Seemingly Contradictory Truth

Just some initial thoughts. There is a lot more to explain and investigate here.

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19

We are called to grasp the love of Christ yet we are told we will never understand its fullness. Does this make His love not true or not real if we cannot grasp it? Of course not. It is not the understanding of something that makes it true, it is true because it is.

A paradox is simply a seemingly contradictory truth. We recognize the truth of a matter even though we don’t fully understand it. For example, sometimes people describe their relationship with another person as a love-hate relationship. They both love and hate the person. This seems to contradict itself. Do you love the person or do you hate them? However, that is not the point of the statement. The truth is that they both love and hate the person and describing the relationship as such gives us a deeper understanding of the relationship.

Therefore, we are not to be frustrated with seemingly contradictory statements. We should not pick a side of the contradiction and deny the other. The truth is not in either side of the contradiction, rather the truth is in the contradiction itself. A seemingly contradictory statement should lead us to investigate the interaction of the contradiction and many times will result in us simply having to accept both sides even though we do not fully understand the mechanics of the interactions in the contradiction.

There are times when two statements are contradictory and there is no resolve, because the truth is that one side is not true. For example, if there is a coat that is only one color and one statement claims the coat is red and another claims it is blue, then one of the statements is not true. Proof by contradiction is commonly used in mathematics and is a valid method to discover truth.

Therefore, there are three different scenarios. Two statements can be complementary, contradictory, or seemingly contradictory. Complementary statements are statements that reinforce the other truth. Contradictory statements oppose each other so that only one can be true. Seemingly contradictory statements seem to oppose one another, but the truth is in the contradiction.

I have found that the bible frequently uses seemingly contradictory statements to explain a truth. Biblical truths are often very complex and cannot be simply explained with a single statement, so Scripture utilizes seemingly contradictory statements.

Romans 3:28 says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” While James 2:24 says, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer presents a fascinating paradox when he explains that grace is free, but it is not cheap. In Luke 22:42 Jesus prays, “not my will, but yours, be done.” Yet in Mark 11:24 Jesus seems to take a different stance on prayer when he teaches, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” 1 Samuel 15:29 says, “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” Then just a few verses later 1 Samuel 15:35 says, “And the Lord regretted that he made Saul king over Israel.”

Where humans have gotten in trouble is when we fail to accept seemingly contradictory truth and try to fit truth into a neat model that we can grasp better. We pick the side of the contradiction we like best, then devise a whole system of thinking around that half-truth.

There is a truth and rarely do we find someone who completely rejects truth. Rather, we frequently observe perversions of the truth all around us. Islam recognizes that God has a high standard regarding morality and they seek to live a life fully obedient to the law. However, they fail to recognize that God could also be gracious. Islam rightly recognizes that there is only one God. However, they fail to recognize that God can reveal Himself as a man and still be one. Unitarians cannot comprehend how Jesus can be fully God and yet fully man, so they resign to the belief that he must have only been man. They stumble because they try to simplify truth into a simple model.

Truth is found only in submitting to seemingly contradictory truths and relying on Christ to enlighten our hearts to a deeper understanding.