2015

 
 

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” or so the old adage goes. But there is much wrong with that old children’s limerick.  We seem to remember words far longer than the bruises.  Bleeding flesh seems to heal better than a torn spirit.

Words are potent and well chosen words are literally life-saving.

In his opening description of the main character, Dickens pens that Mr. Scrooge was “as solitary as an oyster”  (C. Dickens, A Christmas Carol)

And finally, Lewis—one of my favorites—breaks down the real distinction between those saved and those lost at the end of time with these words:  “there are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ ” (C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce)

In a truly poetic description of service to Christ, Mother Teresa said, “I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” (M. Teresa)

Shakespeare—ever the master—has a character (Thersites) retort after being threatened with having his tongue cut out, “'Tis no matter, I shall speak as much wit as thou afterwards.” (W. Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida)

Jesus was a master of word choices and memorable phrases.

During some recent reflection time, my wife casually asked me a question about something Jesus said.  Her innocent question prompted a word study that was quite literally eye-opening and jaw-dropping.   No, really.  That’s what happened to me when i realized the implications.  While working on a blog post, my wife asked me what i knew about sin since i was an expert.  Ok, that’s not exactly accurate.  Perhaps it was something about how since i teach religion and have studied koine greek and theology, what did i know about Jesus’ conversation with the woman caught in adultery.

The gospel of John is my favorite book.  i have read the book literally hundreds of times.  i have taught it dozens of times over the years.  i adore the style symbolism, language, and simplicity of this narrative.  So i began to launch into

a digression about context, and background, and . . .  my wife’s eyes glazed over faster than Krispy Kreme donuts.  She interrupted to clarify, “no, what exactly does Jesus mean when He says, ‘he who is without sin cast the first stone’?”  i started my quick reply (irritated a bit at the interruption of what was sure to be a brilliant lecture) and had a sudden uneasy feeling.

i can only assume it was the Spirit speaking to me.

i couldn’t recall what the original greek said.  i was blank.  i gulped a bit like a fish out of water and said, “i don’t know.”  i

There are 20 different expressed occurrences in the New Testament that denote the idea of being without sin.  In the KJV the idea is translated as blameless, guiltless, unblameable, faultless, unreproveable, unrebukeable, without rebuke, and without sin.  These 20 occurrences are based on 7 separate words/variants.

kept thinking, “i should know this.”  i hate not knowing and feeling like i should.  i actually got up and left the conversation to go to my room and dig through the text for a bit.  What follows is what i discovered.

(occurs 5x) — this carries the notion of not being able to blame/incriminate; adjective.  Paul uses this considerably.

(occurs 2x) — this carries the notion of being the author/causality of blame as its etymological root so it is translated as blameless/guiltless with the sense of not being the author of a particular mistake; adjective

(occurs 5x) — this carries the notion of not being able to be accused or indicted; adjective. Another favorite of Paul.

(occurs 2x) — this carries the notion of there being no reason for censure or displeasure expressed towards; adverb. Notice this is the adverbial form of the adjective above.

(occurs 3x) — this carries a physical aspect to it.  In fact the root etymology is often used for physically taking hold of somebody to grab.  So this has a connotation of being out of reach or above reprehension; adjective.

(occurs 2x) — this is entangled with a verbal (as opposed to physical) etymology.  So one translation of this is “above rebuke” because it would mean note being able to be “carped at” or discredited. This is also an adjective.

Are you still awake?  If so you’ll notice we’ve only covered 19 examples.

(occurs 1x) — this occurs only once in scripture.  It is unique.  The word is embedded with a time element that is particular to the greek language.  This word carries very significant weight.  It is literally translated as “never sinned” or “cannot sin.”

That’s right.  This word Jesus used in conversation was used only one time.  And it can’t be a mistake, because John switches back to other terminology later in the story.  This was purposeful word choice.

This word about being “faultless” is the only word that has the time element embedded in it, denoting having been ALWAYS perfect.

In context, it could be easily rendered like this:

anyone here who has NEVER sinned and CANNOT ever sin may begin to throw the stones you came to My church with.

WHAT?????

Let that sink in . . .

i don’t know that either . . .

That’s right.  The one time Jesus gave permission for others to condemn someone came with the caveat of being (always and forever) perfect.


i don’t fit that description.  i’m guessing that if you’re honest, you’ll admit you don’t either.

funny thing.  lately i’ve heard a lot about telling others that we Christians should “forgive” or “overlook” someone’s faults as long as they “go and sin no more.” But that “sin no more” part comes after Jesus has invited others to censure ONLY IF they qualify for the first criteria.  Apparently the only One who gets to say that is the One who qualifies for the first part.

i don’t know where i ever got the idea that to be Christian forgiveness came with conditions.  i hear a lot about “needing to preach against that sin as abomination” or “there can be no compromise with evil” or even the more colloquial “i’m just sayin’ it like it is.”  Apparently Christianity is so worried about looking like it approves of sin that to “avoid the appearance of evil” we need to be stingy with acceptance and forgiveness of another.  Jesus gives MANY examples and commands about how to forgive, when to forgive, where to forgive, how often to forgiven, why you should forgive, invitations to forgive, etc.  You get the point.

There is only one instance in the Bible that invites us to condemn another.  And that comes with a condition.  How do you get around that?