This article was first published in Tabletalk, the Bible study magazine of Ligonier Ministries. Find out more at TabletalkMagazine.co.uk or try it free for three months today at TryTabletalk.co.uk.
Christians are people of the truth. We take our very name (Acts 11:26) from the incarnate God who is ‘full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14) and who said, ‘For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth’ (18:37).
Moreover, we know that the fundamental error of mankind – the sin behind every other sin – is the idolatrous exchange of ‘the truth about God for a lie’ (Romans 1:25). We also know that God’s remedy for disour plight requires the truth to set us free (John 8:32). This is the means by which the grace of God saves, sanctifies, and matures all those who know him, love him, and worship him ‘in spirit and truth’ (John 4:23).
The church as pillar and buttress
It is somewhat counterintuitive, therefore, for Paul to say that the church is ‘a pillar and buttress of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3:15). We might have expected the apostle to say instead, ‘The truth is a pillar and buttress of the church.’
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