Speaking the Truth in Love

The apostle Paul challenged his readers to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

My old Bible college president, L.E. Maxwell, used to say, “The hardest thing to do in the Christian life is to keep balanced.” That’s especially true when writing about controversial subjects.

When writing polemic papers, which confront error, it’s easy to focus on speaking truth while neglecting to speak it in love. But both are necessary.

A shepherd has two main tasks: 1) to care for and feed the sheep and 2) to protect the sheep from danger.

In his writings, Miles Stanford sought to do both. His book The Green Letters built up the body of Christ, while The Red Letters warned against false teaching. Many appreciated The Green Letters, but The Red Letters sometimes met resistance. One of his polemic papers was even titled Brain Dead. While his warning may have been needed, the tone could feel to some as being too sharp.

This challenge is one our Biblical Resource Group is facing now. We’re revising a paper on Insider Movements that go to an extreme regarding contextualization. This is a controversial trend in missions.

What are Insider Movements?
These are approaches where people from another faith (often Islam or Hinduism) claim to follow Jesus but remain within their original religious community.

What is Contextualization?
It’s presenting the gospel in ways that fit a culture. Wise contextualization is biblical. For example, Paul became “all things to all men” (1 Cor. 9:22). However, taken too far it can distort the gospel and blur the uniqueness of Christ.

Some forms of Insider Movements represent this kind of extreme. Our group feels compelled to address it—but with care. We must speak truth boldly while guarding our tone.

We certainly need your prayers as we attempt to strike a balance. Please ask God to give us wisdom, clarity, and a loving spirit for this project. Pray that our words will help believers discern truth from error without unnecessarily offending those we seek to help.

Blessings,

Bob

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Balancing Truth and Love

“Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.” –Warren Wiersbe