Over time, common phrases can be stripped of meaning and applied to something else entirely. Take "born again," for example. First coined by Jesus, this phrase was resurrected in the sixties during the Jesus Movement. Soon it was snatched up as an advertising slogan to describe such things as perfume, a used car, and even a comeback football team.
Christianity has been around so long that people borrow its words for quite different meanings. Jesus, the center of our faith, is also a common curse word.
Same Words, Different Meanings
This tendency to pollute language is not new. Even at the close of the first century, words were being twisted and drained of their original meaning. When the apostle John wrote his letters, the Christian faith was perhaps 50 or 60 years old. A generation had grown up in Christian homes, and a distinct subculture was already developing.
Some people were using familiar phrases such as "knowing God," "walk in the light," and "born of God," but with new, distorted meanings. The apostle responded with fire. He knew that a confused, subtle distortion of truth is harder to resist than an outright denial.
In this book, John chooses key words (light, sin, Christ, love, faith, etc.), "disinfects" them, and then restores their original meanings. He points back to the truths behind the words. Repeatedly, he begins with the phrase, "If we claim . . . " and proceeds to show what actions must result if we claim to live in the true light and know God. |
