And Now, A Word About Words

In the modern church in America, we do see problems.  I won't go into details, but if you've seen any news lately, on your own, you can think of reports about famous preachers caught in sexual scandals, financial shenanigans, or engaging in abusive, controlling behavior towards their staff, followers, or church members.

All these problems have one source - the flesh.  Now some would ask, "What about the Devil?  Doesn't he create problems for believers?"  Yes, he does, but only by appealing to the unmortified flesh of believers.

Through my recent Bible reading, and comparing what I see there with what I see in the church today, I believe I have discovered a problem that might contribute to some of the other problems in the church.  This problem is very subtle in the way it affects the church.

So, what is the problem?

We have substituted man-made religious meanings for New Testament words.  In other words, we use NT words with different meanings than what was given them in the NT.

How bad a problem is this?

In some cases, not too bad.  With some words, we haven't really changed the meaning too much, but just enough that we have lost some aspect of their original meaning, so that we have a gap in our understanding that hampers us from walking in the full truth of God's Word.

In other cases, the discrepancy between modern church usage and NT usage puts us in a position of nearly contradicting God's Word.  Sometimes, the modern meaning isn't contradictory, but foreign to what the word means.

Consider the incident recorded in Matthew 15: 1 -9:

Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."  And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?  For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'  But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God," he is not to honor his father or his mother.'  And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.  You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.  BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.' "
(Matt. 15:1-9 NASB)


In this passage, the religious people got onto Jesus because His followers weren't performing the religious, traditional, ritualistic method of hand washing before meals.  Jesus responded by telling them what He thought of their religious traditions!

Now, you might wonder what traditions have to do with words.  How are traditions passed down?  By words!

The religious people invalidated God's Word through their words!

If you still don't see the danger of changing the meaning of words in God's Word, consider what Satan first said to Eve: "Indeed, has God said...."  (Gen. 3: 1)

The reason why this problem could contribute to other problem is that we could be operating in the flesh, but we think we're okay because we're using words taken from the Bible.  We think that we are saying the same thing the New Testament is saying, but we're really not.  On the flip side of this danger, we have become so accustomed to the religious meanings, when we read the NT, we think it's saying the same thing we are.

Now, you might think I'm just trying to get picky about words.  I hope I'm not.  I don't want you to stop using scriptural words; I want you to use them with understanding.

Which words am I talking about?  Stay tuned...