SPIRITUAL REALITIES AND HUMAN APPROXIMATIONS BY PASTOR ELKAN.

_“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery._ – 1Cor 2:7

Are you up for some pop quiz? What is the medical term for the inflammation of the boric nerve? Or what is the term used by artists for bright red yedles? One more question: what is the term for “eternal life” in your language?

It is said that, _“Necessity is the mother of invention.”_ That is true of technology, it is also true of language.  Words do not just come into existence in a language just for the sake of it; words are created to describe or distinguish things that actually _exist._

There’re no such things as “boric nerves” or “yedles”, (I made them up), thus, there would be no terms for their derivatives. This is one fact we must appreciate when studying scripture. The Bible contains the thoughts of God communicated in human words. However, since all human languages, (with the exception of Hebrew to a lesser extent), were developed outside of faith, not everything God has to say to Man can be communicated perfectly in Man’s words. 

When those situations arise, the inspired authors use _approximations_ – the closest terms in our human vocabulary – to describe such spiritual realties. Examples of such concepts are “salvation”, “God’s love”, and “eternal life”. These things do not have an equivalent in human experience, and as such, no human language has exact and precise terms for them. 

This obscure fact is something we need to be mindful of in our deeper studies of scripture; and make sure we do not commit the error of forcing spiritual realities to fit into the denotations of human-made terminologies. 

Like Paul says in 1Co 2:9, _“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him”_ 

AMEN.

PASTOR GREG ELKAN.