Christianese

You know Christianese, don't you? Yes, that's the language we speak as Christians. It has its own terminology that we understand. There are humorous parts and some serious parts. We'll toss around "atonement" and "backsliding", "antichrist" and "propitiation", the "Rapture" and "Shekinah glory" like nobody's business. Because we speak the language.

You also know me. I'm concerned about words. More importantly, I'm concerned about communication. So, it would be obvious, I think, that we should avoid using this nearly foreign language among those who don't speak it. But we do. "Are you saved?" is supposed to be a meaningful question to people who don't even know that they're not. Just an example.

More of a problem, though, is our own lackluster understanding of our own terminology. Here, a prime example. We all know what I meant by that question. "Are you saved?" Because we know that "saved" is a reference to "saved from the wrath of God" or something pretty near to it. It is, after all, biblical (e.g., Eph 2:8-9). So when we talk and read about "salvation", we know what we're talking about. And there would be times we'd be wrong. In Paul's first letter to Timothy, he speaks of the salvation of women. "But women will be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint." (1 Tim 2:15) You see, men are saved by faith, but women are saved by having babies. Oh, didn't know that? That's because it's not true. We know "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) We know that Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6) The Bible is clear that "by grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph 2:8). No equivocation. So, what is Paul talking about? Well, he's simply using the word "saved" in a sense it can be used. It can refer to "saved from wrath" or it can refer to "saved from enemies" (2 Sam 22:4) or it can refer to simply being preserved (Jer 33:16). And, of course, in this text a suitable translation would be "preserved", will have an inheritance, a legacy, a remembrance. Not a difficulty ... as long as you're not stuck in Christianese.

Another would be "justified". We know that one, too. It means "declared right by God". We know that "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight" (Rom 3:20), but we are "justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3:24). We glory in the idea that "a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Rom 3:28) Paul makes a point that Abraham was not justified by works (Rom 4:2), but by faith. We know the term. We're aware of the stark break between works and justification. We get it. And then we come across this little gem.

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)

Hey, now, hang on! Didn't we just agree that we are justified by faith apart from works? Doesn't Paul beat that horse to death? What's going on here? Reasonable question.

Remember ... context, context, context. James is not writing about salvation in his epistle. The context of this particular quote is in regards to the evidence of faith. "Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." (James 2:17) The question is not "How do we arrive at salvation?" The question is "What does living faith look like?" Here, then, James uses another standard usage for "justified". And it's not "declared right by God." It's more like when Jesus used the term in Luke. "Wisdom is justified by all her children." (Luke 7:35) No, wisdom is not declared right by God. Wisdom is demonstrated to be right by "her children", the results of wisdom. In this case as in the case of James 2, "justified" doesn't refer to "declared right by God", but simply "demonstrated to be right". Not a difficulty ... as long as you're not stuck in Christianese.

Christianese is a handy shortcut for many intra-Christian conversations. We know our terms. We understand each other. It's fine. We just need to be careful that 1) we actually know the term we're using, 2) we're using it correctly, and 3) the other person knows all that, too. Because the primary concern is communication. Perhaps we should try to be "an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." (1 Tim 4:12) A worthy goal.