Words Matter

It’s a familiar 19th century refrain which doesn’t hold much meaning today, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” We’ve learned over the decades of reciting this proverb on the playground that it just isn’t true. In our day, the playground has extended to the blogosphere, social media, and beyond. Words do hurt and many of us have experienced the harm.

This morning, I asked ChatGPT about the importance of words and I think it is spot on:

Yes, words are incredibly important. They are the primary means by which humans communicate and express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Words have the power to inform, persuade, inspire, and connect people.

While they can hurt on the schoolyard and in social media, they also hurt in theological discourse. They hold power as ChatGPT wrote. In fact, they can change the entire direction of orthodoxy when used improperly. So, let’s explore words.

Words, Meaning, and Context

Words have meaning. When organized in proper grammatical structures, that meaning transmits thought. When words no longer hold to their meaning, then communication is hampered and misunderstandings arise.

In addition, we recognize the importance of the context of words for furthering understanding. At times, cultural cues along with colloquialism, figurative language, and literary genre redefine the use of a word. Often, the communicator’s context and intent supply new or additional meaning. For example, if someone were to say, “That dog (dawg) is sick,” we might understand it literally as the canine is ill or as a person who is awesome depending on the context.

The Written Word

When it comes to the written word, the same is true. The intent of the author as well as the author’s culture and the culture’s understanding of language and words help determine a proper understanding. Interpreting meaning of the written word is not a simple task. It is even more challenging when the interpreter is outside of the context of the communicator; even outside of the historical context.

Complexity increases where different languages might impact meaning. For example, “Ce faci?” literally means, “What are you doing?” However, this Romanian colloquialism intends to convey, “How are you?” Understanding language and culture is of paramount importance when interpreting the written word.

Postmodernity and Words

In the 21^st century, words and meaning are further complicated with postmodern literary devices such as “reader response.” To the postmodern, words and meaning are based on the reader’s understanding rather than the author’s intent. Therefore, what might appear as clear to one reader could be understood completely differently to another.

In the postmodern milieu, both can be right even though the meaning derived by each are in conflict. Truth, then, becomes subjective to one’s preference and moral absolutes no longer exist.

As those who hold to the sound teaching of doctrine (1 Tim 4:6), words are important to us as missionaries, missiologists, pastors, and theologians. Without the precision of words and their historical and cultural meaning, what we teach and how we disciple can become confused and harmful. Church history shows us that theological bias based on one’s imprecise use of words tends to lead away from apostolic tradition.

More on Words

Much more can be said about words. So, we’ll pick up here in the next blog and address words and the development of doctrine in the church.