Truths In Tension
By: Erick Nelson
Last Updated: Monday October 11, 2004
I'll start by admitting that I seem to be in the minority on disagreeing with this; it's a favorite phrase of lots of philosophers, theologians, etc. I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings - I don't mean to do that. You are appealing to me as a philosophically-minded dude, and I'm trying to respond by giving good advice. Wisdom, even. As I say, I seem to be in the minority on this, so take it for what it's worth (to quote a song)! Here goes:
CONTRADICTION
First, I will say as a primary assumption that any flat-out genuine contradiction means asserting A and not-A about the same thing, at the same time and place, in the same way; and that A and not-A cannot both be true. This assumption cannot be proven or disproven, since it is the basis for all logic, and thus for all proof. If any genuine contradiction can be true, then there can be no logic.
However, many things that seem to be contradictions are not so, and that's what we need to flesh out.
COP-OUTS
In general, I see the invention of the idea "truths in tension" as a cop-out. It's trying to have your theological cake and eat it too. It's trying to have it both ways.
On the other hand, I agree that going too far to resolve apparent contradictions is also a cop out. "Well, sure it says 'staff', but in this case it means not to take your secretary with you when you travel." Or, "Jesus encountered one man of the tombs one time, and two men of the tombs right after that."
KINDS OF ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS
As an attempt to deal with "contradictions" without copping out, here's what I think. I can think of five categories that apply, and they're all a bit different.
1. Intentional paradox. In many places, Jesus and Paul use paradoxical language on purpose: Jesus says if you lose your life you'll find it, Paul declares that in our weakness God is strong, etc. Lots and lots of examples that I won't go into here.
2. Similar phrases used in different contexts. Burdens: (a) Yes, we should all carry our own burdens in the sense that we're not supposed to be sponging off of each other - do our own work, etc. (2) But the stronger should help the weaker, and we need to sometimes carry the burdens of people who need our help. I don't see even the appearance of a contradiction here; merely similar phrases (bear, burden) used to make different points.
3. Totally bogus "contradictions". God changes his mind (because the situation changed, such as the Ninevites). If you read through Haley's "Alleged Bible Contradictions", or go to an atheist Bible-contradiction site, you'll see so many of these that it gets to be funny.
4. King-James-only contradictions. These are apparent contradictions based on a misleading translation. One big example is Paul on the road to Damascus hearing voice, seeing light - reported differently. NIV makes the passages clear, King James seems to pose a contradiction about who hears and sees what, just a poor translation.
5. Opposing concepts that may be reconciled in a certain sense, or may not be reconciled: faith/works, the Trinity, Jesus being God and Man.
OPPOSING CONCEPTS
So, the only category that could legitimately function as "truths in tension" is #5. And these issues are reconciled in different ways. I think C.S. Lewis does the best job on the Trinity, also showing WHY it doesn't completely make sense within our categories (we live in a "flat-land" of fewer dimensions where one person = one being). Faith/works is probably reconcilable, given a really accurate definition of each one and careful exegesis. God's overall policy, in my view, will only be understood (if at all) when we are in heaven with him.
I find that these kinds of issues are not limited to Bible interpretation, but are the very type of things that pop up in real life. One big one for me, in the back of my mind, has always been the issue of (a) I want/ought to "be myself", and not a phony; also (b) I want/ought to act as I "should", and say and do the things God wants me to do. It seems to me that these are both commendable and right, but opposed to each other by definition. How to resolve it? C.S. Lewis recommends acting as I know I "should" be, and I'll grow in that direction. The Lord has also reminded us many times that we shouldn't just do what comes naturally. But Paul advises us to live life without hypocrisy, etc. and Jesus chastiesed the Pharisees as "play-actors."
IN TENSION
So what I'm saying is that, in the scripture, it's not the specific statements that are contradictory. We do not have to somehow believe both sides of the contradiction, dignifying that impossibility with a nice-sounding phrase about "tension." It's not the specific statements, but wide themes - like faith/works, be yourself/be good, etc. - that are hard to work out, even with fear and trembling.
If we don't know how to resolve these kinds of big themes, we may need to try to believe them both, in a way, on the authority of Jesus himself. We may have to say, "In one sense, I need to be genuine, and in some other sense, I need to do better than I'd do naturally, but I have to confess that I'm not clear on when or how to do one or the other!
In areas that depend on God-like wisdom and perspective (such as, "How can you allow evil in the world") - policy issues - it's quite possible that we just have to admit that we'll never know until we see him face to face. Then we shall know as we are known. In THESE cases, yes we can try to understand this and even make progress, but maybe we just have to trust him on this stuff. These are truths in tension (ways higher than ours), even mystery, that we just have to live with.
RESOLVING TENSION
On the other hand, we shouldn't give up too easily. There are questions that we should try to answer, and tensions that we should try hard to resolve, thinking long and hard about them and listening to those who are maybe smarter than we are and have covered this ground. And it's really possible that resolving these tensions helps us leap forward in our understanding in ways that can change our life!
BOTTOM LINE
The bottom line for me is this. For categories #1-4, deal with them. And if the Bible is full of genuine contradictions, then admit it. But otherwise, try to resolve discrepancies wherever possible, and live with those tensions where you can see why they can't be fully comprehended in this life. Like the God's ultimate policies (perhaps). We can understand these up to a point, even list propositions about them, but we won't really "get it" until later.