The Wisdom of the Whole – by Toni Babcock
"There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD." (Proverbs 21:30 KJV)
Rev. Andrew Murray once wrote, "Every truth has two sides. The only way to apprehend the truth fully is to look at each side as if it were the whole, and yield ourselves to its full force."
In terms of the gospel, the two sides are repentance and faith. Yielding to the two sides as if they were the whole is to yield at once to the full force of the gospel.
The whole tenor of scripture indicates when Jesus and the apostles commanded souls to repent, that was not to exclude faith, and when they commanded souls to believe, that was not to exclude repentance. In other words, emphasizing one side of a whole truth was never intended to give license to half-truth. Heresies are the result of creating half-truths out of whole truths, and God is not the author of heresy.
When faith surrenders to repentance and repentance to faith, neither are diminished, both are supported, and the result is the liberty of the Spirit to do His work so Christ receives all the glory; and man is no longer bound to hide behind one side of the truth in order to avoid exposing himself to the other. The repentant believer discovers with the Apostle Paul, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."
