His truth, not only proclaiming it but also living by it.
Holding tight
The term for “ground” is one that suggests such ideas as foundation, bulwark and buttress. As such, the church ideally guards or protects God’s truth from the weakening intrusion of falsehood or half-truths. Truth attested in what we do, what we say and what we claim is made all the more believable in a world where truth and untruth can be difficult to distinguish.
This important work is at its best when the church holds tight to God’s revealed truth and heralds it to our generation and in our context, as well as passing it on to the next generation.
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