Proclaimer Blog
Preacher, don’t forget the little words
We don't normally post on a Sunday, not being a work day, but I've just finished preaching 1 Thess 2.12-13 in a Hindi language service and I've been vivdly reminded of the importance of what we used to call conjunctives but the educationalists now insist we call connectives – the little joining words. There are lots of them in Greek which sadly are not always translated (though the new NIV has restored many). Take these particular two verses. Paul is not praying two prayers, one for love and one for holiness. These are not mutually exclusive characteristics. In fact, they are mutually dependent. Love AND holiness. You cannot, I suggest, have one without the other. A sermon of two points (as mine was) might be in danger of giving this impression. And so the preacher must think hard about the connectives and how to present them in his message if we are going to be faithful to God's word.