We Have to Be Careful About Our Language.

We Have To be Careful About Our Language
By:  Dr. Danny Purvis

I still remember the first staff meeting I ever attended in the Navy. I was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines based at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, California. I got there right as the battalion was going through a major exercise to simulate the unit being deployed to a combat zone. I was a chaplain, so my part was very small. But I specifically remember one of the sentences that started the meeting. The C.O. said: We have to get the SLRP and OPP people in place to determine the timeline for our FOE and FIE. I had no idea what any of that meant. It did not take me long to understand that the military has its own language. It also did not take me long to learn that language and speak it with ease even around people who were not in the military even though they had no idea what I was saying. Even now, if I am talking to someone with a similar background, I can slip right back into that language.

But here’s the thing. In that first staff meeting…even though that stuff had to with planning, operations and logistics none of which I was responsible for…I wanted to learn the language. I wrote down every single acronym I heard and went to a fellow officer and sat down with him. I then read him the acronyms and asked what each stood for and what they meant in the operation of the unit. I did not make much sense for me to be in that organization and not be able to define and understand the language. However, once I got immersed in the language I would find myself spouting those same things without explaining to people what they meant. It is a peculiarity of human beings to get so immersed in the language of their “group” that they tend to spout it out without much thought to its actual meaning or being able to explain it to folks who do not speak the language. As Christians…we do the exact same thing.

Christianity has its own language. I call it “Christianese”. We us certain words from a disadvantageous standpoint. First, we do not always completely understand the meaning of the words or what they actually communicate. Lastly, as a result, the people who hear those words have no idea what we are really talking about. Both of those issues need to be corrected. We have to completely understand the words that so easily roll off of our tongues related to Christianity in order for the person we are talking to to completely understand them. We use words like: saved; born again; redeemed; justified; sanctified; faith; grace; righteousness. But it is vitally important to understand that when we say them, we may not actually be communicating what we think we are. And that may be due to the fact that we may not understand them ourselves.

We just recently went through Romans 3:23-26. In those short verses lies the essence of what happens to people when they come to faith in Christ. These are some of the most robust passages in all the Bible and has some of these buzz-words that make up Christianese. But it’s not just knowing the words…it’s understanding the truth behind those words and being able to communicate them that is most important. Let’s take a look at some of them by way of example.

After stating that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Paul writes in Romans 3:24 that Christians are “justified by His grace”. Justified. A Christianese word that we use all the time but may not understand what the word really means. We, of course, use the word outside of Christianity all the time. But think about it…most times people use it in order to provide a reason for doing something untoward. Someone will do something harsh or mean and then often claim they were “justified” in their actions. However, Biblically, this word carries a much more significant meaning. In the original language, the verb translated as “to justify” comes from the noun translated as “righteous”. This is huge.

When the Scripture tells us that when we are saved God justifies us…what is really being said here is that God declares us righteous. Let that sink in a minute. The holy God of the universe…once He saves us…not only forgives our sin…but actually declares us righteous in His sight. This is despite the fact that for the vast majority of our life we feel anything but righteous. But because it is His righteousness bestowed upon us…He then can actually declare us as righteous. In that same verse, Paul also makes reference to another Christianese word we are very familiar with: Redemption.

We say without hesitation that we are redeemed. But what does that word actually mean? I am so glad you asked. The word in the original language means: To release by payment of a ransom. Extra-biblical texts from that time period used that word to describe someone who bought a slave for the specific purpose of freeing them from slavery. Think of Hosea who not only went after his wife (who had left him and become a harlot) but when he found her she had been enslaved to someone because of her actions. What did he do? “I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley” (Hosea 3:2).

We are not simply “redeemed”. God Himself paid a ransom we did not even ask Him to pay. Indeed, we didn’t even think we were enslaved in the first place. We didn’t want it. And no one asked Him to do it. It’s not like God got a ransom note for us and He begrudgingly paid it. He voluntarily paid a ransom for me when I wasn’t even asking Him. While I was His enemy…while I was a victim of an enslavement I didn’t even recognize. See what I mean?

Let’s not just use the words. Let’s watch our language. Always be ready to answer the question: What does that mean? Even if the person we are talking to doesn’t ask it. In order to do that we have to understand it ourselves. Words mean things. It is incumbent on us to know what they mean so we can communicate the beauty of the Gospel to a world that desperately needs to hear it.

-Dr. Danny Purvis