| The Christian Life | May 1942 |
Speaking the Truth in Love
THERE can be no justifiable occasion for a Christian to ever speak anything but what he conscientiously believes to be the truth. Likewise, there can be no justifiable occasion for ever speaking the truth in any other manner but that of love. It follows, furthermore, that speaking the truth, and speaking it in love, are necessary prerequisites to growing up into Christ in all things, The Christian who thinks he can grow in Christlikeness by merely absorbing the truth into his own heart and life, and not, through self-sacrificing efforts, pass it on to others, is deceiving himself, and at the same time losing much of the joy of the Christian life.
All creation reflects the divine principle of giving. All created things, animate and inanimate, exist for the benefit of something else. The law of the new creation is the same. Those who are new creatures in Christ Jesus have become such because it is the divine purpose that their existence shall be a blessing to others. Through them God’s promised blessings are to reach all the families of the earth.
The divine law of giving becomes operative in the life of the new creature even before reaching full birth in the resurrection. Indeed, the growth of the embryonic new creature in Christ is made dependent upon the exercise of itself in the interests of others; and that exercise is very largely by preaching the truth in love.
To speak the truth in love means not only to speak in a loving way, but also, that our speaking of it should be motivated by love. If this be not true, then even though we speak with the tongue of men and of angels, it will profit us nothing. But if love fills our hearts sufficiently to impel our speaking the truth that God may be glorified and that others may be blessed, it will profit us much; for thereby we will be laying up treasures in heaven.
In II Corinthians, chapter 6, Paul sets forth many of the credentials of Christian ambassadorship, exhorting us to give heed to them “that the ministry be not blamed.” Here the apostle mentions “kindness” as one of the necessary elements of character to be possessed by those who are approved as the ministers of God. To speak the truth kindly, is to speak it in love. To speak it unkindly is to defeat the divine purpose in having it spoken. The pure truth of the Gospel is often distasteful to those who sit in darkness, and it will do all the reproving that’s necessary to be done without the necessity of our using it as a cudgel over the heads of those who may not agree with us.
It isn’t necessary to compromise the truth in order to speak it in love. The truth is a Gibraltar of strength against all the opposing forces of error. We can, and should, use the truth firmly and uncompromisingly, but always in love. Harsh condemnation of others is not preaching the truth—it only closes their minds against the truth. When this occurs, the hearers are not built up, nor is the speaker blessed. It seems cruel to some to be told that the Bible doesn’t teach eternal torture for the wicked, but we don’t need to make it harder for them to see the truth by questioning their sanity for believing the error. Let us preach the truth as clearly and as plainly as we can, but always in love, letting its mighty power do the work.
ALWAYS PREACH THE TRUTH
Equally important to the manner in which we preach is the character of the message we preach. The truth is the only message a Christian is divinely authorized to preach. By the truth we mean the Gospel truth—that “good news” concerning God’s plan through Christ to establish a Kingdom here upon the earth through which the whole world will have an opportunity to be blessed. It means the truth concerning the blessings that are coming to the people, as well as the truth pertaining to the means whereby the blessings will be dispensed. This includes the call and development of the church, and all the details of the divine plan appertaining thereto. Making the whole plan of salvation possible is the fundamental fact of the ransom, which should be the basis of all our preaching.—I Cor. 3:11
Dispensational truth should also be included in our message. Jesus and the apostles preached dispensational truth; and now that we are living in the Millennial dawn, it is the blessed privilege of the Christian to proclaim this glorious fact to the whole world, far and wide, as opportunities arise and can be made. On this point we quote from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume 2, pages 141 and 142, as follows:
“Through the prophetic Word, she [the church] shall not only be shielded from discouragement, and enabled to overcome the besetment’s, snares and stumbling stones so prevalent in the ‘evil day,’ and thus to stand approved of God, but she becomes the light-bearer and instructor of the world. The church is thus enabled to point out to the world the cause of the trouble, to announce the presence of the new Ruler, to declare the policy, plan and object of the new dispensation, and to instruct the world as to the wisest course to pursue in view of these things.”
“PREACH THE WORD”
Paul writes, “Preach the Word.” (II Tim. 4:2) This is another way of saying that we should preach the Gospel, for the Word of God is the Gospel. And how comprehensive is the Word of God! And how profitable each aspect of the Gospel as presented in the Word. “All Scripture,” the apostle says, “given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”—II Tim. 3:16,17; Luke 4:4; Deut. 8:3
The statement “that the man of God … may be thoroughly furnished,” is important. It means that unless we give heed to the whole message of the Scriptures we cannot expect to be “thoroughly” furnished. First on this list of profitable things contained in the Word is “doctrine,” or teaching. This is evidently a reference to the great plan of God itself, which we should know and preach. There are also teachings in the Word pertaining to righteous living. These teachings the apostle describes as “instruction in righteousness.”
The doctrines of God’s plan of salvation, and the instructions of the Word governing the conduct of those who believe and preach them, are equally important. (I Tim. 4:16) One might attain to a reasonable high standard of righteousness in his personal life, yet if his message to others were out of line with the truth he would not be an approved minister of Christ. Some who are noble characters so far as their personal living is concerned, defame God’s name by preaching eternal torture and other equally blasphemous doctrines. These have given heed to the “instruction in righteousness,” but have not yielded their hearts to the pure and loving doctrines of the Word.
It is important that our ministry be one of the whole truth rather than of part truth and part error. The apostle says that even though an angel from heaven preach some other Gospel he should be accursed. (Gal. 1:8,9) This doesn’t mean that we are to pronounce sentence upon those who do not preach the truth, but it does surely indicate that we are not to favor and support their ministry.—Matt. 5:19
It is likewise important that one give heed to the Scriptural “instruction in righteousness” in order to be an approved ambassador of Christ. A story is told of a person who was enthusiastically preaching the Gospel who, himself, had not been cleansed by the Gospel, and someone said to him, “I can’t hear what you say because your actions speak louder than your words.” Let us make sure that the truth is having its proper influence in our own lives before we attempt to tell it to others, otherwise our preaching very largely will be in vain.—Luke 22:32
“IF I PREACH NOT THE GOSPEL”
In I Corinthians 9:16 the apostle writes, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!” The setting of this statement is very interesting. Paul explains to the Corinthian Church why he thinks it best that he should provide for his own temporal needs while serving them in spiritual things. His viewpoint was that by doing this his ministry of the truth would be much more effective; and it was this ministry with which he was most concerned. The joy and delight of his life was in this ministry, and he was determined not to permit anything to interfere with it nor to minimize its power.
Yet the apostle didn’t want anyone to get the idea that he was glorying in what he was privileged to do for the Lord, or taking credit for being more faithful than others. “For,” he says, “though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!” How revealing is the statement, “necessity is laid upon me.” Do we fully realize that necessity is laid upon all of us to preach the Gospel? God lays this necessity upon us when He calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The preaching of the Gospel is a “necessity” in more than one way. God has commissioned us to preach it, and this in itself makes it a necessity. It is also a necessity in order not to lose the truth and the spirit of the truth ourselves. There must be both an inflow and outflow of the waters of truth if we are to maintain a healthy spiritual condition, and grow up into Christ in all things. We may, to a limited extent, grow up into Christ in some things while ignoring our privilege of speaking the truth in love, but if we are to grow up into Him in all things it is imperative that we heed His admonition to let our light shine and not to hide it under a bushel.—Matt. 5:15
THREE THOUGHTS—ALL IMPORTANT
The apostle’s statement, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel,” contains three thoughts which are worthy of notice: (1) “Woe unto me,” (2) “if I preach not,” and (3) if I preach not “the Gospel.”
The apostle probably didn’t mean that he would go into the Second Death if he didn’t preach the Gospel, but he did realize that his lot would be a very unhappy one if he were “disobedient unto the heavenly vision” of the truth which the Lord had given to him. (Acts 26:19) The Prophet Jeremiah tried to withhold the message the Lord had given him to deliver and he discovered that it was like fire shut up in his bones, permitting him to have no peace, so he felt compelled to tell it out. (Jer. 20:9) Paul’s experience would have been the same. The violation of any of God’s laws brings disaster. God’s law for the new creation includes the dissemination of the Gospel, and “woe” of one kind or another is sure to result from any attempt to abridge that law, or to ignore it.
“If I preach not,” the apostle adds. Refraining from activity as a Christian is in itself detrimental to spiritual health. In the natural world if one eats and does not exercise he becomes sluggish and oftentimes ill; and the same is true in the life of the new creature. We feast upon the Gospel ourselves, but its life-producing and building qualities lie largely dormant unless we “speak the truth,” and speak it in “love.” Preaching the truth is not, of course, limited to proclaiming it from a public platform. In these modern times, with the aid of Millennial dawn inventions, there are many ways in which we can effectively let our light shine. Some of these are enumerated in the following timely quotation from Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 3, pages 235 and 236:
“Several Scriptures show that there is a special work for the last members of the body to do on this side the veil, as important and as essentially a part of Kingdom work as that of the glorified members on the other side the veil. While the glorified Head and those members of the body on the other side the veil have the complete supervision of the great changes now in progress and about to be inaugurated in the world, the fellow-members who remain in the flesh are the agents of the Kingdom in publishing, by word, by pen, by books and by tracts, the ‘good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people.’ They tell the world God’s gracious plan of the ages, and that the time is at hand for the glorious consummation of that plan; and they point, not only to the great time of trouble now impending, but also the blessings which will follow it as the results of the setting up of God’s Kingdom in the world. A great and important work, then, is given to the remaining members: Kingdom work it is indeed, and accompanied also by Kingdom joys and blessings. Although yet in the flesh and pursuing their appointed work at the expense of self-sacrifice, and in the face of much opposition, these are already entering into the joys of the Lord—the joys of full appreciation of the divine plan and of the privilege of working out that plan, and, in conjunction with their Lord and Redeemer, of offering everlasting life and blessings to all the families of the earth.
“These with their message are clearly pointed out by the Prophet Isaiah (52:7) as the ‘feet’ or last members of the body of Christ in the flesh, when he says: ‘How beautiful upon the mountains [kingdoms] are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation [deliverance]; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. [The reign of Christ, which shall bring deliverance, first to Zion, and finally to all the groaning creation, is begun.] Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice: with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see [clearly] eye to eye, when the Lord returneth unto Zion.’”
In harmony with the foregoing and showing further the value of dispensational truth, particularly as it relates to the Christian ministry is the following quotation from Volume 2, Studies in the Scriptures, page 364:
“That we might now have the comfort of this knowledge, and not be in doubt and perplexity, was but part of the object in the giving of the time-prophecies. Another object was, that, as the representatives of that Kingdom among men, we should be aware of the great dispensational changes now in progress, and able to bear testimony before the world, regarding God’s plan, etc., which though unheeded now, will greatly benefit them by and by, and help them the sooner to recognize the Lord’s presence in the great day of wrath, drawing on. Another object is, that the faithful, thus armed and strengthened by God’s Word, may be enabled to stand firm, when so many will be falling into infidelity and various other deceptive errors, which will soon sweep over ‘Christendom.’ Another object is, to give force and point to the entire Plan of the Ages: for it is a general experience that, while the first glimpse of God’s gracious plan for blessing the whole world through the church, during the Millennial age, fills the hearts and enlists the zeal of His faithful children to the uttermost, yet as their efforts to enlighten others are coldly received, and they find that only a very few, comparatively, have ‘an ear to hear,’ the tendency is to settle down to the quiet enjoyment of the precious knowledge, in such a manner as will bring the least reproach and opposition.”
But activity alone is not the full expression of the divine will. It must be the right kind of activity. Preaching alone does not suffice. The right message must be preached. So Paul completes the formulae, saying, “Woe unto me if I preach not THE GOSPEL.” And this Gospel must be the true Gospel, not “some other Gospel.” It shouldn’t be partly the Gospel and partly our own ideas, or the ideas of others. As already noted, the whole and pure Gospel is in reality the divine plan for the redemption and recovery of the fallen race from sin and death, and the method and time by which it is to be accomplished.
A part of God’s will is that we should preach the Gospel. Another part of it is the manner in which we should preach—that we should “speak the truth in love.” The great objective of the divine will as it pertains to us as individuals, is that we may, by speaking the truth in love, “grow up into Him in all things.” If we are to grow up into Christ as our Head, our own body must be kept under, and our own wills made subject to His will. May the dear Lord help us all to attain unto this for which we have been apprehended!