Another example would be the word “gay.” In the past
the word meant one thing, but today it signifies something different. In
the future it may carry an entirely different set of meanings from that which
surrounds the use of the word today. The same thing occurs in the use of
slang, when pejorative terms are employed in a positive manner, and positive
terms are often turned about to perform tasks of negation.
The dynamics of language are such that later generations
would be hard-pressed to understand common words that are put into use on a
daily basis, with the users knowing full well what they mean because they are
ensconced within their own culture and language setting, without delving into the
history and events of today in order to determine the context of those
words. If later generations were to read the work of a social commentator
in the early twenty-first century and find him referring to an individual as a
“Nimrod,” it would be completely untrue to the author’s intention if they took
it to mean that the author was lauding the individual in question as valiant
and mighty.
Most understand this implicitly, yet when it comes to the
Bible and to attempts to understand the very Word of the Creator God, it seems
that many, for the most part, have a blind spot in this area---so much so that many
are inclined to freely cast aside all gifts and skills of reason and critical
thinking in the misguided attempts at interpretations and understanding
according to a thoroughly anthropocentric spirituality. In this, it seems
that many actually approach the Word of the Creator God in a far less serious
manner than that which is offered to other written works, with an apparent
unwillingness to give the sacred Scriptures the studied attention that they
deserve and demand.
Which now brings this study to
the issue of “hot,” “cold,” and “lukewarm.” Though this will most likely
come as a great shock, these terms are most assuredly not employed as references
to spiritual condition or relative spiritual fervor and a related general
manner of living. Rather, they are used as geographical indicators.
Though they are not indicators of spiritual temperatures, it is quite likely
that they are being employed as a means of approbation and correction, based on
an awareness of certain activities.
Though readers are
certainly in position to tease out spiritual truths from the whole of
Revelation and from the letters to the churches in particular, an observer must
have a constant awareness, as they analyze the book and the letters, that the
letters of Revelation were directed to real churches in real cities at a
specific time in history, all of which were facing real situations. It is
in approaching the Scriptures in this way, knowing that the Scriptures are
rooted within history as they provide information about the Creator and His
purposes, that will then make those Scriptures so much more important and
telling for a reader.
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