1. Home
  2. Resources
  3. Audio
  4. Truths in tension?

Truths in tension?

2025 Autumn Lectures

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15

When considering God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, J I Packer wrote: “We shall not oppose them to each other. Nor shall we qualify, or modify, or water down, either of them in terms of the other, for this is not what the Bible does either. What the Bible does is to assert both truths side by side in the strongest most unambiguous terms as two ultimate facts; this, therefore, is the position
we must take in our thinking.”

This is a good summary of the purpose of this year’s Colin Hart Lectures. We will consider pairs of glorious 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.

 

1. Grace and truth – Gerald Bray

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).

Listen

You can listen to the audio version of the video below.

 

2. Faith and works – Bill James

We should be as wary of denigrating good works for fear of undermining sola fide as we should have preaching a gospel of salvation by works. The biblical position is often summed up by Calvin’s declaration that it is “faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone”. Good works are the fruit of genuine salvation.

Listen

You can listen to the audio version of the video below.

 

3. Scripture and providence – Wyn Hughes

The accounts of Abraham, Joseph and Esther reveal that from our limited perspective God’s promises and their fulfilment can sometimes appear to conflict. But God will always ensure that his providence fulfils his Word. This offers no excuse for passive fatalism, rather it should encourage Christians to trust in God’s sovereignty while confronting the evils of this fallen world.

Listen

You can listen to the audio version of the video below.

 

4. Sovereignty and responsibility – Stuart Olyott

C H Spurgeon was once asked if he could reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. “I wouldn’t try”, he is said to have replied: “I never reconcile friends”. A right understanding of these two truths will underpin our approach to salvation, evangelism, discipleship and more.

Listen

You can listen to the audio version of the video below.

 

5. Now and not yet – Rupert Bentley-Taylor

For our final lecture, we consider a genuine tension in our Christian walk. We possess every spiritual blessing in Christ now, but we do not yet experience the fullness of those blessings. We are already adopted, redeemed, sanctified and raised in Christ, yet they are not complete until his coming. This is the life of faith.

Listen

You can listen to the audio version of the video below.