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Wonderful Paradoxes Of Scripture

Leslie M. Grant

Wonderful Paradoxes Of Scripture

Preface

God is infinitely greater, infinitely wiser, infinitely more true and faithful, infinitely more gracious and loving than man can conceive. Therefore, since He has given a true revelation of Himself in His precious Word and in the person of His beloved Son, we must expect that that revelation will hold mysteries that cannot be rationalized by the most profound human intellects. Philosophy, reasoning power, painstaking research will find no satisfaction in seeking to understand either Christ personally or the significance of the Word of God. By this means no one will discern the wonder of God's revelation of Himself.

Conscience must first be awakened before one can realize that God is a God of truth who requires that man's guilt before Him must be faced and this guilt met before he can possibly understand the greatness and wisdom of what God does. lf one desires to reason, then God tells him what to reason about: "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow‑, though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool" (Isa. 1: 18).

A repentant acknowledgement of guilt must come first, and with it a genuine faith in Christ Jesus that finds forgiveness through the value of His blessed sacrifice of Calvary. "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin" (1 Jn. 1:7). When in simple, honest faith one lays hold of this, then faith is known as the great principle by which the deep things of God are apprehended. When faith is in operation the Spirit of God makes these things living and real to the heart (1 Cor. 2: 10).

Let it be strongly emphasized that man's intellect, his observation, his intuition, his feelings, cannot discern the things of God. Faith is a principle outside of all these, and yet when in true activity it will work in precious co‑operation with these. We cannot think and feel and discern rightly except from the viewpoint of faith in the living God.

There are many paradoxes in the Word of God, things that seem to be contradictory, but are perfectly true. Many paradoxes also are found in the material creation: therefore it is not surprising to find the same in Scripture, for both creation and Scripture are from God. These paradoxes generally are simply expressions of parallel lines of truth. Parallel lines meet only at infinity*, beyond the realm of our observation. Railroad tracks must al­ways remain the same distance apart or a train will de-rail. Therefore, in this paper we do not attempt to rationalize or bring these things together in such a way that "intellect" may be satisfied. Rather, we would seek to encourage and stimulate the faith of the believer to find the deepest delight and blessing in the contemplation of God's great glory, His wisdom, His power and His love.

*The mathematical definition of "infinity."

  1. The Deity And Manhood Of Christ
  2. Christ's True Humanity and His Sinless Perfection
  3. God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility
  4. Election and Conversion
  5. Purchase and Redemption
  6. Propitiation and Substitution
  7. In Adam and in Christ
  8. Grace and Government

These are by no means all of the great truths of Scripture that are paradoxical, running in lines parallel to each other. The reader may well discern many more of these in his study of the precious Word of God. But this brief consideration serves to impress on us the fact that God's great wisdom, power and love is far higher than our feeble intelligence can reason out, this itself will serve a useful purpose in drawing out our adoring worship of the living God revealed in the blessed person of' the Son of His love.

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