Showing results for "paradox" in Bible Study

Learn how to engage with cultural issues in a deeply countercultural way. When we embrace the paradoxical character preached by Jesus in the Beatitudes, we experience rich and surprising blessings.

Everybody likes Jesus. Don't they? We overlook that Jesus was: Judgmental - preaching hellfire far more than the apostle Paul. Uncompromising - telling people to hate their families. Chauvinistic - excluding women from leadership. Racist - insulting people from other ethnic groups. Anti-environmental - cursing a fig tree and affirming animal sacrifice. Angry - overturning tables and chasing moneychangers in the temple.

Grace or truth…or both? Truth without grace breeds self-righteousness and crushing legalism. Grace without truth breeds deception and moral compromise. Is it possible to embrace both in balance? Jesus did. Randy Alcorn offers a simple yet profound two-point checklist of Christlikeness. “In the end,” says Alcorn, “we don’t need grace or truth. We need grace and truth. And for people to see Jesus in us, they must see both.”