The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth

We have an expression in our courts – Do you agree to tell “The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth?”  The same principle is true in religion – we need to believe and practice The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth.We see the utmost importance of “the truth” in a passage like John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  The context shows the verse is talking about being made free from sin, so the point would be that we can’t be saved from our sin by false religious teaching.  Believing and practicing the truth is absolutely necessary to going to heaven.Now some are willing to preach the truth, but not the “whole truth.”  They limit themselves to preaching the parts of the truth their congregation already agrees with.  In this they do not follow the lead of the apostles.  Paul said in Acts 20:26-27 “… I am pure from the blood of all men.  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”  This reminds me of Ezek 3:18 “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”  Many preachers go for years without warning their audience of anything they are doing wrong, and God says they will be held responsible for such timid preaching.And then you have those who are not satisfied to stay within the bounds of God’s truth.  II John 9 reads “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”  So we must abide in, stay within the teaching of Christ or we won’t have God; we won’t be saved.Col 3:17 also teaches we should be satisfied with “nothing but the truth” when it reads “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”  This passage is saying we shouldn’t do anything unless Jesus has told us to do it (without His authority).Rev 22:18-19 says “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”  Taking away from God’s word would be not preaching the whole truth, and adding to God’s word would not be being satisfied with nothing but the truth.An example of adding to God’s word would be practicing sprinkling for baptism.  Rom 6:4 says “we are buried with him by baptism,” and we all know what buried means.  Baptism should then involve us being buried in the water; saying sprinkling for baptism is also okay would be adding to God’s word.A good example of taking away from God’s word would be like ignoring I Cor 14:34-35 to allow women preachers.  That passage reads “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”  The only way a congregation could allow a woman to preach from their pulpit would be to completely ignore texts like I Cor 14:34-35.  That’s not accepting the whole truth.I Pet 1:22a says “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth …” This verse gets at the importance of truth.  We must obey it to have our souls purified, to be saved from our sins.  And that would mean we must obey The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth.”