Today, as I was listening to a CBC radio programme, I heard Hollywood makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji talk about how he turned actor Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill.[1] He talked about the difficulty of preserving the ability to read facial expressions, non-verbal communication, and subtle facial cues when masking the actor to make him look like someone else. He said, “I take actors and make them characters.”[2] He even talked about how the actors’ behaviour would be affected by the process. You see, makeup is a form of a mask. When someone wears makeup, they are no longer showing their authentic self to others. Ephesians 6:14 talks about the belt of truth as part of our spiritual armour. This is not speaking of the Word of God, for that is referred to as the Sword of the Spirit in verse 17. Truth in this verse comes from the Greek word “aleetheia,” and is defined by Thayer’s Greek lexicon as, “verity, truth, what is true in any matter under consideration (opposed to what is feigned, fictitious, false).[3] Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines “aleethia” this way, “truth,” is used (a) objectively, signifying “the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter” (Cremer), e. g., Rom 9:1; 2 Cor 11:10; especially of Christian doctrine, e. g., Gal 2:5, where “the truth of the Gospel” denotes the “true” teaching of the Gospel, in contrast to perversions of it; Rom 1:25, where “the truth of God” may be “the truth concerning God” or “God whose existence is a verity”; but in Rom 15:8 “the truth of God” is indicative of His faithfulness in the fulfillment of His promises as exhibited in Christ; the word has an absolute force in John 14:6; 17:17; 18:37,38; in Eph 4:21, where the RV, “even as truth is in Jesus,” gives the correct rendering, the meaning is not merely ethical “truth,” but “truth” in all its fullness and scope, as embodied in Him; He was the perfect expression of the truth; this is virtually equivalent to His statement in John 14:6; (b) subjectively, “truthfulness,” “truth,” not merely verbal, but sincerity and integrity of character, John 8:44; 3 John 3, RV; (C) in phrases, e. g., “in truth” (epi, “on the basis of”), Mark 12:14; Luke 20:21; with en, “in,” 2 Cor 6:7; Col 1:6; 1 Tim 2:7, RV (KJV, “in… verity”), 1 John 3:18; 2 John 1,3,4.”[4]
Thus, truth involves our appearance, not just our words. If we fail to present our authentic self to others, we are no longer girded with truth, and we are vulnerable to the attack of the evil one. Many people feel vulnerable without the mask of makeup, but things are the opposite in God’s economy. It is by being vulnerable to others in our authentic appearance that we become protected from the enemy!
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15807953-full-episode-souvankham-thammavongsa-margaret-atwood-kazuhiro-tsuji See also, https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/videos/arts/2018/03/01/gary-oldman-kazuhiro-tsuji-winston-churchill-style-orig.cnn#aoh=16050416095320&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
[2] His most recognizable work would be transforming Drew Carey into “The Grinch that Stole Christmas.”
[3] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database: Biblesoft, 2000, 2003.
[4] Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985.
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