That is not This

Have you noticed how often people misuse words, because they have some appropriate context? Words like "Church", "Homosexuality", "Calling". And so often, these

Words are interesting things. It is very difficult to actually be precise with words, and some people take advantage of this. It is very easy to appear to be precise, while actually being very evasive. "Words are like a certain person, who can't say what they mean, don't mean what they say"- that is from the Tom Tom Clubs Wordy Wrappinghood. Very true - words are tricky things, which is why in academic circles it is so important to be clear and precise.

But there is more to it than that. A band may call themselves "punk", because that is edgy, cool and means they don't have to play particularly well. Of course, if their mindset is not punk, of they are actually wanting to make money and have a successful musical career from their work, then that is not very punk. Just calling something by a name does not mean it is the thing we call it.

The church is particularly bad at this. "Speaking in Tongues" is a prime example. Glossolalia as we hear it today has been given the same name that we see in Bible texts, and there is a whole lot of interpretive material around this to justify the comparison. But is it valid? Is what we experience today the same as what St Paul was talking about? We have no way of knowing. It may be, or it may be something completely different - not necessarily bad, just not the same as we call it.

There are other words we do the same sort of thing with - "Church" for example. We put the entire weight of the Bibles teaching on a local gathering, which it does not always bear. Let me clarify - "St Bogsmiths Fellowship" does not equal "The Church". Undoubtedly, there are members of the fellowship who are part of the worldwide church. Undoubtedly, some of the work of the fellowship is building the kingdom of God on earth. But to put the entire weight of "Church" on this group is wrong.

It is a danger especially of the more conservative or right-wing churches to identify themselves as "The Church". But this does not actually match the biblical understanding. There seems, in fact, to be two interpretations of the phrase "church" from the bible texts:

1. The entire collection of believers. This clearly includes those who are not part of any local church, and clearly does not include those who attend a local church but are not, in fact, believers. The Church, in this context just means all of those who God to be his. We have no say whatsoever in this.

2. Those who identify themselves as believers in a town or city, or area. The reason for dividing in this way was because the social society was divided in this way - each town was largely distinct, and people would associate themselves with a town. These days, this concept is still important, but not as critical, because communication is so much better, and it is quite possible to talk to people across the world.

Now this is not to dismiss the importance, for many people, of gathering together locally. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with doing this. But relating this definitively with "The Church" - especially in a negative way - is mistaken.