Let us go back to the context in which Paul encouraged speaking the truth in love. It had to do with what we believe and teach. Paul had been writing about building each other up in knowledge of the Son of God, into that maturity that is measured by comparison with Christ himself. Paul had spoken of the knowledge that had the power to build people up, he went on to warn of false teaching:
(Ephesians 4:13-15) until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. {14} We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. {15} But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
Here we come to
the hard part. If we are to speak the truth about God and about Christ, who is
to say what is true? Should we not respect differences of opinion? Is not
tolerance of different opinions essential to our living harmoniously in a
diverse society, especially in regard to religious beliefs? Can we not live and let live, giving every
person's version of the truth equal respect? And after all, you might say, is
it not all a matter of personal opinion and preference anyway? If your beliefs
are helpful to you, what does it matter if someone else thinks what you believe
is not true; and what right do they have to say you are wrong?
Here we have the
modern dilemma that leads into post-modern cynicism. If one belief is as good
as another and it does not matter what you believe, then why believe anything at
all? If you can believe anything your like, what is the point if what you
believe is not true? I ask you, is it better to believe something that is
false, or something that is true, no matter what your personal preference might
be? It is not a popular view today, but I believe that sooner or later people
will discover that it matters what is true regardless of what we prefer,
regardless of who we are or where come from. Ultimately it matters because God
is not to be fooled or manipulated. He does not change his nature to suit us.
Disbelief in any objective universal truth comes from disbelief in God. In
other words, religion, or certainly the Christian faith, is not all a matter of
personal opinion. If it is not true independently of what you think or prefer,
you might as well not bother with it. If it is not true in any sense apart from
yourself, what value can there possibly be in believing it? On the other hand,
I can hear people thinking, if it is not true for me personally, no matter what
any supposed authority might say, how can I believe it?
This is an awfully big problem for people today.
I don't know how much it troubles you. If you are a traditional believer,
perhaps not very much, for you accept the truth about God as it has been handed
on to us. But what if that tradition is like the language and culture of a
foreign country to you. The truth about God has to be embodied in everyday
things, in a living culture, in the way people think and act towards one
another at a particular place at a particular time. That is why God sent his
Son into the world, to live our life and die our death, so that the truth which
takes us beyond this life could be revealed in our human life. To be continued...............
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