2021-09-1 “the acknowledging of the truth”

Titus 1:1  “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

Without “truth”, every purpose will ultimately fail, including religion.  Untruthfulness creates confusion and distrust and disrespect.  The Lord put it this way, “… the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24).  Thus, in religion, “truth” is an absolute requisite.  One of the necessities for “approving ourselves as ministers of God” is to plainly declare “the word of truth” (II Corinthians 6:4, 7).  Truth is corrupted when passages are extracted from the Word of God and used out of their context, when passages are ignored and discarded, when the Word of God itself is corrupted, and when supplements are added to the Word of God.  Furthermore, the Word of God is corrupted when modern men assume they have a better revelation than the men who first wrote it and when men assume that they are more skilled than the translators.  [I am satisfied that the King James Translation is the true Word of God in the English Language.]  Essentially, the Word of God is corrupted because men value their carnal motives more than the Word of God.  Ministers of the Gospel are specifically charged to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (II Timothy 2:15).  To “rightly” divide “the word of truth” is to carefully and prayerfully “Study” “the word of truth”, being careful to never diminish, embellish, or add to “the word of truth”.  Moreover, this passage makes it clear that “the acknowledging of the truth” “is after godliness”.  To acknowledge “the truth” is to preach it and teach it and speak it just as it is, without any alteration.  Acknowledging “the truth” “is after godliness”; that is, preaching “the truth”, teaching “the truth”, and speaking “the truth” is right with God.  The way we combat the confusion and distrust and disrespect in our present day is to openly and plainly and consistently acknowledge “the truth” of God’s Holy Word.