The apostle lays down the vital role of the entire congregation functioning together in evangelism and sanctification. The chief agent of this is ‘the truth’. Here we seek to appreciate more fully the privileges and power of the faith entrusted to us.

The Riches of Truth

Let’s turn now to Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15 – ‘But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.’ And our subject this morning is the riches of truth. We are beginning the practical part, the second half, the practical part of this wonderful epistle. And we are coming to the importance of the congregation, the church, the body of Christ in any particular place, and that great 16th verse – ‘From whom [from Christ] the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth.’

But the key word over verses 15 and 16 is truth. ‘But speaking the truth in love.’ The truth. This is not simply as one modern translation would have it, this is not simply about sincere. Of course, that is vital and that is necessary. Sincerity.

But that is not the thought here, speaking sincerely. That is a very weak translation. ‘But speaking the truth,’ and the apostle undoubtedly refers to the truth of God, the faith, the doctrines of the faith, beginning with the Gospel, the doctrines of the Gospel that save the soul.

And then the great doctrines of God’s book, the Bible, the attributes of God, the plans and purposes of God, the way in which God deals with men. All the different doctrines of the faith. That is what is compounded in this word, ‘speaking the truth in love.’

Now it is important to establish this, and just briefly we look at the context.