+I. Honesty and truthfulness of character.+--Love of truth as being
from God, hatred of lies as being from the devil--this is a primary
condition of being strong in the Lord. Nothing can be more injurious
to the character of the Christian religion than the suspicion that it
shuns examination, that its claims are in antagonism with
demonstrated truth. There is a kind of false liberalism concerning
religious truth. It is easy for a man to fancy his loins are girt
about with truth when the fact is they are girt about with
indifference; and a person so armed may assume an attitude of
impartiality with regard to religious questions because he cares
nothing concerning the issue; and sometimes it seems to be assumed
that a writer possesses a virtue, compensating for all vices, if he
is apparently free from all bias either for or against revealed
truth. The true path is taken by him who, strong in his own faith and
love, fears no honest investigation, and shrinks from adopting in
matters of religion any tone of thought or line of argument which he
cannot justify upon the broadest grounds of calm judgment and sober
reason.
+II. But the words of the apostle refer not only to truthfulness, but
to truth itself, to that which we know to be true.+--It would be
unworthy of an apostle if he should include under the title of truth,
necessary for the protection of a Christian champion, all human
knowledge which is rightly so called. Do not consider that the
progress you make in human knowledge lies beside your path as
Christians. As members of Christ, as His soldiers and servants, take
a nobler view of your work than that. Christ has taken the elements
of this world and sanctified them for Himself; there is nothing
really secular but what is evil, and all that is not evil ought to be
used on the side of truth.
+III. The apostle has in mind that definite form of revealed truth
which in Scripture is described as emphatically the truth.+--The
great doctrine of godliness, the incarnation of the eternal Son, and
all those truths which flow from this one mysterious spring. While
there is no antagonism between Scriptural and human knowledge, there
is a wide difference between the sources from which they are derived
the evidences by which they are established, and the conditions of
their being rightly apprehended. Whereas other knowledge is the slow
accumulation of the experience of ages, and the result of the guesses
and labours of gifted men, and is consequently an ever-growing and
changing body of truth, Christian truth admits of no change and no
growth. It admits of application to new circumstances; it admits too
of growth, between the limits of a mustard seed and a full-grown
tree, in its subjective apprehension by each believing heart; but
objectively it knows neither diminution nor expansion, it is ever one
and indivisible, because it resolves itself ultimately into the one
great mysterious fact, the manifestation of God in human flesh. No
amount of argument would ever turn religious belief into religious
life, if the articles of the creed did not attest their Divinity by
filling up the void of the human heart and by their constraining
influence on human conduct; and, on the other hand, no religion could
maintain its ground and command the assent of thinking men, unless
its historical claims and its objective truth would stand the test of
the severest scrutiny. The truth of Christ rests upon both grounds;
and because this is so we are bound to gird it about our loins as our
only sure support in our conflict with the spiritual wickedness of
this world, our support in the hour of death, our support in the day
of judgment.--_Harvey Goodwin._
_Truth the Girdle of the Christian._
+I. The particular grace which is here mentioned--truth.+--1. _By
this exhortation we might understand that we must in all things act
according to truth or what is truth._ This implies the knowledge of
truth, the yielding up of ourselves to truth, so as to embody it.
2. _By the truth we may understand sincerity._--Being in appearance
what we are in reality, seeming to follow what we do follow,
expressing the real thoughts and feelings of the heart. This
sincerity is displayed towards God, towards our fellow-men, and
towards ourselves.
+II. The uses or purposes of truth in the Christian life: it is a
girdle.+--By comparing truth to a girdle the apostle suggests the
purposes which it serves: 1. _The ancient girdle was meant to give
firmness and strength._ 2. _To fit for activity, by binding up the
loose, flowing garments._ 3. _To the girdle arms were
attached.--Stewart._