Grace and Truth

What does “grace” mean to you? And how about “truth”? John uses these two words to describe the fulness of Jesus’ ministry in the world – both when he walked the earth and even today. In fact, that grace and truth have been around since the beginning of time, if we’re to believe the first two verses of John’s Gospel.

When we think of grace and truth, we usually put them in opposition to each other. We think truth means legalism and grace means leniency. And then we have to somehow marry them, like balancing a set of scales. Give a person a little bit of grace…not too much. Here, add a bit more truth. There you go. Okay, now maybe they’ll act the way we want them to.

We have a slanted view of truth and grace, I think.

• Truth is the teacher who gives you an F for too many typos. Grace the teacher who lets their students run wild in the classroom with scissors.
• Truth is the parent who grounds their kids for missing curfew by two minutes. Grace are those who say, “Boys will be boys.”
• Truth is the bad cop, grace is the good cop.
• Truth is the Punisher, grace is the pushover.

But I don’t think any of those are accurate. And really, it all comes into clear focus on Christmas. When we sing about, read about and commemorate the birth of Jesus, what does that really represent? It’s the incarnation.

Jesus Christ is the incarnation. He is the Word made flesh. He is the culmination of everything humanity had been waiting for. He is the fulfillment of the Law.

That last part is the important part. Under the Law, we were judged according to our ability to perform. You may think of grace as a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. But it’s not. Grace is that expression of God’s love for us that understands our inability to live up to that standard, to perform to that level. So Jesus came in the fulness of grace, but also the fullness of truth. And both – hand in hand – is the true expression of love.

Because God loves us, he shows us grace because we can’t do it on our own. But because God loves us, he gives us righteous standards of truth that lead to order instead of chaos. You need grace because you can’t do it on your own. You need love because you can’t do it on your own. You need both. And that’s what Jesus is.

At Christmas time, if you’re a parent, it’s easy to see grace and truth as two ends of a sliding scale. Okay, the kids can stay up a little later to finish Polar Express – slide it to grace. But they better behave or they’re not opening presents yet! – slide it over to truth. But we use this sliding scale for ourselves, too. Go ahead and sneak a couple extra cookies, it’s the holidays – slide it to grace. But make sure you don’t max out the credit cards – slide it over to truth.

Grace and truth are not sliding scales. They’re how Jesus meets us right where we are. He offers grace – “I forgive you.” And he offers truth – “Now, go and sin no more.” When we see truth in its fullness, we run to grace. But when we experience grace at its most costly, we should cling to truth.

Grace and truth. Not perfectly balanced, but perfectly received in Jesus Christ.