Upon my inception into your residence, I made resolution to not materialize among you annunciating to the reception of your consideration the manifestation of All-Knowing Jehovah with prodigious elocution or perspicacity. I divulge this on the grounds that I predetermined to extirpate within my consciousness everything exempting the humble Galilean and this one was hanged upon that tortured Roman lumber.
That was 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 dusted up just a bit to make it seem a bit more educated. Of course if that verse actually appeared in your Bible it’d be rather hypocritical since what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 is this:
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2 ESV)
In other words in a world which took great pride in their big words and fine sounding arguments, the gospel shines brightest when it is simply spoken. Paul understood that if his turn of a phrase is what convinced someone of truth, then somebody else could turn a phrase better and then shatter the Corinthians faith. He’d rather their faith rest in the naked truth.
I thought about the truth of 1 Corinthians the other day when I had a conversation with another believer—a guy I had just met. Actually “conversation” is an overstatement since such a thing requires two parties. I couldn’t be part of the conversation because he lost me on one of his many-syllabled words. I couldn’t keep up with the poetry, the buzzwords, or all the big words which I should have written down to help me beat grandma in Scrabble.
We probably agreed on lots of theological points but I wouldn’t know. This leads to another problem with our tendency to use lofty words when the simple will do; namely, the wonderful ability to cloak error behind smart sounding words. I found myself reading a book from the 1960’s which was arguing for what amounted to a denial of the biblical gospel. Of course, the author never said such a thing clearly. He hid his heresy behind confusing sentences. I think this what Paul called “plausible arguments” in Colossians.
C.S. Lewis is correct when he encourages authors to, “take great pains to be clear.” But sometimes folks don’t want to be clear. Clarity would expose their false teaching. And so I’m always a little wary when someone is talking in buzzwords and lofty speech. It often means one of two things, either he’s trying to use big words to sell garbage theology or he needs a good dose of humility and confidence in God.
Really, friends, the gospel is far too important to muddy up with needless eloquence. I love art just as much as the next guy. But I love simplicity in the gospel even more. If I’ve learned anything in preaching through the gospel of Mark it’s that often you can say far more by just stating the straightforward truth. For Mark, Jesus wasn’t fastened to a bloody Roman cross. He says quite simply, “And they crucified him…” Simple. Straightforward. Powerful. (Not that there is really anything wrong with the first sentence—but there is something to be said for the bare simplicity of Mark’s gospel).
Keep your thesaurus but don’t use it to find bigger words. Use it to find accessible and precise words, the smaller the better. You can be poetic and clear at the same time. Yes, Jesus spoke in parables. But I’m convinced that the hour has come where Jesus has “told us plainly about the Father” (John 16:25). Speak as plainly as possible, far too much is at stake for us to be playing silly little word games.
I close with these words of John Newton:
To a sincere Christian, that deceit and cunning which passes for wisdom in the world, appears to be not only unlawful but unnecessary. He has no need of the little reserves, evasions, and disguises, by which designing men endeavor (though often in vain) to conceal their proper characters, and to escape deserved contempt. He is what he seems to be, and therefore is not afraid of being found out. He walks by the light of the wisdom that is from above, and leans upon the arm of Almighty Power; therefore he walks at liberty—trusting in the Lord, whom he serves with his spirit in the Gospel of his Son.
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