The Gift of Language

 

Disclaimer - This post is not a comprehensive examination - meaning that every anecdote and or verse pertaining to language will not be addressed per se. With that being said, I would love to gain additional insight so please feel free to post your ideas/comments!

The Gift of Language -

Being made in His image, God has performed a wonderful work in us.  God has given us the gift of language that we can use as a tool for work in His Kingdom for His purposes.  It is my hope to briefly examine this wonderful gift so that it may be used for edification.  Ephesians 4:29, for example, tells us to not only abstain from unwholsome/abusive/corrupting talk but to use language for the purpose of building up one another so that it may "give grace to those who hear".  The gift of language, in other words, is to be rejoiced in for God has seen fit to give it to us as a means of building up the saints.  With this gift, however, comes a tremendous amount of responsibility.  Proverbs 18:21, for example, tells us that there is life and death in the tongue and those that love it will reap what they sow. Let us therefore be responsible with the gift of language that can be used for both good and evil.  

The Gift of Language Being Used for Good -

Adam used the gift of language as a tool and as a means to exercise dominion over the Earth.  When God allowed him to name all of the animals, Adam was given the ability to create identity. It is in God's good pleasure to endow man with the gift of language to practice dominion and to assume the role of creator - in a fashion that mirrors but pales against the Almighty Creator of the Universe.  The gift of language, therefore, makes man a "god".  He's not a (little "g") god in the same fashion as the Mormon's aspire to be but a (little "g") god in the same sense that Jesus said that we are "gods" in John 10:34 when He said; 

"Jesus answered them,"Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS '?"

 Jesus, of course, was not saying that we are deity but that we are gods in the sense that the word is used to define an administrator of antiquity - most notably a judge or a magistrate of an appointed office - the same as how it was used in the Psalm 82:6 verse that Jesus quotes.  The point of this illustration is not to highlight that we are gods but that man is an administrator (i.e., little "g" god) because he can use language in the role of an administrator/judge as ordained by and through God. 

The gift of language, most notably though, is also the primary means God has decided to use as a measure to reconcile man unto Him; for we are saved by grace through faith and faith comes by hearing the gospel which is the power of God to save anyone who will believe (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 10:17, Romans 1:16). Isn't it amazing how God used His word (language) in the beginning to create and continues to use it today to give life? When we follow through with the Great Commission we are using the gift of language to deliver the good news of the Gospel and in doing so, language continues to give life - only this time it is used to give life in Christ in eternity!

Language that Displeases God -

 

Like any gift, however, the gift of language can be abused as can be seen through the Tower of Babel.  Man, in his pride, used this gift to rebel against God.  Also let us not forget the warning from our dearly beloved brother, James;

(8)But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.(9)With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;(10)from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

 As much as language can be used to make man in the image of God, it can also be used in ways that are displeasing to God.  The same language that can deliver the beautiful message of the Gospel is the same instrument that can be used to curse God and or to curse one another. In the same fashion that our prayers should be earnest, our use of language should be as well.

The Power of  Association - 

Before language can be used for good or bad, it has to have some mechanisms in place so that we may derive meaning from it thenceforth.  Really when one thinks about it, it is amazing that any meaning can be derived from written or spoken language.  Afterall, spoken language is only a bunch of arbitrary sounds that have been assigned meaning.  There's no reason in the world that the sound that we make when we say the word "shirt", for example, couldn't just as well apply to the concept that we have for a chair and vice versa.  Sounds, in other words, have to have meaning assigned to them.  Learning the meaning that is associated with sounds comes through experience.  A child, for example, is exposed to language over a period of time and through imitation, he/she begins to utilize language.  A child, for example, discovers that when he or she imitates mommy and daddy and speaks by assembling specific groups of sounds together, he/she gets his/her wants, needs and desires fulfilled.  With wish/need fulfillment contingencies met, language then acts as a reinforcer and we naturally grow up using the gift of language all throughout our lives.  Written language mechanics act in a very similar way as verbilization.  With written language, however, meaning is assigned through an arbitrary symbol as opposed to an arbitrary sound. 

In addition to all of the attributes that have been discussed thus far pertaining to language, I have personally witnessed another unique ability of language.  Language association, for example, does not need to be very complex at all in order to convey meaning.  I witnessed this ability at work last week through a game that my superior and his students were playing in class.  He would say one or two words that were intended to be a description of a student in the room; someone he was thinking of when he said the word.  He would then ask the class to name the student that was best represented by the word or two that he had just vocalized.  After he would say the word or two, faces would light up and students would speak up and say a name that was best represented by the word just spoken.  It was amazing to see how everyone, without collaboration, would unanimously say the same name in response to hearing a one or two word description.  It is amazing, in other words, at how language contains within it the ability of association.  How can an association contain so much meaning that an individual can be identified through the use of a word or two?  How is that possible?

Jesus did something similar to the very act I witnessed last week.  He didn't ask a group to identify a person according to a one or two word description.  He did, however, associate a term to a pair of brothers; presumably based on their demeanor.  James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John took notice of a Samaritan village that wouldn't welcome Jesus.  After doing so, they asked Him if He wanted them to rain fire from Heaven and destroy them?  With this in mind, it is no wonder that Jesus associated a term like "Sons of Thunder"  with James and John. 

Jesus did not, however, reserve appointed associations for the "Sons of Thunder".  He calls Himself "Son of Man" 88 times in the New Testament.  Originally, the name "I AM" is associated with Yahweh.  This easily accounts for the anger that unbelieving Jews had towards Him when He uses this name in association with Himself in John 8:58.  The very name, itself almost appears to be a paradox.  Consider the depths of God and it almost seems miraculous that God can accurately associate Himself with a term as short and concise as "I AM".  

Associations Reflect Nature - 

The amazing gift of language containing within it the ability to describe complex meaning with only a few words is a testimony to the genius of God.  The arbitrary nature of language requires context as a means to frame meaning.  Scripture, for example, is often taken out of context as a means to manipulate the language of God so that it speaks the will of man as opposed to the will of God.  This is why it is imperative to read scripture in context as a measure of deriving the true meaning of scripture.  Similar to applying an appropriate hermeneutic in reading scripture, deriving complex meaning from a few select words requires a context or a certain amount of knowledge about the object being described.  When my superior gave a one or two word description identifying a student in the room, for example, the other students obviously had knowledge about one another in order to associate a word with one of their peers.  The students had more than a cognitive knowledge of their peers' existance however.  In order to interpret that a word or two was referring to a specific peer, they had to have a knowledge of their peers' nature.  From what little we know about James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John, I'm guessing that the term "Sons of Thunder" made perfect sense to those that either knew the men or knew about their nature.  Jesus having a perfect knowledge of where He came from and where He was going as well as knowing His mission that He came to fulfill, "Son of Man" can denote that Jesus is a man (a human being, i.e. a description of His nature) at the same time He is "I AM" (God, a description of His nature).  Those aware of scripture at the time most likely were well aware that "Son of Man" not only denoted the prophesy of the Messiah given in Daniel 7:13-14 as well as Him being human (His nature) as it mirrors God calling Ezekiel the "son of man" 93 times in the Book of Ezekiel.

The Nature of Language -

The same as word associations refer to the nature of the object being referred to, language also has a nature unique to itself. All the while language mechanics may have certain rules to adhere to in order for it to maintain orthodox usage, the very meaning of the words that language utilizes will change over time.  When I was a boy, for example, "discriminate" had a positive connatation.  A man that had a discriminating taste was one that could differentiate from among common artifacts to the finer things in life.  To "discriminate" implied a level of sophistication or ownership of an administrative skillset that set one apart from the blue collar skillsets of the populace.  Today, however, "discriminate" is laced with racist overtones. The word no longer carries with it a level of disctinction that it once had in another era.  The ever changing nature of word association should be kept in mind when exercising appropriate hermaneutics.  Do not assume a word that we are using today is necessarily carrying with it the same meaning that it exuded 2,000 years ago.  The era that a word was used in - is a part of the context of that word.

The Ambiguity of Language -

Context is a component of language that could lend itself to volumes of books and even then it may not be covered to the extent that it warrents or deserves.  Context is intrinsically linked to the meaning of words, sentences, paragraghs, chapters and books, etc.  It is imperitive to find the meaning of terms when concepts are being discussed. 

Anthony Hopkins was recently on Charley Rose.  Through the course of the interview, the topic of faith was brought up.  Mr. Hopkins talked about growing up as an atheist and then later he became agnostic and then later, he came to believe.  If there wasn't any more clarification, one could easily assume Mr. Hopkins was a believer in Christ and was saved.  Mr. Hopkins had the good sense, however, to further define his terms as a means to prevent any sort of confussion about the God that he worships.  Mr. Hopkins said that;

"I don't believe in the person, but I beleive in Spinoza's God, an intelligent and supreme, awe inspiring design at the back of the cosmos starting from the big bang."

In other words, Anthony Hopkins does not believe in the God of the Bible.  Mr. Hopkins believes in a god that is somewhat synominous with nature.  Mr. Hopkins has faith, it just happens to be a faith that is lacking Christ.  Faith alone will not save Mr. Hopkins.  James says that even the demons believe, and shudder.  In order for one to receive eternal life, he has to have faith but it has to be a God saving faith that is grounded in Christ Jesus.  Spinoza's god is a fiction of Spinoza's imagination.  Spinoza's god will not save but damn.

In summary,  the gift of Language is a wonderful gift from God.  Langauge can be used for God's glory or it can be used as a instrument of sin.  Language can be God honoring when it is used to edify the saints as well as being an instrument to deliver the gospel.  Language is displeasing to God when it is used to carry out man's will instead of God's will.  Language, at the same time, is displeasing to God when it is used to curse men.

The nature of language is complex.  Although language mechanics adhere to rules, context has to be used dilligently as a means of deriving meaning from language per its ambiguous nature.  Knowledge about an object's nature must be known in order for language to have accurate meaning.  Knowledge of how language is used given the era it is used in per se must also be known inorder to derive accurate meaning given that words change over time. 

Finally, terms require elaboration as a means to ensure appropriate meaning is being communicated within a given context.  Words can contain meanings that vary from their orthodox roots.  Faith, for example, does not always apply to faith in Jesus.  Demons can have faith and a god is not necessarily the God of the Bible.  Discernment must always be adhered to and practiced with diligence. 

It is my hope that this post can be used to edify the Saints.  May we never forget that the very language God has given us to save men through the Gospel can also be used to tear those same men down.  Let's remain in the spirit of God approved men and act as Ambassadors in Christ for His glory.  Amen.

May it all be for His glory,

W.