The Whole Truth

In most parts of this country, before you are allowed give testimony in a court of law, you must first take an oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." This oath recognizes that it is possible to obscure the truth by telling only part of the truth. For example, if President Lincoln's body guard was asked "Who was in President Lincoln's box at Ford Theater the night he was assassinated?" And the body guard replied, "Mrs. Lincoln." His statement would be technically correct, but ultimately misleading and unhelpful.

If asked, "When do we need to trust Jesus Christ for forgiveness?" you replied, "At salvation", you would be technically correct, but ultimately misleading and unhelpful. The "whole truth" is that we need to keep trusting Christ for forgiveness, keep resting on Christ by faith and keep believing that it is his death and merits alone that commend us to God our heavenly Father, from the moment of salvation until we see him face to face.

B.B. Warfield put it this way:

“We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only “when we believe.” It is just as true after we have believed.

It will continue to be true as long as we live.

Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be.

It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.

There is never anything that we are, or have, or do, that can take His place, or that can take a place along with Him.

We are always unworthy, and all that we have or do of good is always of pure grace.”