In yesterday's post, I dealt with the problem of our culture's obsession with or captivity to the visual media. This has led to our inability--generally--to really "hear" words, especially propositional truth, especially preaching. Quoting Carl Trueman from his essay, "The Undoing of the Reformation," (found in his book, The Wages of Spin: Evangelical Essays):
Even in evangelical circles, the relentless attack on 'propositional' revelation and the constant cries for new models of truth, which one hears from certain quarters, would seem symptomatic of the impact of the general cultural scene upon theology.
What To Do?
Question: "In a world where words now have only secondary importance, can the traditional emphasis on words - the Bible, preaching, etc. - be maintained or should it not rather give way to something else, some other means of communicating the message?"
God Created Language
And since it was God's idea, it must maintain a vital place in our lives. Listen to Carl Henry:
The biblical view implies that God instituted language as a vehicle for interpersonal communication and fellowship. In relationships with mankind he voluntarily employs language as a divine accommodation. Language enables us to objectify and to communicate our thoughts and knowledge claims, as well as our emotions, desires and fantasies. It is impossible to see how human culture would be possible without it. Yet language was divinely gifted not primarily to provide a basis for culture, but rather to facilitate intelligible communion between man and God and communication of the truth.
BABEL and PENTECOST--Language Lost and Found
We need language. Pictures, TV, videos, etc., cannot replace it. Referring to the tower of Babel (Gen. 11), Trueman instructs, "When faced with all-surpassing pride and arrogance of fallen humanity, what is it that God does in order to disrupt human relationships to the point where such an ambitious scheme could never be attempted again? He creates linguistic confusion so that what is central to human relationships . . . is utterly disrupted." Thus, man is severely limited in his combined rebellion against God, hampered by his inability to interact for a common goal.
Pentecost, however, was a reversal of Babel. The disruption caused by linguistic confusion was overturned when through the Holy Spirit, men were enabled to speak in numerous languages in order to proclaim the gospel to the world. In the one case (Babel) language was confused in order to prevent a united evil attempt at exclusive human solidarity. In the other case, the language gap was bridged in order to communicate the Great Uniter of all mankind, Jesus Christ! Language as a gift of God is meant to be used by man to proclaim the glory of God and salvation through Jesus Christ. The proposition that "Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15) is freighted with unbelievable freedom and must be proclaimed everywhere! Language carries such a message.
Trueman goes into much greater detail; this only scratches the surface. Perhaps it is enough to at least confirm the very important place of words in our culture, which they have rapidly pushed aside in favor of the more visual media. Even the very pictorial aspects of Israeli life, viz., sacrificial system, the tabernacle, furniture, and memorials find their meanings via the verbal instructions given by Moses.
Let us not denigrate the verbal proclamation of the Gospel. God speaks through words, words which he created to explain things, to explain himself. "The Word became flesh . . ." (John 1:14).
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