"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth" (Psalm 25:10)

"What is truth?" Pilate asked Jesus (John 18:38). The Bible records no divine response. Likewise, it seems to me, believers need to let the truth rest quietly in their hearts much of the time. He who has knowledge spares his words (Proverbs 17:27) and a fool's lips enter into contention (18:6). It can be both vain and vexatious to argue about truth. Jesus warned us to beware of speaking at the wrong times: " Do not give what is holy to the dogs," He said, "Nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6). But some times we must speak out - to alert, to comfort, to teach, or to reform. And of course we must seize opportunities to tell unbelievers about the truth of God and salvation in Jesus, with the prayer that the Holy Spirit will anoint our words unto the salvation of a soul.

Truth is a battleground, for the darkness hates the light. In centuries past, much evil has been done in its name by followers of different faiths. Sir Thomas More-knight, Lord Chancellor and speaker in England during the difficult reformation years-was a loyal papist who kept an infamous 'Tree of Truth' in his garden. Thomas More shackled 'heretics' to his Tree of Truth, torturing and whipping them. He would pierce and squeeze their eyebrows until the blood flowing into their eyes blinded them. They would dangle there-helpless, bloody victims-for days. More was a man-burner who sent many men and women to agonizing deaths in "fyres of fagottes" where his intention was to cause each to "swete the bloude out of hys body." ¹ In particular, More hated William Tyndale because he wanted to translate the Bible into English and resisted the Pope. In voluminous letters, Thomas More expressed fantasies about the suffering and pain heretics like Tyndale should suffer. He wrote to his "darling" and "soul-mate," humanist scholar Erasmus, that he wished to be "as hateful to [heretics] as anyone can possibly be." ² Ultimately Thomas More was himself martyred, beheaded in 1535 for refusing to recant his faith in the traditions of Roman Catholicism. He was sincere, even if he had lived full of obsessive hatred for those who opposed his religious views.

400 years later, memories faded, the Roman Catholic Church canonized Mr. More. Then, in 2000, Pope John Paul II named him Patron Saint of Politicians. The Schiller Institute holds that Thomas More "is in the tradition of those precious few individuals in history, like Socrates (to whom he has been often compared), Christ, and Jeanne d'Arc, who in making what is considered the ultimate sacrifice, actually gave new life to humanity, by demonstrating in exemplary deeds, what the power of the love of truth, is. More is the sublime figure who.lead the struggle for the common good, for a society founded on the commitment to love and truth." ³ Not only Sir Thomas More but also his darling, Erasmus, are presently revered by many as 'Church Fathers', Christian heroes and defenders of truth and love. Yes, love.

We must ask, is the Tree of Truth a whipping post? A whipping post of love? Is a tree that bears fruits of hatred and grief and death, as in the garden of Sir Thomas More , a tree of holy truth?

No, no and no.

Truth: Tree of Life

The truth of God is the tree of life, a tree that bears fruits of love. Anything else is a lie. Knowledge of God's truth breeds mercy, meekness and love in the human spirit: none of us are perfectly capable of this, of course, but if these fruits are not growing in our lives, we must ask, are we really being nourished from the tree of life?

It is insane and devilish to burn people, blow them up, or pursue any other form of violence against them because (or, ostensibly because) they follow other religious teachings, as has been done by heretic hunters, witch hunters, Jihad warriors, Crusaders and others in times past, and as some do in times present. The Bible teaches none of that. Thankfully, in the West people are not burned in 'fyres of fagottes' for their beliefs. But the battleground is still very real, and we wage a war of words; hopefully it will not escalate to violence.

Although it may often be foolish to argue about truth, still we must not dismiss its importance in biblical spirituality, nor must we avoid the difficult issues. It is wise indeed to seek truth amidst all that is falsely proclaimed and, if we are blessed to find it, to treasure it. As Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44). Truth is important; indeed, this is why it is a battleground. If truth did not matter the enemy would not make anything of it: he would not confuse us about it, would not threaten us with it as in days gone past, and would not diminish its importance for spirituality as in the present day. Not for no reason, is Satan called the father of lies. But, says God, Seek, and ye shall find! The truth shall set you free! The Psalmist prayed, "Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes.Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law.Incline my heart to Your testimonies; Establish Your Word to Your servant; Behold, I long for Your precepts; I trust in Your Word; I will delight myself in Your commandment; Remember the Word to Your servant; This is my comfort; The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of shekels of gold and silver," etc (Psalm 119). Let those who can hear, hear! Truth matters.

On Truth

What is this thing called truth, really?

Scriptures teach certain important things about God's truth. It is (1) eternal; (2) unchanging-fixed and absolute; (3) heavenly-in other words, spiritual; and (4) external to us-that is, we are by nature separated from God's truth unless and until we appropriate it by faith. Further, (5) God's truth is found in His Word. Many Scriptures support these assertions. See, for example, what King David wrote:

            Forever, O Lord,
            Your Word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89).
            The entirety of Your Word is truth,
            And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever (119:160).

From these verses we glean that God's truth and judgments are found in His Word (certain Scriptural expressions-truth, law, Word, judgments, etc.-are often interchangeable). Second, we see in these verses that God's truth is eternal, for it endures forever. Third, we confirm that His Word is settled (fixed) in heaven (the spiritual realm). We also learn that God's Word is righteous.

See also the Proverbs for similar lessons. Speaking of Wisdom, we read:

            The Lord possessed me [Wisdom] at the beginning of His way,
            Before His words of old.
            I have been established from everlasting,
            From the beginning, before there was ever an Earth ( 8:22 -23).

Looking to the New Testament, we add to our understanding. The apostle Paul tells us the natural mind is separated from and ignorant of the things of God, because men have "their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts" (Eph 4:18). Being separated from truth (having a "darkened understanding") alienates men and women from "the life of God." As long as we do not know and love the truth of God, we are separated from Him: it is in this sense that God's truth is external to us.

Turning to the apostle Peter, we learn the Word of God is perfect and incorruptible, a seed that brings life. He writes to believers that they have been "born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Peter 1:23 ) James exhorts us to "receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21). In these verses we see again the eternal nature of the Word and its life-giving properties.

Jesus taught that many would be unable to understand truth although they saw or heard it: this is one way His coming brings division. Some do hear and do see, and are thus divided from those who don't. Jesus said to His disciples, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34 ). He said that when the Word is given, it is taken from some immediately, or is unfruitful for many reasons (Matthew 13:18 -22). He said the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are not given to all, "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand" (Matthew 13:13 ). But being deceived, they think they understand. Hence, the battleground and the sword.

It is helpful to conceptualize God's truth as a distinct body of thought or precepts fixed "above us" in the heavens, the spiritual realm. You may call this the truth of God, the mind of God, the law of God, Wisdom, the Word of God, the tree of life, the judgments of God, or by any other appropriate term of Scripture. Alas! this truth, this law, this Word, is hidden from the natural human mind: it is the tree of life set in the garden of Eden and guarded by cherubim to keep man out (Genesis 3:24); it is the Testament hidden in the arc in the Holy of Holies. As Tyndale's New Testament puts it, the wisdom of God is hid and secret (1st Corinthians 2:7). Man has been cast away and has become an enemy of God, an enemy in his mind.

Since the Word is hidden to man, God Himself must reach down and write it upon our hearts, for "Out of Zion shall go forth the law" (Isaiah 2:3). God Himself puts His law (His Word) in our minds and writes it upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). This is the gift of faith. To use another biblical metaphor, God plants within us the imperishable seed of the Word. Only then can He be our God (Jeremiah 31:33). His Word is the seed that must grow to permeate our minds, hearts and souls like leaven in three pecks of meal (Matthew 13:33 ).

To consider this in New Covenant terms, God sent His eternal, unchanging truth to us in the person of Jesus so we can believe upon Him. The message of the Bible is that the only way back into the garden to receive nourishment from the tree of life, the only way back into truth, the only way into the Holy of Holies wherein lies the Testament in the arc, is by looking upon and believing upon Jesus, the Word come in the flesh. This faith, which is from God and not the will or choice of man, takes the believer behind the curtain that divides man from the Testament, for Jesus by the cross tore open the veil and opened the way (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45). Now the law of God is no longer given upon cold tablets of stone (glorious although impersonal)but directly upon new hearts of flesh.

Lastly, the Word of God is spiritual: Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Words are the vehicle by which we take in the thoughts and the precepts and the mind and the knowledge of God. See from this that Bible study is a spiritual act! Satan would have us believe otherwise, would have us seeking after experiences and affections, but this only distracts us from what really counts. By the study of God's Word we grow more and more in life-giving truth, provided the seed has first been planted within.

Of course, none of us will get it all right. God's Word is mysterious and deep and, for now, we see but dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12 ). We must respect those whose consciences lead them differently, for to their own master they stand or fall (Romans 14). But avoiding vain disputations does not mean avoiding truth. It does not diminish the critical importance of truth. We must seek hard after it and treasure it (Matthew 13:44 , 6:33 ).

The functions of truth

God's Word is an ever-running, life-giving fountain (John 4:14 ) for those who look to it faithfully and often. It is a fountain that will slake a pilgrim's thirsty soul in a world of myth and deception, a spiritual fountain that performs many functions in the souls of those who grasp hold of it. Here are only some:

• We are nourished and fed by truth, which is spiritual food, just as our bodies are nourished by food for the stomach. Jesus said, It is written, "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." As we take God's words into our mind and feast upon them, God gives spiritual increase.
• We are sanctified (washed/cleansed) by truth. Jesus prayed to God, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth," and "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they [disciples] also may be sanctified by the truth" (John 17:17 ,19)
• We show our love for God, and we receive His love through, observance of truth. John wrote, "For this is the love God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3). Jesus said, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love" (John 15:10 ).

Conclusion: Truth

Scripture is replete with references to the great significance of truth in the life of a believer. How can we describe this? We can say that truth is the object and substance of faith . It is the tree of life. Without truth, we have no real faith. Without God's truth appropriated by faith, without His law written upon the heart, a man or woman will remain spiritually dead and alienated from God. Truth is priceless. Everything depends upon it. Eternal life depends upon it.

On love

However, Jesus did not come bringing truth alone. No, Scripture clearly says that He came full of truth and grace (John 1:14 , 1:17 ). Truth without love is law alone, and the law alone condemns. None can stand before it. As long as the law remains written on tablets of stone it is a hard, cold judge.

Because men and women are by nature alienated from truth, they can only be restored by the unilateral, saving act of God. This is where the infinitely tender, wonderful grace of God can be seen, in that He forgives His enemies before they care anything about Him, drawing and reconciling them to Himself in spirit and truth. This is grace and love and mercy. Mercy is perfect love, not desiring to please the self but, rather, concerned with the well-being of others. Mercy is the divine attitude toward the elect. If God were not a God of mercy, we would still be in our sin: it is in this sense that we are saved by grace, in that if He had not chosen to look upon us with mercy we would be left in unbelief, without the knowledge of truth.

But believers are not vessels redeemed merely to receive and enjoy mercy. We are to overflow with it, pouring mercy into the lives of others. In my view, mercy is the essence of the love that is commanded of believers. The tree of life, which is the truth of God, must bear fruits of mercy. It is not a whipping post.

Mercy must be the Christ-like attitude of the redeemed toward others. We are to demonstrate it to all: those we like and those we don't, the saved and the lost, friends and enemies, the foolish and the wise. After all, this is how God loved us, we who are by nature foolish and unlikable, enemies to Him. This is the grace Jesus demonstrated on the cross when He prayed for the blind, wicked men who were crucifying him. Such godliness is impossible without God, of course. Even with His grace, how far short we will fall, and how often! But, we are exhorted to strive for it. Our Lord prefers mercy to sacrifice (Hosea 6:16 ). He commands us to pray for and bless our enemies (Matt 5:44 ) just as He blessed us while we were yet His enemies. We are to forgive debts owed us by others, in view of the incredible forgiveness we have received (Matthew 18:32 -35).

Many ask, is love a feeling, or is it an act of the will? It must be both. As love to God is both the felt experience of the believer and a deliberate exercise of the will in obedience (i.e., conformity to God's will) so, also, mercy towards others is both a felt experience of the sanctified heart (see Matthew 18:35) and an act of the will. With perseverance and the grace of our Potter, our hearts will be changed to become more genuinely like His, so acts of charity are not moved by mere duty but, rather, by genuine sentiments of divine mercy. These are godly fruits of the "new" heart of the believer (Ezekiel 18:31 , 36.26).

It is not always easy to understand how godly love is to be displayed. While Jesus commands us to love, we are also commanded to perform deeds that seem unloving such as judging people who profess faith but fail to show the fruits thereof and separating from the disorderly and from false teachers. These obviously suggest that love for God (i.e. love for His truth) will, at times, appear unloving. What, then, is godly love toward our neighbor? A lawyer asked Jesus about this, and in response our Lord gave the parable of the good Samaritan, which shows that mercy fulfills the commandment to love our neighbor (Luke 10:25-36). This parable does not teach that we must be accomodating and friendly to everyone. It teaches mercy. Jesus showed the lawyer that to love a neighbour is to be merciful. Furthermore, to speak truth is itself an act of love, often a brave act of love, although to the unrepentant heart it may not appear so.

Who needs mercy? All do, of course. But Scriptures show that some more than others will be objects of mercy, both God's and our own. In a temporal sense, these will be the poor, the oppressed, the fatherless and the suffering more than the rich and powerful. In a spiritual sense, our hearts and the heart of God will incline toward those who are humble and contrite more than the self-righteous and spiritually proud: Jesus said, "G o and learn what this means: " 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous , but sinners , to repentance" (Matthew 9:13 ). Therefore we ought not to berate ourselves should we feel less than the tenderest mercy towards those who esteem themselves highly: our God, also, sets His face against the proud (e.g. Psalms 101:5 & 138:6, Proverbs 15:25, 16:5, 28:25, Peter 5:5 and many more).

The Differing Places of Love and Truth

Clearly, a personal attitude of love is a different thing than God's impersonal, fixed, objective truth. And, love and truth perform different functions in our lives. How can we explain such mysteries? To borrow from William Tyndale we can say that love declares the goodness of a righteous soul but does not create the righteousness thereof, which righteousness comes by faith. Faith is belief in truth, the foundation of salvation: once made righteous through faith, the redeemed soul will then be adorned with fruits of love. Peter confirms this order of things in his exhortation to the elect to add to their faith virtue, knowledge, perseverance, brotherly kindness, etc., and, finally, love (2 Peter 1:5-7). The apostle Paul explained that love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8, 13:10; Galatians 5:14 ).

We practice love and mercy not only in obedience, but also because we know God. If we know Him we have received His truth that humbles and renews, and His love that burns in our hearts and must be expressed: in this, God is greatly glorified.

To show mercy not only declares God's beauty and perfection but, also, demonstrates that we have found the tree of life which is the truth of God.

It should never be a question of finding "balance" between love and truth, not for the children of God. Such thinking is unbiblical. We must strive for the fullness and perfection of each. Be perfect, He said, as He is perfect. In the Book of the Proverbs we read, "Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, and write them on the tablet of your heart" (Proverbs 3:3). Therefore it must be all of each, in the greatest and purest measures possible, so we can be like the One who came full of truth and grace.

Copyright Ruth Davis, 2007

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