Operating Truth Doctrine
The doctrine that Truth, being constitutive of Christ’s Person rather than merely an attribute He possesses, performs its office through every dimension of His presence even when speech is withheld — “since my Person carried the Truth with Itself, It performed Its office also in front of Herod. My silence at the stormy questions of Herod, my humble gaze, the air of my Person, all full of sweetness, of dignity and of nobility, were all Truths — and operating Truths” — the criterion being personal embodiment rather than verbal expression, as disclosed through the contrast between Christ’s answer to Pilate (who asked with sincerity and received revelation: “to those who want to know holy things with sincerity, I reveal Myself more than they expect”) and His silence before Herod (who asked with malice and curiosity), where the silence, the gaze, and the bearing of His Person constituted more fully operative truth than any words could have carried; the prophetic type being the Servant’s silence as active witnessing (Isaiah 53:7: as a sheep before its shearers is silent, he did not open his mouth — the silence bearing the truth that speech could not without being trampled) and the NT ground being 1 Peter 2:21-23 (when cursed he did not curse back, when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously — the non-retaliation and the entrusting being the “operating Truths” as the example left for imitation). (E)
Anchors: Isaiah 53:7; 1 Peter 2:21-23 — Appearances: 1. Full Registry entry.