Josiah Tilton
“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” — Psalm 119:160
“Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me…” — Psalm 25:4–5
Why context matters
Those psalms remind us that truth is not found by grabbing isolated verses and treating them as stand-alone slogans. If the Word of God is truth, then we need the whole Word of God—read with care, humility, and context.
That means:
- the immediate context (the verse and paragraph),
- the chapter,
- the whole book,
- the Old and New Testaments together,
- and Scripture’s full witness.
Jesus once told the religious leaders, “You search the Scriptures… and it is they that bear witness about me.” In that moment, “the Scriptures” meant what we call the Old Testament. Jesus’ point was not, “You missed a few proof-texts.” His point was: the entire story points to me.
Learning often requires re-learning
We often ask God to teach us. But sometimes His teaching comes by making us reconsider what we’ve assumed.
So we should ask:
- Am I always right in my interpretation?
- Am I truly willing to learn?
- Am I open to correction—even about long-held beliefs?
The Ethiopian eunuch gives a helpful example. When Philip asked whether he understood what he was reading, he replied: “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31). God often teaches us through Scripture and through faithful teachers who help us see what we’ve missed.
Truth can be rejected because of the messenger
Sometimes truth comes to us from a source we dislike, and we reject it—not because it’s false, but because we resent the messenger. That happened to Jesus. Many of the leaders did not want what He was saying, so they turned against Him. In the end, they killed Him.
But Christians are not meant to function that way. We are called to be like the Bereans—people who examine Scripture carefully to see whether a claim is true. If it is true, we must hold it tightly:
“Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” — Proverbs 23:23
Something about God
I’m not trying to be exhaustive here. I’m laying a foundation that will help us think clearly about what comes next.
God is Triune
Christian faith confesses that God is one in essence and eternally three in person: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is not a simple idea, and I do not pretend to grasp it fully. But I accept it by faith, and I believe Scripture teaches it plainly.
The Father, Son, and Spirit are not “parts” of God. Each is truly God. And God is not “Father and Spirit without the Son,” or “Son and Spirit without the Father.” God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Even early in Genesis we see hints of plurality:
“Let us make man in our image…” — Genesis 1:26
When the Word became flesh, Jesus did not stop being God. He was God as man:
“In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh…” — John 1:1, 14
I’m saying all this to establish one central truth:
God does not contradict Himself. God does not break apart. God does not cease to be God.
That matters deeply when we talk about the cross.
God and sin: Can God “not look” at sin?
A common teaching says, “God cannot look at sin.” This idea has been repeated so often that many accept it without question. But we should ask: Is it actually true?
A verse often used is Habakkuk 1:13:
“You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors…?”
Notice the tension. The prophet complains that God is looking at evil and seems to be doing nothing. So whatever “cannot look at wrong” means, it cannot mean that God literally does not see sin.
If I commit adultery, does God not see it?
If someone abuses their spouse, does God turn His eyes away?
Of course not.
The most sensible reading is that God does not look at evil with approval. His eyes are too pure to behold wickedness in a way that tolerates it or calls it good. He sees it all—but He never endorses it.
And Jesus, God in the flesh, lived among sinners every day. He saw sin plainly. He confronted it. He drove corruption out of the temple. He ate with sinners. He called sinners. So the idea that “God cannot look at sin” cannot mean that God is unable to see sin.
This matters because that teaching is often used to explain what happened at the cross.
Jesus and the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Many Christians assume that when Jesus cried out the opening line of Psalm 22, it meant: “The Father turned away from the Son because the Son became sin.”
I used to say that too.
Years ago, I said to my friend Lynn Bliss, “God turned His face from Jesus on the cross because He couldn’t look at sin.” Lynn—no scholar, just a sincere believer—looked at me and said, “That’s not my God.” His response shook me. It forced me to ask: Have I misunderstood this?
Since then I’ve read, re-read, and meditated on Psalm 22 many times. And here is what I believe:
Psalm 22 does not teach that God turned away
If we quote only the first verse, we may think it does. But Psalm 22 must be read in full.
Yes, it begins with anguish. Yes, it sounds like abandonment. And at the cross, the leaders were mocking Jesus as though God had rejected Him:
- “He trusts in God; let God deliver him…” (Matthew 27:39–43)
So Jesus quotes the first line of Psalm 22. Why? I believe He is saying, in effect:
“You know this Psalm. Read it. Remember what it actually teaches.”
And the Psalm itself gives its meaning:
“For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard…” — Psalm 22:24
That is the Psalm’s conclusion:
Despite appearances, God did not hide His face.
So the cry does not require us to believe the Father abandoned the Son. In fact, the Psalm points the other direction.
God cannot turn away from Himself
This is where the Trinity matters.
If Jesus is truly God the Son, then the idea that the Father “turned away” from Him suggests a rupture in God’s own being. But God is not divided. God cannot deny Himself.
Paul writes:
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” — 2 Timothy 2:13
God cannot act against His own nature. And if God is Father, Son, and Spirit, then the Father abandoning the Son would be God rejecting God.
That is not only incoherent—it would make God untrustworthy. If the Father could abandon the perfectly obedient Son at the moment of ultimate obedience, why would we believe He will remain faithful to us?
And Jesus repeatedly insists that the Father is with Him:
- “He has not left me alone…” (John 8:29)
- “You will leave me… yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” (John 16:32)
So I conclude:
The Holy Father never turned His back on His Holy Son.
Psalm 22:24 says He did not hide His face.
Jesus says the Father is with Him.
And God cannot deny Himself.
“He made him to be sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We often hear, “Jesus became sin.” But we should ask whether the passage requires that meaning.
The Greek word used can refer to sin or sin offering depending on context—much like in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) where the same word is frequently translated “sin offering” in Leviticus.
Historically, some older translations rendered 2 Corinthians 5:21 as “sin offering.” Even many modern Bibles note this possibility in footnotes.
And there are serious theological problems if we say Jesus literally “became sin” in the sense of becoming sinful:
- Jesus is described as without blemish (Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19).
- A sinful offering cannot be a spotless offering.
- If the Father turned away, then to whom is Jesus praying when He says, “Father, forgive them,” or “Into your hands I commit my spirit”?
I am not denying that Jesus bore sin. Scripture says He did (1 Peter 2:24). But bearing sin does not require becoming sinful.
“Bearing” does not mean “becoming”
Matthew 8 says Jesus “took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” Yet when He healed the sick, He did not become sick Himself. When we bear one another’s burdens, we don’t become the burden—we help carry it.
Likewise, in the Law, priests are said to “bear iniquity,” meaning they act as representatives who make atonement for others—not that guilt is transferred so the priest becomes the sinner.
So “bearing sin” can mean:
- taking responsibility to deal with it,
- representing the guilty,
- offering sacrifice and making atonement,
without implying that the bearer becomes morally defiled.
A humble closing
If I am wrong, I genuinely want correction. Scripture warns that teachers will be judged more strictly. I do not want to teach falsely. I want truth.
So I invite honest, Scripture-based engagement. Test it like the Bereans. If it’s true, hold it. If it’s wrong, show me.