Is it a Contradiction or a Paradox?

A paradox — or tension — is when two apparently conflicting truths are both true at the same time. This runs against the black-and-white, either/or thinking our culture pushes, but it’s the deeper path that often leads closer to truth.

The Bible is full of these tensions, and we get into trouble when we grab one side and discard the other. Both truths usually stand.

Some examples:

• Free will versus election. If God is all-knowing, He knows the future. Does that mean our choices aren’t truly free?

• Faith versus works. We are saved by faith alone, yet what we do still matters. Real faith works.

• The Trinity. One God in three persons. How can three be one?

• The first will be last, and the last first. True greatness comes through humility and serving others.

I used to hunt for neat resolutions to these paradoxes. Now I’m learning to rest in the tension. I believe God is sovereign, yet I feel the weight of real choice. I see both law and grace at work. I experience the Spirit moving, even if I can’t neatly define how the Trinity works.

Maybe that’s the point. Faith is not having every answer. It is trusting God while living squarely in the mystery.