Big words and little words

In Australia, for example, the Aboriginal people have an oral and pictoral record of their history in this land, but not a written history until European settlement in the late 1700s. Therefore they rely on their elders to interpret the oral and pictoral accounts to each new generation. Given that English is a living language, we have a constant stream of new translations and paraphrases to help each new generation understand the word and will of God.

In an earlier newsletter I quoted E.W. Bullinger, “The Bible is not enjoyed because it is not understood.” He went on to say, “The methods and rules by which alone such an understanding may be gained are not known or followed; hence the Bible is a neglected book.” So with the background I have laid out for you, let me start sharing some of the “methods and rules.”

Many people imagine that preachers go to a seminary or Bible College to understand the big words of our faith and learn how to teach them to the people. Yes there are big, multi-syllable words in the Bible that translators have used to embody aspects of our faith, like righteousness and sanctification and so forth. The longest word in the KJV is actually the name of Isaiah’s son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:3). Theologians also seem to love big words to describe teachings, for example, antinomianism, trinitarian, supersessionism.

Big words do have their place but it is the little words that are the driving force of our language and give the accuracy English needs. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). There are mainly small words in that verse, but it is a big truth!

I first understood the importance of little words from a Christian magazine article in the early 1960s titled “Little Words of Great Meaning” by Henry Jacobsen, with examples from the Bible, and the article filled in a gap in my broken education. To take little words to the extreme, I have a book in my library on the use of the article “a” and “the” in the Greek text!

In his book A Man in Christ (1935), James Stewart writes, “It was a dictum of Luther’s that all religion lies in the pronouns… But Deissmann, going a step further than Luther, has virtually declared that religion resides in the prepositions, and in one of them in particular” (pp. 154-155). The particular one is “in,” as used in the phrase “in Christ Jesus.” E. Stanley Jones wrote, “Obviously this ‘in’ brings us nearer than ‘near Christ,’ ‘following Christ,’ believing in Christ,’ or even ‘committed to Christ.’ You cannot go further or deeper than ‘in.'” Can you see the power of one little word?

My favorite example of pronouns comes from Ephesians 1:4, “Even as he

[God] chose us [the saints, the faithful] in him [in Christ Jesus]…” Who said Bible study is always difficult and dull? “He, us, and him” sums up the whole scope of theology. The relationships make a winning combination! Jesus taught, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one” (John 17:23). We read how wealthy we are in Christ Jesus from Ephesians 1:4-14, said to be the longest sentence in the New Testament, yet we can understand it from the little words.

For an example of prepositions, we need to look no further than Ephesians 1:1, “To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus.” This is the address on the envelope and the preposition “in” appears twice, for we are indeed in two places at the one time! “Coming to grips with the paradox of being in two locations is perhaps the most important thing we can do as Christian believers. You probably have no doubt where you are right now as you read this, as far as physical location is concerned, but are you convinced that you are ‘in Christ Jesus’ at this very moment too?” (from chapter 68, Completely Satisfied in Christ, Peter Wade).

For those who fell asleep in English grammar classes, pronouns are words that substitute for a noun or noun phrase, like me, who, you, it, and so forth. Prepositions (“to put before”) are words that express space or time relationships with the word that follows, like in, under, towards, before. And that’s as deep as we need to get into grammar. For a full description of prepositions in the New Testament, read this extract from the Companion Bible.

Even simple words of connection like “and” (known as conjunctions: and, but, yet, when) have great importance. We often forget that the Bible was originally handwritten on scrolls, and the Greek was in all capital letters with no spaces between words and no punctuation! And there was no italics or bold faces either, so any emphasis had to be supplied by the words used. I’ll conclude this short summary with the use and non-use of the word “and.”

When no “ands” are used in a list, we are not to stop and consider the particulars but to hasten on to the grand climax. When many “ands” are used there is no climax and we should read slowly, weighing each item that is presented and consider each particular that is emphasized by the “and.” To see this in an English translation you will need an essentially literal version like KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, etc.

Take Luke chapter 14 where both types of lists appear. In verses 13-14a we have no “ands”: “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed…” (ESV). We should not stop to consider the plight of those listed but to hurry on to the conclusion,”and you will be blessed.”

In verse 21 regarding another great banquet when no invitees came, the angry master commands his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame…” Here we need to stop and think about each of the people mentioned and how we can minister to them. Some translations even add commas to further slow down our reading.

So the lesson here is to take notice of the little words and the impact they have on the subject matter. In doing so you will find that the big words become easier to understand. Actually the big words are usually compound words anyway — combinations of little words! When you see a little word that opens up some truth to you, mark your Bible! Underline it, circle it, highlight it. Little words do have great jobs to do in God’s Word.