Grace and truth – Gerald Bray

Part of our ‘truths in tension?’ 2025 Colin Hart lecture series.
We considered pairs of Christian truths that are often perceived to be held in tension, as if to assert one is to sacrifice the other. But if we are to ‘correctly handle the word of truth’ we cannot engage in any ‘trade-offs’. Rather we do as the Bible does and proclaim both joyfully, fearlessly and without compromise.

Addressing contentious issues can risk trading off grace and truth against one other. Truth without grace is of course a travesty. Yet we cannot water down the truth in the misguided belief that this is the gracious thing to do. ‘Grace’ without truth is not grace at all. Our example is Christ himself who “came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Revd Prof Gerald Bray is a distinguished theologian and historian, and a prolific author.