God is not capable of lying

What a bizarre statement from a human perspective. I lie, you lie and we all do so why assume that God would be any different. There is a core issue that we are facing here as we look at the topic of God’s total truthfulness. The issue is that God is everything that we are not. He is pure, He is perfect, He always acts within his character and He is unique compared to you and me. One of those strands of His outstanding character is His total truthfulness.

It is often helpful to compare translations of the Bible to understand a text. Modern versions translate Tit.1.2 as ‘God does not lie’. Older versions usually say he ‘cannot lie’. Which is correct you might be asking? Strong’s Concordance’ says that the word for lie has a negative particle in front of it to indicate that God is not capable of lying. Robertson’s Word Pictures says that the statement really means that God is the ‘non lying God’. God is not in the business of lying, it is out of character for Him and he just does not do it.

What does this mean for me? It means that I can trust everything God has ever said. It means that every time I pick up my bible to read or a verse comes into my mind that I can say to my self – this is the truth, I can rest on this! Image the effect that this has on my Bible reading.

If the truth of this really grips you it will strengthen your faith in God. It will make you more obedient. It will build your confidence. It will fix your eyes on heavenly things and not on the earth.

You’ll have a good day after thinking this one through.