Hold the Tension
If you could describe the current cultural landscape in our day, what words would you use? I can think of a few:
Polarized.
Political.
Violent.
Fearful.
Disorienting.
The list could go on. In the wake of the recent cascading tragedies, it can be hard not to become cynical, despairing, or even numb. From school shootings, murderous acts in public spaces, and assassinations, my own heart and mind have felt overwhelmed in how to process it all, and I have struggled to grieve with the hope I know we have available to us in Christ. Perhaps most notably, due to the national and even worldwide media coverage, the assassination of Charlie Kirk has caught the attention of everyone and awakened a renewed passion for courageous faith in some, while others have proceeded with caution and mixed emotions about how we remember and honor a life lived so visibly in the public eye.
We live in a time of great tension. And the good news is that while our current circumstances are indeed unique, the reality of Christians living within a tumultuous culture is not new. The path forward is to revisit an ancient truth perfectly demonstrated in the way our Lord and Savior, Jesus, entered human history.
The Two Wings of Christlikeness
In the stunning prologue of John, the beloved disciple’s biography of Jesus’ life and ministry, he scribes the following majestic line:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
He goes on to declare that…
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
In a time of clashing kingdoms, political polarization, and dynamic social and religious tensions, the eternal Word of God appears on the scene in and through a human body. This infinitely glorious reality is described by John as Jesus Christ being one who is full of grace and truth. Notice he does not say grace or truth, or grace “then” truth, but grace AND truth. As one commentator summarized, “Jesus was full of both grace and truth. He wasn’t 50% grace and 50% truth. He was 100% grace and 100% truth. He always had exactly the right balance in his response to people and situations.”[1]
To put it another way, Jesus’ unfailing and sacrificial love perfectly held the tension between grace and truth. One is not opposed to the other, nor did they compete with each other. But they were the two wings that were seamlessly integrated in the One who is both fully God and fully man.
Jesus’ unfailing and sacrificial love perfectly held the tension between grace and truth. One is not opposed to the other, nor did they compete with each other. But they were the two wings that were seamlessly integrated in the One who is both fully God and fully man.
Yet we often fall into the trap of emphasizing one over the other, stunting our Christian witness.
Truth without Grace
In his book The Grace and Truth Paradox, author Randy Alcorn summarizes, “Truth without grace breeds a self-righteous legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world away from Christ. Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ.”
When John uses the word “truth” here, it is meant to convey “the quality of being in accord with what is true, or an actual event or state.”[2] It is that which corresponds to reality. Certainly, Christ the eternal Word is the perfect representation of all that is real, right, and true. The problem is that when it comes to you and me, we often do not see the world as it actually is—rather, we see it as we are. Unknowingly, our perception of reality is shrouded by our own biases, preferences, and expectations. We tend to live within the safe confines of our own tribes and echo chambers.
When this happens, we can jump to conclusions, draw lines, build walls, and choose sides, rather than allowing love to slow us down and commit to the steady path of seeking and living out the truth in community with Christ as our ultimate standard.
As the late theologian John Stott declared, “Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth grows hard if it is not softened by love.”
Grace without Truth
Equally dangerous is overemphasizing grace over truth. It’s been said that any attempt to “soften” the gospel by minimizing truth keeps people from Jesus, just as toughening it by minimizing grace does the same.[3] The word that John uses for grace here means displaying “a winning quality or attractiveness that invites a favorable reaction.”[4] But the favorable reaction must be guided by the truth in order for Christ to be encountered. This is why the first public declaration that resounded from our Savior’s lips was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).
Grace AND Truth
I’ve often said that the key to striking the right balance is to have the right center. We can resist the pendulum swing of our preference, either towards grace or towards truth, by centering our lives on the one who is full of both. When we are full of grace and truth, we will heed the wisdom of James and “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19b-20). Or to put it another way, we will be slow to post our opinion on social media and quick to pray from the life-giving wellspring of the Scriptures so that our witness is amplified by the display of the Spirit’s fruit.
I’ve often said that the key to striking the right balance is to have the right center. We can resist the pendulum swing of our preference, either towards grace or towards truth, by centering our lives on the one who is full of both.
The “and” in “grace and truth” is more than a linguistic nuance; it’s the invitation to apply the gospel with conviction and compassion simultaneously. I like how one Christian author explained the power of the “and” by saying, “In today’s polarized climate—marked by debates on ethics, justice, identity, and inclusion—embodying both grace and truth offers a way to stand firm in conviction while extending understanding and compassion to others.”[5]
The “and” in “grace and truth” is more than a linguistic nuance; it’s the invitation to apply the gospel with conviction and compassion simultaneously.
Tension and Transformation
We began by reflecting on how we could describe our tumultuous societal landscape. And while numerous disheartening words may surface, the good news is that when we approach it all with both grace and truth, a new perspective emerges. Times of tension are often ripe for the Lord to bring transformation. So, we can also declare that the days we are living in can be described as…
Hopeful.
Expectant.
Prayerful.
Awakening.
Revival.
Faithful.
In other words, each new day is primed with opportunities to put into practice the grace and truth of Christ, so that the Father may be made known and glorified.
Hold the Tension
Holding the tension between truth and grace is not a matter of emphasizing one over the other. It is a matter of integration through incarnation. Just as Jesus fully embodied both essential qualities, we as His body, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, can also faithfully emulate the beautiful glory of God to a broken world.
Holding the tension between truth and grace is not a matter of emphasizing one over the other. It is a matter of integration through incarnation.
May we be a people emboldened by uncompromising truth and marked by radical grace as we face the growing complexities of our culture, so that everyone we encounter would be astonished and recognize that we have been with Jesus.
Copyright © 2025 Justin Jeppesen. All rights reserved.
[1] Russel, Bob. cited on: https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/balancing-grace-and-truth/
[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 42.
[3] https://thegraceblog.com/blog/grace-and-truth
[4] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1079.
Skip to content