God cannot lie!

 

                                            All photographs courtesy of Unsplash

                                    Scripture Reading

 

Titus 1.2

 

‘In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began’

 

 

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.

 

If you like to compare versions of the bible you will see that when translating this verse some of the more modern versions say, ‘God does not lie’ (NET, LITV, NIV). Interestingly the older versions usually say he ‘cannot lie’ (RV, Darby, Wuest, Rotherham). Which is correct you might be asking. Have a look at a Strong’s Concordance’ on your phone or laptop to see what Mr Strong says about this phrase. He says that the word for a lie has a negative particle in front of it to indicate that God is not capable of lying. If you look up ‘Robertson’s Word Pictures’, he tells us 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? I can trust everything he has ever said! You’ll have a good day after thinking this one through.