Not Competing, but Coexisting
The Antinomies of Life
Human beings like percentages.
If one thing is 100%, we naturally assume there can’t be room for another 100%.
God repeatedly challenges that assumption.
Some biblical truths exist in relationships that our finite minds cannot completely reconcile. They aren’t necessarily contradictions. They are realities bigger than the categories we use to understand them.
An antinomy occurs when two truths appear to stand in tension, yet we have compelling reason to affirm both.
Scripture gives us some extraordinary examples.
100% God × 100% Man
Jesus Christ was not half God and half man.
“The Word was God.” — John 1:1
And:
“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” — John 1:14
Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human.
Not 50/50.
100% × 100%.
The Infinite entered the finite without ceasing to be Infinite.
The Creator entered creation without ceasing to sustain creation.
Mystery?
Absolutely.
Contradiction?
No.
100% Divine Word × 100% Human Writing
Scripture was written by real people.
Luke investigated.
David composed poetry.
Paul reasoned.
John wrote with his distinctive simplicity and depth.
Their personalities weren’t erased.
Yet:
“All Scripture is God-breathed…” — 2 Timothy 3:16
And:
“Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” — 2 Peter 1:21
Human authors genuinely wrote Scripture while the Holy Spirit sovereignly inspired Scripture.
Again:
100% × 100%.
God’s Sovereignty × Human Responsibility
This may be one of the hardest.
If God is sovereign, are our decisions real?
Scripture answers by affirming both.
Joseph told his brothers:
“As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good…” — Genesis 50:20
One event.
Two intentions.
Their intention was genuinely evil.
God’s intention was genuinely good.
The Cross makes this even clearer.
Jesus:
“was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge,”
yet Peter immediately tells his audience:
“you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death…” — Acts 2:23
God was sovereign.
The people were responsible.
Macro Sovereign × Micro Free.
Not 50% sovereignty and 50% responsibility.
100% × 100%.
Grace × Faith
Then comes salvation.
We cannot earn it.
“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” — Ephesians 2:8–9
God provides.
Christ accomplishes.
Grace gives.
Yet we are commanded to repent, believe, receive, follow, and obey.
Faith does not purchase grace.
Faith receives grace.
God is the Source.
Grace is the Gift.
Faith is the Conduit.
Obedience is Participation.
The results belong to God.
And the Glory returns to God.
Mystery Is Not Irrationality
There is an important difference between mystery and contradiction.
A contradiction says something is simultaneously true and false in the same respect.
Mystery says something is true even though our finite minds cannot completely comprehend how it is true.
We should use reason vigorously.
Study.
Question.
Discover.
Discern.
Ponder.
But eventually the finite mind reaches the shoreline of the Infinite.
And there humility becomes wisdom.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” — Isaiah 55:8–9
We don’t abandon reason there.
We recognize its proper limits.
100%²
Perhaps we sometimes ask the wrong question.
We ask:
“Which side is true?”
When Scripture answers:
“Both.”
God is sovereign.
You are responsible.
Jesus is God.
Jesus is Man.
Scripture came through human minds.
Scripture is God-breathed.
Salvation is God’s gracious gift.
You must receive Christ by faith.
Don’t reduce one truth to make another easier to understand.
Hold firmly to everything God has revealed—even when your finite mind cannot completely explain how those truths coexist.
Ponder This
Am I rejecting a biblical truth because Scripture denies it—or because I cannot completely fit it inside my understanding?
Prayer
Infinite God, give me a mind hungry enough to pursue truth and humble enough to recognize its limits. Help me never use mystery as an excuse for intellectual laziness, but never use human reason to shrink You into something I can completely comprehend. Teach my Head to discern Your truth, my Heart to trust what You have revealed, and my Hands to live faithfully within it. You are God. I am not. Yet because I know I AM, I know who I am. Amen.
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Lyrics
[Verse 1 — The Mystery]
There are truths too deep for simple answers,
Realities bigger than the boxes in my mind.
Not contradictions asking me to choose one,
But mysteries where two great truths align.
I will reason, I will question,
I will discover and discern.
But when my finite mind meets the Infinite,
There is still so much to learn.
[Pre-Chorus — Isaiah 55:8–9]
Isaiah fifty-five, verses eight and nine:
“Your thoughts are not my thoughts,
And my ways are not Your ways.”
As the heavens rise above the earth,
Your wisdom rises higher still.
[Chorus]
One hundred percent,
Times one hundred percent—
Not competing, but coexisting,
Truth beyond what I comprehend.
I don’t have to cut You down
To the measure of my mind.
What You’ve spoken I will hold
Though I cannot explain every line.
Head will seek it,
Heart believe it,
Hands will live what You reveal.
One hundred percent
Times one hundred percent—
Both are fully real.
[Verse 2 — God and Man]
John chapter one says,
“In the beginning was the Word,”
The Word was with God,
And the Word Himself was God.
Then John one, verse fourteen:
“The Word became flesh,”
Eternity stepped into time,
The Creator walked among us.
Colossians two, verse nine:
“In Christ all the fullness
Of the Deity dwells in bodily form.”
Not half God,
Not half man,
Not divided fifty-fifty—
Truly God.
Truly Man.
Jesus Christ—
One hundred times one hundred.
[Chorus]
One hundred percent,
Times one hundred percent—
Not competing, but coexisting,
Truth beyond what I comprehend.
I don’t have to cut You down
To the measure of my mind.
What You’ve spoken I will hold
Though I cannot explain every line.
Head will seek it,
Heart believe it,
Hands will live what You reveal.
One hundred percent
Times one hundred percent—
Both are fully real.
[Verse 3 — The Word]
Second Timothy three, sixteen:
“All Scripture is God-breathed,”
Yet You spoke through human voices,
Through their histories and personalities.
Second Peter one, twenty-one:
Men spoke from God,
“Carried along by the Holy Spirit,”
Writing words that came from You.
Luke investigated.
David sang.
Paul reasoned.
John proclaimed.
Human hands held the pen,
But Your Spirit carried them.
Fully human writing.
Fully God-breathed Word.
Another holy mystery
We receive because You’ve spoken.
[Bridge — Sovereign and Responsible]
Genesis fifty, verse twenty:
“You intended it for evil,
But God intended it for good.”
One event—
Two intentions.
Human evil—
Divine redemption.
Acts two, verse twenty-three:
Jesus was handed over
By God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge,
Yet lawless hands nailed Him to the cross.
God was sovereign.
Man was responsible.
The Cross was not an accident.
And evil was not excused.
Macro Sovereign.
Micro Free.
I don’t have to weaken one
To make the other true.
One hundred percent sovereign.
One hundred percent responsible.
[Breakdown — Grace and Faith]
Then what about me?
I cannot save myself.
Ephesians two, verses eight and nine:
By grace—
Through faith—
The gift of God—
Not by works—
So no one can boast.
Grace is not my achievement.
Faith is not my payment.
Christ accomplished salvation.
I simply receive what I could never earn.
God is the Source.
Grace is the Gift.
Faith is the Conduit.
Love is the Power.
Obedience is Participation.
Results belong to God.
Glory returns to God.
[Final Chorus]
One hundred percent,
Times one hundred percent—
Not competing, but coexisting,
Truth beyond what I comprehend.
Jesus—God and Man.
Scripture—human and divine.
Sovereign God and responsible man,
Your purposes through time.
Grace completely given,
Faith receiving what is real.
Head will seek You,
Heart will trust You,
Hands will follow what You reveal.
One hundred percent,
Times one hundred percent—
I don’t need to understand
Everything You understand
To trust everything
You have revealed.
[Outro — Romans 11:33, 36]
Romans eleven, verse thirty-three:
“Oh, the depth of the riches
Of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”
How unsearchable Your judgments,
How untraceable Your ways.
And Romans eleven, verse thirty-six:
“For from Him
And through Him
And to Him
Are all things.”
From You.
Through You.
To You.
Truth above me.
Grace within me.
Christ before me.
I am finite.
You are I AM.
And where understanding ends,
Faith does not have to end with it.
100%².
Not competing.
Coexisting.
To You be the glory forever.
Amen.