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Paul warned of some who would be lost “…because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2.10). Our focus has been on the fact that this virtue – the love of the truth – is necessary to salvation. In as much as this is a prerequisite to spending eternity with God, it is essential that we understand what “the love of the truth” is and what we have to do in order to avoid the deception that comes from the lack of it.

To sharpen our focus on this important text, we noted that the thing being emphasized is “the love of the truth” compared with merely the love of truth. Furthermore, we have emphasized the fact that “the love of the truth” is to be understood as the love which the truth produces. With this in mind, it almost goes without saying that Jesus Christ is the epitome of what it means to possess the love of the truth. His model began with the Sermon on the Mount where the principles of the love of the truth were unveiled, and continued throughout His ministry when He demonstrated in His teachings and His practices what it means to have the love of the truth.

“And when the Pharisees saw it [Jesus associating socially with a variety of sinful persons], they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’” (Matthew 9.11-13). This text is being introduced because it is directly related to the passage from Paul’s writings which speak of the love of the truth. We will not complete this review today, but we at least want to introduce the passage for consideration.

It is obvious that the Pharisees who confronted Jesus did not possess the love of the truth. They may have been the world’s most avid protectors of truth, but they did not have the love of the truth. We know this from having read other passages which depict their sinister motives at times. In the passage cited from Matthew 9, Jesus indicated that they also had a spiritual deficiency regarding the fact that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. Actually, this is a quotation taken from Hosea 6.6, a passage which had direct application to the Pharisees. Had they [the Pharisees] known what this passage meant, they would not have received the condemnation of Jesus as we just noted.

We will not divert our attention away from the need to possess the love of the truth, but we will examine the expression from Hosea 6.6 and see what relationship God’s desire for mercy over sacrifice has to our need to possess the love of the truth. Perhaps there is also a connection to a second occasion when Jesus also quoted Hosea 6.6 and applied it to His critics (see Matthew 12.1-8). Your continued attention will be appreciated as we complete this journey into the biblical text and how it applies to us today.

If the love of the truth is necessary to salvation, how can we insure that we possess it? This all important question is the one we seek to answer in this series.

Questions:

1. If the love of truth is essential to man, how do we know that Jesus possessed and demonstrated what it means to have the love of the truth?

2. What do we know about the overall attitude of the Pharisees toward truth?

3. If the passage from Hosea relates to the need to have the love for the truth, how important is it that we understand this passage?
4. Generally speaking what is the value of the Old Testament in understanding the New Testament?

"Inspiration For You" from Randy Mitchell

Watching Your Dollars Fly Away