Glory Be to Our Great God | Day 19 - God is True
Give Thanks to the Faithful, Consistent, and Steadfast God
There is one and only one living and true God. - The Baptist Faith and Message 2000
The Lord our God is but one only living and true God - The 1689 London Baptist Confession
There is but one living and true God - The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? - Numbers 23:19
And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret. - 1 Samuel 15:29
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. - Jeremiah 10:10
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6
You are faithful, never changing
From age to age, you remain the same and
Your steadfast love endures forever
- Shai Linne, “Faithful God”
All Truth and No Lies
Have you ever played the icebreaker game “Two Truths and a Lie?” I remember participating in this game regularly during college as many new students would appear yearly. The rules of the game are that every person takes turns presenting three statements about who they are, but the rest of the group has to figure out which one is false. This game creates fascinating moments because participants can learn facts that seem very strange, exciting, or unfamiliar. At the same time, it is also a test of deception for the fact-teller to see if he or she can make the lie seem true to everyone. But the difficulty level in lying depends on how well the other players personally know him or her. Unless he or she is having trouble coming up with the lie, the presenter would have to think really hard on what facts and lies to present to the group depending on whether some have personal knowledge.
More seriously, our world longs for trustworthy and faithful people, and yet recent years have shown growing levels of mistrust. We live in an age of anti-institutionalism that lashes out at institutions necessary for society but now regarded as deceptive and corrupt. Terms like “fake news” and “fact-checking” have become common lingo due to backlash against traditional news media platforms, from historic TV news stations to newspapers. Sadly, this has even spread into churches as denominational entities face mistrust due to mishandling of issues and so many well-known pastors and church leaders have publically failed in various immoral ways. Sometimes, as I look through my social media feeds and see some of the angst that is expressed, I wonder if everyone like me is asking the question King Solomon asked, “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find” (Prov. 20:6)?
But is God trustworthy? Is the God who created all things the same in his character like us? Even some of the best of men are men at best, but is God more faithful and trustworthy than mankind by degree? Is God true most of the time with only a few chances of deception? Or is God faithful and true in his essence so that we can trust him for not only our Sundays but also our Mondays through Saturdays? Unlike humanity stained by the corruption of sin’s depravity, God alone is truly faithful. He alone is the one, true, and living God that is infinitely faithful.
In God, We Trust, because He is Faithful and True
Honestly, I’ve had trouble with choosing whether to use “True” or “Faithful” for the title of this post because both are similar and distinct. Some theologians, like Herman Bavinck, would consider both terms almost one and the same as “the trustworthiness of God is not only an attribute of the intellect but also of the will and therefore should in strict accuracy, have to be treated again later. Veracity and truth, trustworthiness and faithfulness, are too closely associated, however for us to split them apart.”1 Some like Justin Stratis would combine them and use the term “veracity” which he defines as “God’s truthfulness—that is, his identity as the source of all truth and the unfailing conformity of all divine action and revelation to this identity.”2 Others like J. T. English and Jen Wilkin would give two distinct definitions like so:
Faithful: God is always true to His promises. He can never draw back from His promises of blessing or judgment. Since He cannot lie. He is totally steadfast to what He has spoken (Deut. 7:9; 2 Tim. 2:13).
Truthful: All that God says is reality. Whether believed by man or not, whether seen as reality or not, what God has spoken is reality. Whatever He speaks is truth (Num. 23:19; Ps. 31:5; Titus 1:2).3
Precisely unpacking the numerous nuances of these terms benefits Christians to see how amazing God is, but what all Christians affirm, which the Bible assumes, is that God is true and faithful in and of himself and thus is true and faithful in all of his works. To start, let’s remember that “God alone is God, self-sufficient in himself, simple, eternal, and unchanging; everything else belongs to the realm of creation.”4 Moses declares “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4). Think about this for a moment: If God is true, then he alone defines what real really is. This is why the psalmist proclaims, “For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens” (Ps. 96:4-5). The idols of this world are not really divine, but man’s creation uses earthly materials (Isa. 44:9-20). However, God alone is real and thus the creator of all reality. This means that worshipping the creation rather than the creator is false because it doesn’t align with who God is and his good design (Rom. 1:18-22). God alone is the ultimate standard of absolute truth, and, therefore, “The true is that in which the reality exactly corresponds to the manifestation”5 which finds its foundation in him alone.
If God in his nature is true, then all three persons of the Trinity are true, and their works towards creation are true. In the beginning, the only true God created all time, space, and matter through his Word (Gen. 1; John 1:1-5). This Word is both God and distinct in that he is “the only Son from the father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This divine Word took on a truly human nature and was named Jesus who brought both grace and truth to all. This incarnate Son of God told his disciples that “when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). This Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth who “will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13). The God of truth subsists as the Father, Son, and Spirit who communicate the same infinite truthfulness. Thus their works in creation are inseparable from each other as they share the same true nature, mind, and will. That being so, all of God’s works and purposes—creation, providence, salvation—are true and will come to pass according to his true, eternal plans.
‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
The United States Marine Corps motto is the Latin phrase “Semper Fidelis” or “always faithful,” but the only one who truly demonstrates this is the Triune God. We only have to look at our society to be disappointed by the lack of trust and faithfulness, but what about ourselves? Looking back at the past week, do you see absolute faithfulness in every area of your life? If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we are tempted to be untrue in various ways due to our indwelling sin. Just like our first parents, we are prone to exchanging the glory of God for a lie. In Genesis 3, we find Adam and Eve trusting in the words of a slithering serpent, a creature, rather than the words of their true creator. “Therefore,” as Paul states, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law” (Rom. 5:12-13). How can sinners who are prone to wander and leave the God who made them for lies be freed from the rule of the deceiver?
Here is what makes the Gospel jarring: Jesus, the Word of God incarnate who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), came to love and save the liars and the deceived. The Word who created the galaxies and established all the laws of physics came to fulfill all that the Old Testament prophets longed for in their prophecies “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:20). He came proclaiming the good news or “gospel” of God and the kingdom, and he was victorious over the lies and tests of Satan which Adam and Eve couldn’t do. He was falsely accused by the humans he created in a sham trial and died a criminal’s death. But he never was a victim of a random accident he never knew of, but instead, he, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).
I think of these implications about God’s truthfulness and faithfulness. First, trust in Jesus for your salvation because he and his work are the true and only solution. All other religions, philosophies, and self-care systems are telling us what the answer is to our brokenness and the wrongness of this world, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that only He can and has provided the only way of salvation. Second, you can bank your entire life on the faithfulness of God and his promises for you. No matter the circumstances, mistakes, failures, sins, trials, hardships, pains, injustices, and conflicts of your life, you have fellowship with the God who not only rescued you from sin and death but also has ordained all things for his glory. This means that you can trust in his plans for your life regardless of how you feel today. Third, a key daily battle of the Christian’s life is to believe the truth and faithfulness of God and his instead of the lies of sin and Satan. Christians will face wave after wave of deception that seeks to turn our focus away from glorifying God. But if God is true, then we can remind ourselves that trusting in Jesus is far better than the fleeting pleasures of sin. As the well-known hymn goes:
Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking
life and rest, and joy and peace.
- Louisa M. R. Stead, “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
Let this quote from Louis Berhkof wash over you to deepen into your heart God’s faithfulness more than before:
This faithfulness of God is of the utmost practical significance to the people of God. It is the ground of their confidence, the foundation of their hope, and the cause of their rejoicing. It saves them from the despair to which their own unfaithfulness might easily lead, gives them courage to carry on in spite of their failures, and fills their hearts with joyful anticipations, even when they are deeply conscious of the fact that they have forfeited all the blessings of God.6
Father, thank you for being the only true God who faithfully keeps promises. Everything you do that you ordained before the foundation of the world is true, and nothing can change you. Sadly, instead of trusting in you, I’ve often led myself astray from you chasing after false hope and empty promises that leave me empty. In fact, in the past, I was once dead in my sins and exchanged your glory for a lie by worshiping the creature rather than you, my creator. But thank you so much for sending your Son who is the way, the truth and the life, so that through faith in him alone, I can have eternal life. Holy Spirit, guide me into all true through your written Word which is truth. Help me to live a life of integrity and faithfulness because you are my God and faithful to me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003-2008), 2:207.
Justin Stratis, “God’s Veracity,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).
Jen Wilkin and J. T. English, You Are a Theologian: An Invitation to Know and Love God Well (Brentwood, Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2023), 58.
Stephen J. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1: From Canon to Concept (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 646.
Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 437.
L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 70.