Quotes about Truth

The longer you look at the idea that we read the Bible to find new meanings, the sillier it becomes. We read and return to the Bible not (just) to find something new but to hear something old, not to discover something fresh but to be reminded of something ancient.

At the heart of the Ten Commandments is an Israelite's honesty about one's neighbor (Exod 20:16). At the heart of the Bible's ethic is telling the truth. Honesty mattered then and it matters now.

The most significant passage in the Bible about the Bible is not, however, those two poignant New Testament passages that have given to us words such as inspiration (2 Tim 3:14-17; 2 Pet 1:20-21). Rather, it is Psalm 119, and it can be read as the Bible's view of the Bible.

Deceit finds its way into every religion, including Christianity. In fact, deceit was at work from the very beginning. Two sorts of deceit are found in our verses: some leaders deceive the people of God (7:15—20), while some deceive themselves (7:21—23).

That is, until we find the story that leads us to the gospel claim that Jesus is the Messiah, we don't have the Bible's story right.

There's a difference between focusing on being right and focusing on being a follower of Jesus.

Many in our day climb under the moral shade of Matthew 7:1 to take the supposed high road in saying, "I'm not the judge." Those who take this supposed high road may be missing the whole point of Jesus' words: sin is sin, and one cannot follow Jesus and turn a blind eye to sin. What Jesus is calling us to here is not the absence of moral discernment.

Here's a more concrete, straightforward outline: First, Jesus fulfills the Torah and Prophets (5:17). Second, everything in the Torah is true (5:18). Third, everything therefore must be observed (5:19). Fourth, your obedience therefore must surpass the experts (5:20).

God gave the Bible not so we can know it but so we can know and love God through it.

the laws of God, like the law of gravity, do not depend upon how I feel about them.

A writer strives to express a universal truth in the way that rings the most bells in the shortest amount of time.

There is no use of Evangelicalism seeming to get larger and larger, if at the same time appreciable parts of Evangelicalism are getting soft at that which is the central core, namely the Scriptures.