God, in his grace, doesn’t leave us stuck between two faucets. The Holy Spirit pours forth a mixture of grace and truth in a single stream, one that we receive and then channel into the dry and weary world in which we live. It is the greatest privilege imaginable to be used of God in this way, and it’s a privilege that we enjoy each and every day. Grace and truth. What God has brought together, let no man tear asunder.

Reaching back in time, we observe the wreckage of hasty choices strewn along the corridors of history. Beginning with Eden’s forbidden fruit, examples include Moses hitting the rock, David and Bathsheba, Napoleon invading Russia, and overzealous parents assaulting Little League coaches. Such behavior occurs when we act before we think. Perhaps you can relate.

One reason for confusing the thinking/action sequence is our tendency to see only a piece of a situation to the exclusion of the whole. As with all choices, we respond to what appears reasonable and worthwhile, but in retrospect we recognize that the picture before us was deficient, like the view of a mountain range seen through the narrow opening of a key hole. The object of our sight was real, but separated from the larger context it was distorted and incomplete. In like manner, Christians often view situations with an eye upon divine grace or divine truth—God’s love or God’s law—without seeing how these elements fit together.

John says in his Gospel, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14). With a balance that can only be described as perfect, Jesus embodied these virtues in full measure. In every conversation and situation our Lord responded with complete grace and truth, refusing to allow a humanly engineered wedge to be driven between them. As men and women whose identities are founded in Jesus Christ, we now pursue this same balance as a central part of our calling.

In what follows, we will consider how the grace and truth principle applies to gospel witness.

1. Communicating truth is grace.

Truth sets us free, which is a grace. The New Testament demonstrates the seriousness of this liberation. When Paul the apostle stood in the midst of the Areopagus, he “perceived” and then he “spoke” gospel truth (Acts 17:22). Having received such grace, it was natural for Paul to then share it with those in need. Such a liberating message is itself a grace.

2. Communicate the truth with grace.

How can we preach the message of grace in a graceless voice? Not only does such communication ring hollow, it is, according to Paul, like “a noisy gong and clanging symbol”—dissonant, distracting, and irritating. Is it any wonder that people hide from us when we attempt to tell them the “good news?” To their ears, the news doesn’t sound very good.

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