Week 30—Tuesday 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
“UNDISCIPLINED VERBIAGE”
We see in this passage the difference between the Christian gospel and other ways: “Paul was just about to speak when Gallio said to them, ‘If it had been a question of crime or grave misdemeanour, I should, of course, have given you Jews a patient hearing, but if it is some bickering about words and names and your Jewish law, you may see to it yourselves; I have no mind to be a judge of these matters.’ And he had them ejected from the court” (Acts 18:14-16, NEB).
Here was a proud Roman official, fed up with the bandying of words and legal wrangles at court, who dismissed the Christian faith with a wave of his hand, for he thought it was just another philosophy, or moralism, or legalism—another instance of the Word become word. And he represents the attitude of the sophisticated modern person, who also dismisses Christianity as a juggling of words about words. But suppose this is not words, but the Word become flesh? Suppose this is the eternal God visiting and redeeming us in understandable form, then this is different—startlingly different. You can’t wave this aside with a sophisticated gesture. This is God confronting you—inescapably confronting you. You cannot drive this away from your judgment seat, for you are at the Judgment Seat of This. Something happens when you drive This away—something within you and to you. You are self-damned automatically. When This confronts you, it is the most decisive moment of existence—all past, present, and future are packed in that momentous moment.
Because Christianity has actually become in many quarters, a bickering about words, Dr. Mowrer, a psychologist, could say, “The prime reason for this state of affairs is the fact that theology, i.e., the science and art in which many of our ministers are trained, is undisciplined verbiage.” The Word become word.
O Lord Jesus, save us from “undisciplined verbiage.” Give us the fresh fountain of your reality. That and that alone will suffice us. For when we touch you, we know we touch Life. And we can be satisfied with nothing less than Life. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Not “undisciplined verbiage,” but disciplined Life will be the spring of action today.