Let God Be True and Every Man a Liar

In Romans 3, the Apostle Paul confronts the logic games that he knows that the Jews would make regarding the nature of their Jewish privilege. The contention of the Jews is that they inherit the promises of God by blood. He argues it is by faith and that unbelief does not mean that God is unfaithful to His promise.

We do this sometimes. We play logic games with God. We do it out of vain conceit, or sometimes out of manipulation so that we can justify tradition or sin. Whatever the case, we do it. We must somehow come to grips with the fact that there are many things that God, through His word, says are true and yet seem contradictory. In our fallible humanity we try to resolve these logical inconsistencies, and in doing so make God a liar.

This is what He really means.

Have you ever had someone try to explain what you are saying to someone else—and be completely wrong in their explanation? Do we do that with God?

We are limited. The Bible tells us that plainly. We see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13), there are secret things that only belong to the Lord (Deuteronomy 29:29), and we are in no way qualified to counsel God (Isaiah 40). We know this. One of the great truths of modern science is that we now know that there is more that we do not know than we can possibly imagine. Even when we think we know, we are often wrong.

There are some things that we can know with certainty. We know these things because God said so plainly, not because we have deduced them on constructed them from God’s word.

God is great and we are small. God created the world in six days. We are sinful and helpless. Jesus died for sinners. He has chosen us from the foundation of the world. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. God is sovereign. Mankind is responsible for his actions and will be judged for it accordingly, so man is responsible. God is love. God is a judging God. God knows all, past present and future. Salvation is by grace through faith alone. Jesus is coming again. Christians are commanded to take the gospel to the world. Jesus will be with us as we go.

There is so much more, but that is a start.

We are obligated to believe what He says, even if we cannot grasp it. Sometimes we can work out in our own minds how it fits together, sometimes we can’t. But even when we can’t, it is still true.