Paradoxical Christians

About this episode

This episode explores the paradox of believing in Christ without confessing Him, as illustrated in John 12.

Day 80 Today’s Reading: John 12 A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. It goes something like this: “Deep down, I know you are shallow.” “One thing I know—that I know nothing.” “I am nobody.” “He’s a wise fool.” It’s putting opposite words in a sentence together that don’t seem to work. These are silly paradoxes that have no bearing on anything of eternal importance. But in today’s reading, we run right into a very strange paradox that has great eternal consequences. Consider this statement with its contradiction: Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. (John 12:42-43) This is a serious paradox: “Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but . . . they were not confessing Him.” Is that even possible? Believing without confessing. Can you be a paradoxical saint? When I was reading John 12, I was excited to see that the rulers believed in Him. People of influence realizing that this was the Messiah. But my excitement was short lived when I hit the paradox, separated by a comma. Confessing is a…

People in this episode

Host: The 260 Journey

Topics covered

• paradox
• belief
• confession
• faith
• Christianity
• eternal consequences

Keywords

• paradoxical Christians
• belief
• confession
• John 12
• eternal consequences
• faith
• Christianity

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: John 12

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