Speaking the Truth in Love
Loyal
first thing we need to ask our self is what is love according to the bible and there is you answer, the bible is clear that love is, so basically we need to always be kind and NOT RUDE is the way I see it.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
Moderator
Staff Member
Christian love is not political correctness.
Political Correctness is worldly and damaging to the truth.
Loyal
Who gets to judge it rude?
Many times when some one wants sympathy and told what they want to hear ... Well they make the Truth to be rude. Then What?
Blessings
Moderator
Staff Member
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren
Genesis 24:27
He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.
Deuteronomy 32:4
Teach me Thy way, O LORD; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name.
Psalm 86:11
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
John 14:6
Jesus said, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32
Genesis 24:27
He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.
Deuteronomy 32:4
Teach me Thy way, O LORD; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name.
Psalm 86:11
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
John 14:6
Jesus said, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32
Last edited:
Moderator
Staff Member
If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.
1John 4:15-17
And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.
1John 4:15-17
Moderator
Staff Member
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:8
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2Corinthians 1:12
Colossians 2:8
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2Corinthians 1:12
Moderator
Staff Member
These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.
Zechariah 8:16-17
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:
Ephesians 4:15
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Ephesians 4:25
Moderator
Staff Member
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:15-16
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another
Ephesians 4:17-25
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Galatians 5:14
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
James 2:8
And Jesus answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Luke 10:27
Ephesians 4:15-16
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another
Ephesians 4:17-25
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Galatians 5:14
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
James 2:8
And Jesus answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Luke 10:27
Moderator
Staff Member
referring to Ephesians 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
This chapter Ephesians 4 is the commencement of the "practical" part of the Epistle, and is made up, like the remaining chapters, of various exhortations. It is in accordance with the usual habit of Paul to conduct an "argument" in his epistles, and then to enforce various practical duties, either growing out of the argument which he had maintained, or, more commonly, adapted to some particular state of things in the church to which he wrote. The points of exhortation in this chapter are, in general, the following:
I. An exhortation to unity; Ephesians 4:1-6. He entreats them to walk worthy of their vocation Ephesians 4:1; shows them how it could be done, or what he meant; and that, in order to that, they should show meekness and kindness Ephesians 4:3, and particularly exhorts them to unity Ephesians 4:3; for they had one God, one Saviour, one baptism, one religion; Ephesians 4:4-6.
II. He shows them that God had made ample provision for his people, that they might be sound in the faith, and in unity of life and of doctrine, and need not be driven about with every wind of opinion; Ephesians 4:7-16. He assures them that to every Christian is given grace in the Redeemer adapted to his circumstances Ephesians 4:7; that the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven to obtain gifts for his people Ephesians 4:8-10; that he had given apostles prophets and evangelists, for the very purpose of imparting instruction, and confirming them in the faith of the gospel Ephesians 4:11-12; that this was in order that they might attain to the highest elevation in Christian knowledge and piety Ephesians 4:13; and particularly that they might not be driven to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine; Ephesians 4:14-16.
III. Having these arrangements made for their knowledge and piety, he exhorts them not to live as the pagan around them lived; But to show that they were under a better influence; Ephesians 4:17-24. Their understanding was darkened, and they were alienated from the life of God, or true religion Ephesians 4:18; they were past feeling, and were given over to every form of sensuality; Ephesians 4:19. The Ephesians, however, had been taught a different thing Ephesians 4:20-21, and the apostle exhorts them to lay aside everything pertaining to their former course of life, and to become wholly conformed to the principles of the new man; Ephesians 4:22-24.
IV. He exhorts them to perform particular Christian duties, and to put away certain evils, of which they and all others were in danger; Ephesians 4:25-32. In particular, he entreats them to avoid lying Ephesians 4:25; anger Ephesians 4:26; theft Ephesians 4:28; corrupt and corrupting conversation Ephesians 4:29; grieving the Holy, Spirit Ephesians 4:30; bitterness, evil-speaking, and malice Ephesians 4:3 l; and entreats them to manifest in their conversation with each other a spirit of kindness and forgiveness; Ephesians 4:32.
Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes [1834]
---------------------
hence, speaking the truth in love
el contexto, amigo, el contexto [in context, my friend, in context]
Good question, by the way, @Bendito
Bless you ....><>
ps.... a snippet from Expositors Greek Testament
...it is natural to associate love and truth; that the position of ἐν ἀγάπῃ after the ἀληθεύοντες and also the parallel structure of Ephesians 4:14 point to this connection; and that we thus get a contrast between πανουργία and ἀγάπη and again between πλάνη and ἀληθεύειν. The main argument for connecting the clause rather with the following αὐξήσωμεν (= “but speaking truth (or rather, confessing the truth) may in love grow up”) is the fact that in Ephesians 4:16, where the climax is reached, ἐν ἀγάπῃ qualifies the main thought—that of the growth or the edification of Christ’s body. This is a consideration of such weight as to throw the probability on the whole on the side of the second connection .—αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα: may grow up unto Him in all things,
Last edited:
Loyal
Love is not always "nice". A while back we posted a thread about the difference between good and nice.
I think of a parent raising children.
No, you can't have ice cream right now. No, you can't go to Bobby's house before you finish your home work.
They might snatch up a toddler running off into the middle of a busy street... No, you can't play in the middle of the street.
They might tell their two year old, No you can't play with guns and knives.
They might tell their teenager, No you can't drink alcohol or do drugs. No they can't have sex with anyone.
Oddly enough, as crazy as this sounds, there are people in the world who think telling their kids no (for just about any reason) is mean and unloving.
It seems some people feel the same way about God if He says "no".
But looking back over my life... there were many times... "mom knew best". ..and it turns out, "God always knew best".
They were looking out for my best interest. Why? because they loved me. I knew they loved me, but I didn't always want to hear what they said.
Sometimes the hard things we say, we are really saying in love... because we DO care about them.
I think of a parent raising children.
No, you can't have ice cream right now. No, you can't go to Bobby's house before you finish your home work.
They might snatch up a toddler running off into the middle of a busy street... No, you can't play in the middle of the street.
They might tell their two year old, No you can't play with guns and knives.
They might tell their teenager, No you can't drink alcohol or do drugs. No they can't have sex with anyone.
Oddly enough, as crazy as this sounds, there are people in the world who think telling their kids no (for just about any reason) is mean and unloving.
It seems some people feel the same way about God if He says "no".
But looking back over my life... there were many times... "mom knew best". ..and it turns out, "God always knew best".
They were looking out for my best interest. Why? because they loved me. I knew they loved me, but I didn't always want to hear what they said.
Sometimes the hard things we say, we are really saying in love... because we DO care about them.
Loyal
Exactly! Even though the Truth Will Set them free, many reject the truth BECAUSE they are yielding to their feelings and emotions. They only want what they feel will make them feel happy and better and this includes pity.
Feelings have nothing to do with healings and deliverance and what can set you free and get you the victory.
Yep better to learn truth then have a Christian pity session filled with feel good words.
Blessings
Moderator
Staff Member
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
2Timothy 2:23-26
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
2Timothy 2:23-26
Loyal
1 Jn 3:18; Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
Actions speak louder than words, we aren't only supposed to love with "word", but also with what we do. Generally how we live is more about the truth we believe, than anything we might say to someone.
Rom 16:18; For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
Watch out people with "smooth and flattering" words, they deceive unsuspecting hearts.
2 Tim 4:3; For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
There are people who only want to hear "what sounds nice" or "what feels good". But they refuse to hear "sound doctrine".
Eph 5:6; Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
How often in some churches today are "empty words" spoken. How often are people deceived by these empty words?
I am curious, do you think Jesus spoke with love here? How about truth? How about both?
John 8:44; "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matt 23:33; "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Paul asks the Galatians...
Gal 4:16; So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Eph 4:25; Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.
Now I suspect, there are very few things we could think of, that separates truth from love. But if we had to... which would be more important? Truth or love?
2 Thes 2:10; and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
2 Thes 2:12; in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
2 Thes 2:13; But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
1 Tim 2:4; who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Are we saved by knowing love, or by knowing the truth?
John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
I am certainly not saying we shouldn't love God, of course we should, but do the scriptures below say to worship God in "love" or in "truth".
John 4:23; "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
John 4:24; "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
John 14:6; Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Actions speak louder than words, we aren't only supposed to love with "word", but also with what we do. Generally how we live is more about the truth we believe, than anything we might say to someone.
Rom 16:18; For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
Watch out people with "smooth and flattering" words, they deceive unsuspecting hearts.
2 Tim 4:3; For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
There are people who only want to hear "what sounds nice" or "what feels good". But they refuse to hear "sound doctrine".
Eph 5:6; Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
How often in some churches today are "empty words" spoken. How often are people deceived by these empty words?
I am curious, do you think Jesus spoke with love here? How about truth? How about both?
John 8:44; "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matt 23:33; "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Paul asks the Galatians...
Gal 4:16; So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Eph 4:25; Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.
Now I suspect, there are very few things we could think of, that separates truth from love. But if we had to... which would be more important? Truth or love?
2 Thes 2:10; and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
2 Thes 2:12; in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
2 Thes 2:13; But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
1 Tim 2:4; who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Are we saved by knowing love, or by knowing the truth?
John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
I am certainly not saying we shouldn't love God, of course we should, but do the scriptures below say to worship God in "love" or in "truth".
John 4:23; "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
John 4:24; "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
John 14:6; Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Loyal
Very good Point sister....Can you elaborate a bit? How would that apply to adult Christians?
Active
Many want to live in a bubble or a glass bottle of their own making. When we don't speak the truth, cause offence, clash with the way others are living we are showing signs of putting ourselves first. Trying to find our own lives. Not losing them of God. We don't want to be in an environment of some friction. We want all to love us and be sweet to us. Smiles to and fro. We are chameleons. We go to church, get fired up to preach the truth and declare God's love and ways to the unsaved. Then with the unsaved we don't want to cause any offence whatsoever. Just smile and people please. Amazing Christianity. This mentality is killing Christianity. This thread is the most important thread needed at this time. Christians today are weak, cowardly, non offensive people pleasers. It is sickening.
Christians should be able to walk through a valley of shadow and death and fear no evil.
Christians should be able to walk through a valley of shadow and death and fear no evil.
Active
100% honest with ourselves. We are accountable for what we believe. What we know. What God has revealed to us. If we do not act on convictions, we are in a dangerous space with God. Some Christians may be maturer, know better how to communicate. The fact remains however that we answer to our own conscience before God. What convicts us convicts us.
I saw Christians on television that '''shout'' the gospel at meetings. I don't agree, but I do agree with the fact that they are giving in to their conviction. God sees that.
Political correctness has its merits. We must not be racist. We must not run anyone down. But it is also being used as a tool to silence Christians preaching against wickedness.
Last edited: