Proclaimer Blog
Untranslated tongues: the lazy language of the Spirit
Out and about recently, I sat through several services where the mighty Spirit of God was talked about in a very unhelpful way. It's no wonder that our people have strange ideas about the Trinity if we're not more careful how we speak about each of the persons of the godhead. I'm probably guilty myself – and it's partly why I often write out prayers I use in public. We need to train ourselves and our people to talk about God rightly. I don't think this is being pedantic because our understanding of God often comes from how he is presented in church and our presentation of him often comes from our understanding. Here are some things I've heard that make me slightly squirm in my seat:
- most commonly, addressing the Holy Spirit as "it." No excuses for this mistake.
- perhaps more subtle is when we use impersonal parts of speech to talk about his work. This is what I heard "It's the Spirit that cleanses us; it's the Spirit that gives life." Surely more theologically (I'm not sure about the grammar!) correct is to say "It's the Spirit who cleanses us; it's the Spirit who gives life." A quick Bible search reveals that Spirit is never matched with "that" in this way in the NT. Spirit and "who" is common – e.g. John 6.63.
- Talking about the Spirit as anything other than a person. I heard this in a children's talk. "The Spirit is the power of God." Actually, no. The Spirit is God. Period. Therefore he is powerful and can do powerful things. Interestingly, my daughter (13) picked this up and said they had learnt why it was a wrong to talk about the Spirit at New Word Alive this year. Good for them.
What other unhelpful language does your public ministry tend to include? It's a question worth thinking about.