Something that modern readers of the
Bible often fail to recognise is how many paradoxes and tensions there are in
the Christian faith. It is often the case that two things which at first sight
seem to contradict each other are both in fact true.
The following sort of thing happens a
lot:
The Bible teaches two truths, which we can
call A and B. Some people correctly
understand that the Bible teaches A. However,
they think that A and B contradict each other.
So they deny that the Bible teaches B, and they explain away passages
which teach B. Other people correctly
understand that the Bible teaches B. But
they too think that A and B contradict each other. So they deny A and explain away the passages
that teach A. Both sets of people
therefore end up denying some biblical truth.
The
amount of bad teaching in the church would be much less if there was better
understanding of how much paradox and tension the Bible contains.
Here are some examples of how people go
wrong by failing to take account of paradoxes in the Christian faith:
Jesus as one person who is fully God and fully human
Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God (e.g., John 20:28) and also fully human
(e.g., 1 Tim 2:5), yet one person (e.g., John 1:14).
It might at first seem
impossible that Jesus could be all these things, and since the early centuries of
the church many have rejected this theology.
Some, like Jehovah’s
Witnesses today, have said that Jesus was not God at all, but that He was
entirely created by God. At the other
extreme, some have said that He was God, but only appeared to be a man, or that
He was God in a human body but had no human soul. And another group has claimed that He was
fully God and fully human but that He was really two distinct persons.
In fact, however, this
theology is not contradictory, even though it is difficult to understand.
God’s sovereignty and human free will
According to Scripture, God
is sovereignly in control of all events, and in a real sense everything that
happens comes from His hand (e.g., Amos 3:6).
However, the Bible also teaches that people have free will, and that we
and not God are responsible for sin (e.g., 1 Cor 10:13).
At first sight these things seem as if they might
contradict each other, and there are huge numbers of Christians who minimise
one or the other of them.
Those who accept Arminian theology, for example,
fail to do proper justice to the sovereignty of God. By contrast, so-called high Calvinists fail
to properly appreciate the reality of free will or the goodness of God.
Exactly how we reconcile God’s sovereignty with
human free will is something that has been debated for many centuries. Personally, I have a lot of sympathy with
Molinist theology, which is becoming increasingly popular in evangelical
circles.
Nevertheless, regardless of how we attempt to reconcile
these things, Scripture teaches them both, and we should take care not to
explain either of them away.
Salvation by faith but accompanied by good deeds
The Bible makes it clear
that salvation is by faith and not by doing good deeds (e.g., Eph 2:8-9). But Scripture is just as clear that people
whose lives are not characterised by doing good deeds are not saved (e.g.,
James 2:26).
There might at first seem
to be a contradiction between these points, and there are many today who say
that there is. At one extreme, Roman
Catholics claim that Christians need to partly earn their salvation. At the other extreme those who hold so-called
Free Grace Theology claim that everyone who makes a decision to accept Jesus as
Savior is saved, even if they are living an unrepentantly sinful life.
In fact, there is no
contradiction between these points. We
are saved by faith and not by good deeds, but genuine, saving faith will always
be accompanied by good deeds.
A God of love who sends people to hell
According to the Bible, one
key attribute of God is that He is loving (e.g., Lam 3:22). However, it also teaches clearly that He
sends many people to hell (e.g., Matt 25:46).
There are many who find
these things contradictory and claim that a loving God would never send anyone
to hell.
In reality, however, these
things don’t contradict each other. Although
God is a God of love, He is also a God of justice, and justice involves
inflicting punishment.
Joy and suffering
Scripture tells us that the
normal Christian life should involve significant joy (e.g., John 15:11). Yet many passages make it clear that normal
Christian living also involves significant hardship and suffering (e.g., Rev
1:9).
There are, however, large
numbers of Christians today who downplay the role of suffering in the Christian
life. They know that Scripture teaches
that it is God’s will to give His children joy, and they simplistically assume
that this must mean that we shouldn’t expect to suffer.
In actual fact, although
joy and suffering are in tension with each other, they are not contradictory.
Gifts of the Spirit and reasoning
The Bible instructs Christians
to desire gifts of the Holy Spirit (e.g., 1 Cor 14:1). However, many biblical passages also make it
clear that there is a big place for reasoning with the mind in the Christian
faith (e.g., Acts 19:8-9).
There are more than a few
Christians today who tend to think that experiences of gifts of the Spirit make
reasoning unimportant. They therefore underemphasise
the role of the mind in the Christian life.
In fact, gifts of the Spirit
and reasoning with the mind don’t contradict each other at all. Rather, they complement each other beautifully.
Motivated by love and to gain good things for ourselves
The Bible encourages us to
be motivated to live a holy life by love for God and love for others, and not
by selfishness (e.g., 2 Cor 5:15). Yet it
also encourages us to be motivated to live a holy life by the prospect of
receiving eternal blessings after death (e.g., James 1:12).
At first sight, these things
might seem to contradict each other, and many Christians tend to minimise one
or the other of them.
However, there is no
contradiction here. There is a sense in
which it is right to be motivated by loving God and others, and also a sense in
which it is right to be motivated by wanting to do ourselves good.
Already and not yet
Sometimes we find biblical
passages teaching that a certain thing has already happened, and other passages
teaching that the same thing will take place in the future.
For example, Scripture
tells us that Christians have been saved from their sins (e.g., Rom 8:24), but
it also teaches that we will be saved in the future (e.g., Rom 5:9).
At first glance these things
look as if they conflict with each other, and many Christians make the mistake
of downplaying the already or the future aspect.
This tension is not
actually very difficult to understand. Following
the crucifixion–resurrection–giving of the Spirit complex of events, some
things have come into existence in a partial way, but the fullness of them will
be realised in the future after the Lord returns to earth.
The Law of Moses in the
Christian era
The Bible teaches in a
number of places that Christians are not obliged to follow the Law of Moses (e.g.,
Gal 3:23-25). But we also find New Testament
passages where this Law is quoted as an example to us (e.g., James 2:8-11).
At first sight there seems
to be a contradiction here, and there are many who explain away one or the other
group of texts.
Those who accept Covenant Theology,
for example, wrongly claim that Christians are under obligation to obey part of
the Law of Moses as it stands in the Old Testament. By contrast, some Christians claim that we should
not expect any guidance from this Law at all.
I believe that New Covenant
Theology is a good way of reconciling things here. This theology sees the Law of Moses not as still
partly in force, nor as abolished, but as having undergone a kind of holy
mutation and fulfillment in Christ to become the Law of Christ (Gal 6:2).
Two kinds of Israel
According to Scripture, the
church is spiritual Israel (e.g., Phil 3:2-3).
But the Bible also seems to teach that God has future plans for ethnic
Israel (e.g., Rom 11:25-29).
Huge numbers of Christians
today see these things as contradictory.
Many, especially those who accept Dispensationalist theology, deny that
the church is spiritual Israel. And many
others deny that God has unfinished business with ethnic Israel.
There is, however, no need
to see a contradiction here. It seems
that there are two kinds of Israel in existence today, even if it is not easy
to understand the precise relationship between the two.
Accepting what we can’t understand
The list of examples I have
given could be continued, but I think I have said enough to make my point. It should be clear that there are many paradoxes
and tensions in the Christian faith. Often,
things that at first sight might seem to be a case of either–or are actually a
case of both–and. Failure to understand
this is one of the main causes of false teaching in the church today.
I am sure that one reason
why people fail to recognise paradoxes in the Christian faith is because they
are unwilling to believe something they don’t understand. They can’t see how two biblical principles
fit together, so they decide that they contradict each other and that the Bible
only teaches one of them.
What these people are doing,
even if subconsciously, is exalting their ability to understand above biblical
revelation. To put it another way, they
are setting up their own understanding as an idol. This is not only morally wrong, however, but
it also makes no sense. Given our finite
and sinful condition, it is inevitable that we will all often struggle to
understand things.
If the Bible teaches two
principles, we should accept them both, regardless of whether we can understand
how they fit together.
See also: