TEXT: II Timothy 3:16-17

SUBJECT: Follow the Lamb #11: Beware of One-Sided Truth

Tonight brings us to Chapter 10 in our study of Follow the Lamb, a small book, published about 1840, by the Scottish pastor, Hoatius Bonar. He wrote it to help new believers do what the title says—to follow the Lamb, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Because we ignorant, weak, and sinful, following Christ is never easy. To make matters worse, we are opposed at every step of the way by the devil, his servants, and by other Christians who mean well, but accidentally draw us away from the Lord.

Tonight’s lesson is about these dear people. Although we should love them (because God does), we mustn’t follow them—even if they’re otherwise fine people, sincere, and persuasive.

It is To the Law and the Testimony that we must appeal. If good people break with God’s Word we must break with them—not proudly or hatefully, of course—but we must do it. Because following the Lamb means following His Word—not just our favorite parts of it, but the whole Word, understood by the help of the Holy Spirit and in light of our Lord’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension to God’s Right Hand.

The title of Chapter 10 explains what it’s about.

Beware of one-sided truth.

Bonar assumes we know what he’s getting at, but I’m not so sure we do. Let me take a couple of minutes to explain this term, one-sided truth.

First of all, one-sided truth is true. It is gotten right out of the Bible. And everything in the Bible is true. For example, the deity of Jesus Christ can be a one-sided truth. Justification by faith alone can be a one-sided truth. The Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification (or making us holy) can be a one-sided truth. Jesus is not God, justification is by works alone or we make ourselves holy are not one-sided truths; they are mistakes—to be polite—or to be candid, they are heresies!

Secondly, one-sided truth is misleading. Can a truth mislead you? Sure it can—and it often does! Because it is isolated from other truths or rejects them if they can’t be squared with it. The truth becomes a jealous lover, you might say, who will permit no rivals!

Let’s go through the examples I just gave. Is the Deity of Christ a true doctrine? Yes it is. But what if I take it to mean the Lord is not also human? Is justification by faith alone? It is. But what if I say that means good works don’t matter to God? Is the believer sanctified by the Holy Spirit? He sure is. But what if I go on to say this means he is not responsible to stay clear of temptation and to follow after holiness?

And so, one-sided truth is a truth of God’s Word that denies or downplays other truths from the same Word.

Someone has said, A half-truth told as a whole-truth is an untruth.

Where were you last night? screams the jealous wife. I was at work the innocent husband replies. But he doesn’t mention that his pretty young secretary was there too. There’s a one-sided truth for you!

Bonar wrote his book during a Revival in Scotland. The Lord was moving powerfully in the Church at this time. Many hundreds were being saved and there was a high level of excitement.

Both are good things—but not only good things. With a large number of new converts, the churches also had a large number of people who didn’t know their Bibles. I’m not blaming them for their ignorance, but just pointing it out. With the fever pitch of excitement, many were thinking more with their emotions than with their minds!

Together, they opened the way to one-sided truth. You have immature believers who are very excited about the doctrines of the Bible and life in Christ.

Bonar gives several examples of the one-sided truths he was hearing back then. Here’s one of them,

For the rest of the chapter he says pretty much the same thing over and over. He doesn’t name the misleading doctrine he has in mind, but it seems to be some combination of antinomianism and perfectionism.

Let me define my terms:

Antinomianism literally means "against the Law". It teaches—with much variation—that believers are so free from the Law, that they don’t have to obey God, and by trying to do so, they are reverting to a works righteousness. But are Christians to be holy? Of course we are, but we grow in holiness only as we Let go and let God or Rely and relax. Personal effort is nullified.

I once heard a pastor say, If you’re a Christian you can do anything you want to. But, of course, he added, If you’re a Christian, you’ll only want to do good things.

Clang! Are believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit and does He give us the holy impulses we have? Yes He does. But are you so filled with the Spirit that you never have a sinful impulse? I have a lot of them. So, what do we do with them? We resist them, we say no to our wicked desires. In other words, we obey the Law of God, even when we don’t feel like it! Especially when we don’t feel like it.

The other term is perfectionism. This also has more than one meaning, but here I have in mind the idea that, Since we are in Christ and Christ is perfect, then we are perfect. God does not notice the sins we commit—or maybe, we don’t really commit them, but ‘the old man’ or the ‘old nature’ or some such thing lies or cusses or laughs at a dirty joke.

Are believers perfect in any sense? Yes we are. But not in every sense. And to say that it’s not really you who are sinning or that God doesn’t know you’re sinning or that He doesn’t care or that your sins don’t hurt you is as lop-sided and as wrong-headed as a doctrine can be!

Trees don’t grow on the ground, but in it. Some trees, I know, have roots that grow deeper than their branches grow high. In the same way, one-sided truth doesn’t just grow in the air. It also has roots, not all of which are easy to see. Not only do we miss them, but the people who teach the errors often do as well. Not all false teachers are false men; many, no doubt, believe their doctrines are taught in the Bible and they want to help us to know and enjoy them.

What are the roots of one-sided truth?

Why would a sincere Christians who reads his Bible say something like this: The sovereignty of God insures the salvation of the Elect, and therefore, we don’t need to witness to them. The first part is true. But how in the world can you accept the second part—and also take the Bible seriously? Does anyone not know the verses? Preach the Gospel to every creature…Go into all the world and make disciples…Let the redeemed of the Lord say so…Be always ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you…How shall they hear without a preacher?

I’ve known a fair number of Christians in my time, and only one of them ever told me she was converted without someone talking to her about the Lord. And even that’s not quite true—because someone translated the Bible and left it in the room where she happened to be at the time.

Against the teaching of the Bible and their own experience, some still hold on to the one-sided truth of God’s Sovereignty without also believing that we are responsible to witness for Christ and to believe in Christ.

Why?

The first root is pride. If I cannot explain how the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man cannot go together, they don’t go together. If they did, after all, I could explain how. So, instead of humbling myself, I explain one of them away. If God is sovereign, man is not responsible; if man is responsible, God is not sovereign.

The second root is laziness. Some doctrines are very hard to understand and to reconcile with other doctrines. How many of us are willing to work on them until we understand them? The Church Fathers spent lifetimes working on the Trinity, and the works shows it. But we haven’t got the time or the stomach for that kind of hard work. So we opt for the easy answer—because it’s easy, and not because it is true.

The third root is personal preference. Let’s face it, we all have preferences; some are thinkers and some are doers. I’d rather think about doctrine than witness to the lost. Maybe, you’d rather witness than think about doctrine. Because I don’t feel comfortable witnessing to the lost, I choose the sovereignty of God. Because you don’t like poring over books and untangling ideas in your head, you choose the responsibility of man. Both of us choose a one-sided truth because, frankly, we like it better than the other side.

We need to admit our partiality. And follow the Lord fully—even if it gets beyond our comfort level.

One-sided truth is dangerous—maybe more than we think it is. Bonar says of it,

Preachers often exaggerate for effect. When a doctrine is important, we say, it is the most important doctrine in the Bible. When a sin is bad, we say it is the worst sin in the history of the world. And so on. We all do this; I do it. I suppose Horatius Bonar did it.

But not here. He says half-truths are among the most dangerous things we can be guilty of.

One-sided truths distort the image of God. Today, the love of God is emphasized everywhere. And this is good. The love of God should be harped on more than it is—far more. No preacher has ever exaggerated the love of God! Even Paul couldn’t do it justice because it passes knowledge. But in rightly exalting the love of God, many have wrongly downplayed His justice and His wrath. In the memorable words of John Crowe Ransom, He becomes

A god without thunder.

Reacting to this, a few Christians have gone to the opposite extreme. I heard a man say—and this is a quote, The cross has nothing to do with the love of God. He was preaching from Romans 3:25, which underlines the righteousness of God in the death of His Son. But is this the only verse in the Bible? Doesn’t John 3:16 connect the Father’s love with our Lord’s cross? Sure it does.

You don’t replace one one-sided truth with another one, but with the whole truth. The cross exalts both the righteousness of God and His love.

This lop-sided view of God dishonors Him and it hurts people.

One sided truths deform the Christian life. What if I emphasize the Lord’s humanity to the neglect of His Divinity? I end up with a Friend—the best friend a man ever had!

That’s wonderful. But what happens when a friend isn’t enough? What happens when I need more than sympathy or understanding or patience? Where do I go when I need a miracle? I’ve got nowhere to go—not because the Lord isn’t a man (because He is), but because I’ve forgotten that He’s also God!

Finally, one-sided truths split the Church and disrupt the fellowship and input we all need. Many of the isms we don’t like are but a reaction to the isms we do like.

Should the Sunday morning service be as reverent as a funeral or as joyful as a party? Calvinists would opt for the funeral, while Pentecostals would go for the party. Who’s right? Neither one, for the service should be both grave and joyous. How you strike the balance, I can’t say, but I can say this: you don’t do it by defending one and attacking the other.

If we want unity in the Church—and not uniformity—we must reject one-sided truths in favor of the Truth as it really is in all its variety and fullness…and loose ends.

When unchecked, one-sided truths lead to open error or heresy. I told you a week or two ago that all of the old heresies about God and Christ are the result of simplifying. Speaking of politics, Edmund Burke warned of the terrible simplifiers.

If the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, there are three gods. If there is one God only, then Christ and the Spirit are not God. The doctrines are simple and clear, but they’re also heretical. The truth is far more complicated—One God, three Persons. That’s a tough one—and also a true one.

This is what makes one-sided truth the danger it is. If it is not balanced by other truths, it must lead to soul-destroying heresy.

If you want to grow in grace, you must beware of one-sided truth. To help you do that, let me offer two quick words of advice:

Firstly, read and believe the whole Bible and not just your favorite parts of it.

Secondly, don’t worry about fitting everything together, but only in being honest with what the Bible teaches. Reconciliation is God’s work, ours is to trust and obey.