Grace & Truth - Alcorn

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

A few excerpts from Randy Alcorn’s book, The Grace and Truth Paradox (Multnomah, 2003).

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.

Attempts to “soften” the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to “toughen” the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus. It’s not enough for us to offer grace or truth. We must offer both. (18)
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The cost of redemption cannot be overstated. The wonders of grace cannot be overemphasized. Christ took the hell He didn’t deserve so we could have the heaven we don’t deserve. (29)

Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity. In fact, it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are, the greater we realize God’s grace is.
(31-32)

Humility isn’t pretending that we’re unworthy because it’s the spiritual thing to do; it’s recognizing that we’re unworthy because it’s true.
(32)
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Godly living centers not on what we avoid, but on whom we embrace. Anytime we talk more about dos and don’ts than about Jesus, something’s wrong.

Behavior modification that’s not empowered by God’s heart-changing grace is self-righteous, as repugnant to God as the worst sins people gossip about.
(37)

Truth . . . acts upon us. We cannot change the truth, but the truth can change us. It sanctifies (sets us apart) from the falsehoods woven into our sin nature and championed by the world.

He didn’t say He would show the truth or teach the truth or model the truth. He is the truth. . . He’s the source of truth, and the reference point for evaluating all truth-claims.
(38)