Multiplicity

Part of the difficulty of Christianese is that different people mean different things using common terms. I'm trying to clear some of those up. At least I'm explaining what I mean and, in fact, the most common understanding. Another problem, though, is that these Christianese terms are shorthand. They are designed to say in a single word what is actually an entire concept. When the concept and the word are not linked, there is a disconnect. But one other problem occurs in Scripture itself. While these Christianese terms are often used to mean exactly what I'm explaining ... sometimes they're not in Scripture. That is, even in the Bible these terms can have varied meanings and uses.

Take the concept of "salvation". We all know what that means, right? It means "saved from damnation", "saved from the wrath of God", "saved from sin". Yes, fine, most of the time. Sometimes, though, it doesn't. The biblical concept of "salvation" is "salvation" -- saved from something. Often it is exactly what we mean by the shorthand, but sometimes it is not. Look around in Scripture. You'll find many references to "saved" that do not suggest the grand "saved from the wrath of God", but, instead, "saved from my current trouble". I'd even suggest that the word "saved" is used more often to mean "saved from my present troubles" than "saved from sin". (I would suggest further that a clear understanding of this idea of being saved from really bad things is essential to our appreciation of "salvation" in the sense that we're saved from damnation.) Context is important.

Take the word "justified". "Yeah! We know that one! 'Declared just by God!'" True ... usually. But don't conclude that this is always the case. Jesus said, "By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." So, justification is found in what we say, not by faith, right? No, that's not what's being said here. If "justified" means "declared right" or "shown to be right", then your words will show if you're right or not. They don't declare you just in the eyes of God. That's not the context. Jesus said elsewhere, "Wisdom is justified by all her children." Oh, see that? So, wisdom is declared right in the sight of God by her children. No, that's not it at all. Wisdom is shown to be right by the results and consequences. Not the same "justified" even though it's the same concept. Context is important.

Christianese can be complex. These are just two examples of how the Bible uses the same term to mean different ideas. Sometimes they're related. Sometimes they're not. Context is the key. The truth is that despite our confidence of using Christianese terms to explain large concepts, we need to be careful to continually examine those concepts and not get lost in the words. These words have multiple meanings and we need to be aware of that in our thinking and in our communication.