my burg

Bible reading for weekend March 31 -- April 1 Mar 31 -- Proverbs 18 and Colossians 1 Apr 1 -- Proverbs 19 and Colossians 2 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits." (Proverbs 18:21) THE POWER OF LANGUAGE. One of the most remarkable gifts that God gave us in creation was the gift of communication. With our thoughts and mouths we can communicate not only concrete realities but also abstract ideas.  This is part of the image of God in man, since our God communicates (and creates) by spoken language. Truth itself is spoken reality. The tongue is an amazing organ, or tool, for both good and evil (Jas 3:1-10). An important part of wisdom is knowing when to speak and when to be silent, to whom to speak, and what to say and how to say it (Jas 1:19-20). Wisdom is not merely a matter of being silent, because some things really need to be said (see Psalms 32:3; 39:1-2). Words can bring death, but words are needed to bring life, as well....

I have often thought of the similarity between the person of Christ and the written Word of God.  There is a duality of natures in each: Christ has two natures, divine and human; he is the God-man.  The Scriptures have dual authorship, again divine and human.  They are at the same time the words of human authors and the word of God as inerrant Author.   Christ himself is called the Word (John 1:1ff) and the Scripture is considered the living voice of God (Heb 3:7; 4:12).  Both are the revelation of God's character and will to us.  We do not know Christ apart from his recorded word (the Apostles' witness in Scripture; John 17:8), and we do not understand his written Word apart from submission to the Lord himself (John 5:39-40).  Author James White notes that this similarity also relates to the sufficiency of each for the life of the believer:  "I have often preached that Christ is a perfect Savior, that He possesses the power and...

"During a good part of history the philosopher endeavoured to deal with objects which he believed to be of the same exactness as the mathematician’s. Finally Hegel arrived, and if not perhaps the first, he was certainly the most prodigious exponent of emotional systematization, dealing with his emotions as if they were definite objects which had aroused those emotions. His followers have as a rule taken for granted that words have definite meanings, overlooking the tendency of words to become indefinite emotions.  "If verbalism were confined to professional philosophers, no harm would be done. But their corruption has extended very far. Compare a medieval theologian or mystic, compare a seventeenth-century preacher, with any 'liberal' sermon since Schleiermacher, and you will observe that words have changed their meanings. What they have lost is definite, and what they have gained is indefinite. "The vast accumulations of knowledge—or at least of informatio...