Intelligible Words

Today's topic almost sneaked by me until I saw I had highlighted 1 Corinthians 14:19 in my NIV Study Bible. I don't highlight a lot, so I must have done it for a reason. Here's the verse:

But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 

It may come as news to you, but I don't really like to speak. It's not that I'm shy, modest or incapable, I just don't find it to be an effective mode of communication, and I particularly dislike when I do my 20-minute (or longer) presentations during our Bible class. Don't get me wrong, my ego has no problem with me pontificating, and I won't be falsely modest and claim that I can't speak, I just find the one-way me talk-you listen mode of conveying information to be the least effective ever. That's why I use the screen when we're in Fellowship Hall, not as diversion or entertainment, but enhancement and outline. You can see the words I put up on the screen, pictures I might use and other media to augment and supplement my words.

The reason I try to do that is contained in the verse, where Paul described how he communicated.Paul favored clear communication over mystical incantations that aren't understandable. I'll use an example of a discussion I had with a pastor (none of you know him) no more than two or three years ago. We were discussing this concept in a roundabout way, and he referenced Romans 3:25 as an example:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

This is the King James Version of that verse, and we have that common word "propitiation," one that comes up every day in conversation. I see no need to define the word, because all of you know what it means.

Unless you're of a certain age (and good luck getting THAT out of me) or a past or current seminarian, you have no idea what "propitiation" means. The pastor's point to me was that he shouldn't have to explain its meaning because we as Christians (and Lutherans) should know. I countered by stating that if people don't know what he's saying, he might as well be speaking in tongues, because he wasn't communicating--it's not communication if only one person understands what is being said. Apparently, the constructors of the NIV Bible also didn't care for "propitiation," since it was changed into "sacrifice of atonement," a term much easier to understand and explain. Teens going through Confirmation can comprehend that term. New believer to our church can figure out what it means, and even those of us with limited vocabularies can understand what a sacrifice is.

Paul's message with this verse is one that I hold dear. I don't necessarily try to keep my message short (take this entry, for example), but I try to be clear in my communication and speak in such a manner that I will be understood. I don't talk the same to 6-year-old kids as I do adults, and I would completely fail if I tried. What are "intelligible words" is a fluid situation--what is understandable to one audience may be incomprehensible to another. On a typical Sunday, the pastors have no choice--they're speaking to such a wide range of age, knowledge and comprehension that they have to choose a path and go down it. However, as we do the retail Christianity, the one-on-one conversations that we have that truly add to the kingdom, we can indeed speak the intelligible words. We can show off our knowledge, or we can help people understand the message of Christ. Whether I accomplish my stated goal of speaking intelligibly is not for me to determine, but it's what I try to do, and it should be the goal of all of us as we work to bring souls to Christ.

Scott