Words Have Meaning

I was reading a religious exchange on the Internet and the following words stood out to me: ""Words have meaning . . ."" It sounds simple enough, but in this exchange, one participant was flatly denying scripture, using all kinds of useless argument, when the ""words"" in the scriptures were entirely opposite his position. I thought about how often religious people fail to understand simple words. By that, I mean simple to understand, for what is behind the words is far greater than just simplicity. God's will is behind the words of the Bible, and our reaction those words tells far more about our hearts than anything else we say or do.

Some religious people fail at the words of Jesus in Jn. 8:58, ""Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."" In these words, as Jesus stakes His claim as God, those who see Him as only a prophet, teacher or simply a good man, are stopped short in their faith, unable to come to the Father (Jn. 14:6). Still more religious people fail when they read the words of James 2:24, ""You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."" Their prejudice will not allow them to see that ""faith without works is dead"" (2:26), and they blindly continue to believe they are saved solely on the basis of faith. Some fail still at the idea of baptism, even though Ananias told Saul of Tarsus, ""Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name"" (Acts 22:16). To them, baptism is a silly ritual, and holds no redemptive powers, despite Paul's identifying it with ""newness of life"" (Rom. 6:3-4).

It is easily seen that to many religious people, the meanings of words are ignored, but what of us? What is the response of our heart when confronted by scripture? ""This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world"" (Jas. 1:27). Inevitably, when this passage is read in our Bible classes, what follows is a lengthy discussion of who the church can help, why we can't help some, or how many charlatans there are who are simply begging for money. This misses the point. The passage is about helping people, and is addressed to individuals. We must do better at understanding the meaning of the words. God wants us to help people.

""Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence"" (1 Pet. 3:15). We use this verse as the lead-in for debates, forgetting both the beginning and the ending. Too often, our debates, arguments, etc. have failed to contain an attitude of gentleness and reverence, as we seek to bash our opponents with our ""knowledge of the scriptures."" And the real point of the passage, the meaning of the words, is that we need to live our lives in such a way that Christ is seen by the world in us, so that they will ask us, and we will have opportunity to talk to them and lead them to Christ.

Words have meanings, and as we shake our heads at the disregard some religious people have for scripture, we need to be on guard in our own hearts. God's words have meaning for us, too.