Jesus Is Truth… Jesus Is Grace… living incarnationally beyond mere propositions

Jesus Is Truth… Jesus Is Grace… living incarnationally beyond mere propositions


John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.


John 1:14-17. 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. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.


One must realize that there is nothing that was created that was not made by Jesus… and without Jesus nothing has been made.

Jesus is the Word… the very words spoken by God when he said, “Let there be…” in Genesis… Jesus is the Let There Be… incarnate.

Modernism has place human reason much too high… in fact it worships it. Human reasoning is what got us into this mess in the first place… remember Eve in the Garden… she looked and reasoned…

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Notice she put some thought into this project and reasoned her way to the original sin we now all suffer from… Even in her innocence she being deceived… reasoned wrongly and found death.

Proverbs states what happened very clearly… in Chapter 14: 12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

We can reason our way and it seems right on… yet, all we get is death…

What has happened is that many have reduced Jesus as “The Truth” to a proposition which is what is part of what is talked about in Romans… man exchanges the truth of God… for a lie and worship the created things rather than the Creator… Modernist have been worshipping the created version of truth and not the Creator Who is Truth incarnated. They deny that the Jesus is what He claimed… when He stated He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.


Romans 1:25. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.


God calls us to reason with Him… and that is the next part of understanding truth… This is revelational.. And relational… For without God giving revelation and without then having a relationship with Christ we will not hear His voice by His Holy Spirit… The Holy Spirit must indwell us and we must then let Jesus be alive in us… then Truth can be reasoned out with Jesus…

Isaiah 1:18. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

One must be right with God to be able to reason with Him… that is why a relationship with Jesus is the center of our Faith…

I know I have stated this over and over… Propositional truth is not all evil… it is not all wrong… and it is used much in the Bible… the issue is when it is not used in its proper relationship with Jesus… in fact without Jesus we would only have relativism… based on human reason… and that is part and core of postmodernism… and part and core that has infected the Church. (Note that postmodernity and modernity have many things at odd with The Biblical world view which is why I have never called myself a postmodern Christian. So do use that not in that they approve postmodernism, rather to acknowledge they live in postmodernity as is the denial of many.)

I am stating this again for clarity… that if Jesus is not in the equation… in fact if Jesus is not TRUTH ABSOLUTE incarnate… then you should question your source! For if the source of your truth is even the Bible… it is only through Jesus we can understand the bible…

Here read these passages…

John 5: 37-40. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Luke 24: 13 -35. Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast.

One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

"What things?" he asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.
Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon."

Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus had to open their eyes and minds… and hearts to understand what had happened…

Paul states it this way: My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. (1 Cor 2: 4-5)


Again, please understand that there are “tools” in modernism and postmodernism that are helpful in our gaining knowledge… yet like any tool… if you use it for a purpose outside it’s design, then it is mostly useless… also it's like like if someone uses the wrong filler material or improper welding techniques which can easily lead to cracking in the weld. Using propositional truth incorrectly can cause some major cracks in one’s theology.

This is why Paul urges; “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” Romans 12:2

We need the mind of Christ to understand truth… 1 Cor 2: 13-16. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.


Jesus in not just the container of Truth... though Truth is in Him… this is deeper…

This last passage is one I hope will convey what Jesus meant about being The Truth…

He interchanges Himself with Truth without missing a beat… just read.

John 8: 31 - 36. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Notice that it is the Truth that sets you free… yet also if the Son set you free, you are free indeed… Jesus interchanges Himself seamlessly as TRUTH incarnate… It is Jesus Who saves us… not human reason. It is The TRUTH (Jesus) that saves us and set us free… free indeed.

I hope that one will look into Jesus to be saved, they reason with Him… In that proper relationship, propositional truth is a great thing and a wonderful tool…

I know that this will be just brushed off by some… yet like Paul I will not just trust in propositional truth to persuade anyone… for I would rather depend on preaching the foolishness of Christ and see God at work…

TRUTH is a Person... that Person is Jesus... and Jesus can set you free!

Blessings,
iggy

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