Friday, July 27, 2018
Words and names
Acts 18:14,15
And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.”
His Excellency Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, will have a profound impact on the American landscape, and could well be the most transformative American president of my lifetime. That is, I believe, a fact whether you agree with him or not and whether you like the transformations or not.
Mr Trump’s detractors were having a field day recently after he held a joint press conference with His Excellency Vladimir Putin of Russia. After the big flare up in the media, the cacophony of the political opposition, and the memes of Internet trolls, Mr Trump said that this was all a matter of just words. According to Mr Trump, he said “would” but meant to say “wouldn’t.”
When I think of this incident in the series of incidents involving Mr Trump I am reminded of Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet, who was approached by the spy Lord Polonius with the question “What do you read, my lord?” Hamlet’s answer was “Words, words, words.” –Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. Polonius concluded that if Hamlet was mad then there was method to it.
In the passage that we are looking at today, Acts 18:12-16, the apostle Paul is brought before the court in Corinth before a judge with a perceived bias. Gallio, appointed proconsul of Achaia in AD52, was the brother of a very influential activist and philosopher in Rome. The Jewish leaders must have thought that this was a good opportunity to cast Paul as being hostile to Rome and Roman law.
This approach is not new, the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were up to the same tricks when they wanted Jesus executed. “Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” John 19:12. This is after Pilate had sought the same way out as Gallio, “Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” John 18:31.
More and more today words and names are the basis of much social and cultural upheaval. As a consequence, there is religious division over the meaning of words in the sacred texts, and with increasing regularity, these matters are before the courts of the day. Notably, the cases before the courts are not only between the church and those holding views opposed to its doctrines, the cases now pit sections of the church against others, including within denominations.
In the hands of politicians, like Mr Trump, words and meanings can shift very quickly. Put a lawyer as the politician and matters get worse. When former US President Bill Clinton was challenged by a special prosecutor he famously answered, “depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
We all would like words to mean just what we always thought they mean and not have religious leaders, politicians, and jurists tell us every day that the words we use no longer mean what we think they mean, or worse, that those words never meant what we thought they meant.
This may sound like needless academic mumbo-jumbo but it is not. I had an aunt who used to tease me on Saturday evenings when I would get dressed and spray cologne liberally before leaving the house. She’d say, “man a courting he must go gay.” My beloved aunt, were she alive today, would be distraught that, being who I am, I would find her use of the word “gay” objectionable because it would not be applicable to me.
In Sweden, the head of the largest Swedish Christian church said God is beyond human gender determination, as a result, he urged his ministers to use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity, refraining from using terms such as “Lord” and “he” in favour of the less specific “God.”
Well, apparently, we cannot determine anyone’s gender anymore, not just God’s. Only recently in the United States, some parents started advocacy for “theybies,” a new gender-neutral designation for children. These parents are deliberately keeping their child’s sex hidden and are instead raising them as so-called “theybies” until the child determines its own orientation by the age of four.
Of course, “he” and “she” and “Lord” and “gay” are all just words. Words that fit into our worldview and doctrine, but now, these words are the basis for new private and public choices, social action, doctrinal debate, and yes, court action. We Christians have to be more conscious of how the social and cultural fabric around us is changing and how words will come to represent the basis of our ability to continue to speak to the generation.
Pilate was arm-twisted into making a judgement about Jesus. Gallio strong-armed the Jewish leadership and sidestepped tying religious judgements, political rulings and the Roman Law. The Jews wanted Gallio to rule that Christianity was illegal because it didn’t confirm with Roman Law. Law which the Jews abhorred but always resorted to for their own gain.
President Tump’s most decisive actions about words and names are not what he says, rather they are what he does in the appointment of judges. Judges who, unlike Gallio, will make judgements about words and names in one of the most divisive times in American and Western history, and a choppy time for Christian witness.
Think on these things:
- Are there any words that you used which you had to change because you learned of a new meaning?
- Are there members of your church who participate in and support advocacy groups that take positions that conflict with present church doctrine?
- Is any time taken in your church to teach doctrine to help members understand the challenges we face in these times?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be prepared like Paul to face down opposition, and the courts if necessary, for the sake of the Word of God and His Name.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex