Friday, November 30, 2007
Words I Like
Thanks to Justin Taylor for linking to two posts - here and here - by Mark Dever trying to define "orthodoxy."
I am forced to comment that it is a most evangelical understanding of orthodoxy. It would be inclusive of Roman Catholics and Easter Orthodoxy, but they would find it inadequate. Which leads me to my major point:
or
In fact I could use any three arbitrary labels (Greek alphabet anyone? Maybe some random pure symbology...) - the key is that I define the labels before I write the equation.
So it is with the label "Christian," or "orthodox," or any such word. It means what I define it to mean in the context in which I define it. And so, under Dever's definition of orthodoxy, Catholics and eastern Orthodox are included, but under their definition, Dever would be "unorthodox," still Christian perhaps, but unorthodox.
So now the labels get even more complex as we introduce adjectives, equally as arbitrarily defined. In the end, it is just an argument about who is in whose club And that's just ugly and petty - at some point the labels and discussion become name-calling and perjorative.
The world is full of people that believe differently. The word I like in a situation like that is "grace." Grace worries less about the labels and more about the person. Grace loves the person even if they believe wrong. Grace is beautiful and winsome.
I'd like to read more about grace and less about definitions.
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I am forced to comment that it is a most evangelical understanding of orthodoxy. It would be inclusive of Roman Catholics and Easter Orthodoxy, but they would find it inadequate. Which leads me to my major point:
Here’s the sentence: Someone who does not believe this gospel is not a Christian.So what does that mean, really? "Christian" is a label, in the end that is all it is. You know, the Pythagorean Theorem can be written either
x^2 + y^2c= z^2
or
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
In fact I could use any three arbitrary labels (Greek alphabet anyone? Maybe some random pure symbology...) - the key is that I define the labels before I write the equation.
So it is with the label "Christian," or "orthodox," or any such word. It means what I define it to mean in the context in which I define it. And so, under Dever's definition of orthodoxy, Catholics and eastern Orthodox are included, but under their definition, Dever would be "unorthodox," still Christian perhaps, but unorthodox.
So now the labels get even more complex as we introduce adjectives, equally as arbitrarily defined. In the end, it is just an argument about who is in whose club And that's just ugly and petty - at some point the labels and discussion become name-calling and perjorative.
The world is full of people that believe differently. The word I like in a situation like that is "grace." Grace worries less about the labels and more about the person. Grace loves the person even if they believe wrong. Grace is beautiful and winsome.
I'd like to read more about grace and less about definitions.
Technorati Tags:orthodoxy, christian, labels, grace
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