We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.[1]
—Epictetus, Greek
philosopher
Some species of bee are independent but
most a communal. Honeybees in particular exist in colonies of thousands. They
are dependent upon the rest to build their home and produce honey. The communal
aspect of nest-life is vital. There is the queen, the workers, and the drones.
In order to ensure a healthy hive, the welfare of new larvae, and the
continuance of the community, each bee must do its job. Bee life is a community
project. It is the same in the church—Christian life is a community
project—“sanctification a community project.”[2]
This next series of blog posts scour the
New Testament to discover the corporate dynamics of a local church and show why
Christian fellowship and preaching are vitally connected and essential to
personal spiritual growth. First, let’s
talk about ‘you’ . . .
You + You = Ya’ll
It may come as a shock, but Scripture wasn’t
written to you or me. The Bible isn’t a private love letter addressed to either
of us.[3] It
was written to the actual recipients of the actual letters. For instance,
Genesis, 1 Kings, and Matthew were written to the nation of Israel. Romans, the
Corinthian letters, and many of the other New Testament epistles were written
to actual Christian communities that existed during that time. There are
implications and instructions for us living in today’s time, but these come to
us by extension, and must be properly interpreted by knowing the original
circumstances and context of each letter.
In addition, almost all of the books of the
New Testament were written to groups
of Christians—members of believing communities.[4]
The corporate nature of the recipients is usually ascertained in a letter’s
introductory verses. Sometimes the body of the epistle backs up this
observation. Unfortunately, the personal pronouns in English translations of
the Bible don’t remind us of this important fact. In the original Greek,
Hebrew, and Aramaic manuscripts the number (singular or plural) of a pronoun is
evident, but in English it isn’t. It would be nice if Bible publishers would
use “you” to translate singular pronouns and “yous” or “ya’ll” to translate
plural pronouns, but maybe that doesn’t do justice to the Queen’s English.
Keith Drury comments: “Because we have been
trained by our culture to think individualistically (at least those of us in
the Western world), we often read our own expectations into the Bible. Thus,
when we read the words you or your, we assume that they are second
person singular—that is, me.”[5] But this is not how we should read them in
most instances. “In almost every biblical passage where we understand you to be singular, it is really
plural—meaning ‘you all,’ or all of the Christians in the group being
addressed. It means not ‘you, Jim’ but ‘all of you guys.’”[6]
For instance, the Apostle Paul wrote to the
church in Thessalonica saying, “. . . when you
received from us the word of God's message, you
accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God,
which also performs its work in you
who believe” (1 Thess 2:13b). In this English
translation we find three uses of the pronoun “you.” In each case we must
understand that these are second person plural pronouns referring to the
community of Christians in Thessalonica. These personal pronouns don’t refer to
an individual believer, but rather, a community of Christians—a church. In
addition, the pronouns don’t directly have modern-day Christians specifically
in mind,
although by extension we can make appropriation of the truth of the
verse to ourselves, if understood in its context.
Similarly, in English speech, instructions
don’t usually have pronouns attached to them. For instance, while throwing a
ball to a friend, we’d normally shout out, “Catch this!” rather than the more
cumbersome, “You catch this!” The pronoun “you” is superfluous in the immediacy
of the situation and because “you” is assumed in that particular context. The
Bible is no different. It can often be difficult to know if an imperative is
directed toward an individual or toward a congregation. The following New
Testament commands were directed toward communities of believers, not toward an
individual as we might have previously assumed:
·
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of
God is” (Rom 12:2).
·
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go
down on your anger” (Eph 4:26).
·
“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is
dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18).
·
“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess
5:16–17).
·
“Submit therefore to God” (Jas 4:7).
·
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas
4:7).
·
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (Jas
4:8).
·
“Long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you
may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Pet 2:2).
None of these well-known commands are
directed at one individual. They are for Christian groups to apply in their
corporate activities. Now, obviously, Christian assemblies are made up of
individuals who are each responsible before God to apply these commands, but
the commands themselves were meant to initiate a community-wide project not just
an individualistic, secret venture.
Could it be that much preaching and much of
our sermon-listening neglects this corporate element? The preacher can be so
intent on driving home a call-to-action that he addresses his listeners as autonomous
individuals rather than an interconnected community. Maybe that’s because
individual change is easier to encourage than group-wide transformation. Some
televised preachers will even turn their gaze into the camera to encourage
individual video observers to apply a truth meant for congregational
application.
We too quickly think individualistically.
Sometimes we even misinterpret Scripture in order to accommodate our autonomous
mindsets. Christopher Ash writes, “The Bible’s purpose is to make and shape the
people of God, which means in practice the local church. So the first question
to ask ourselves is not: ‘What is God saying to me?’ but rather: ‘What is God saying to us?’”[7]
Similarly, theologian Bruce Milne writes,
The Christian life is inescapably corporate. Teaching on Christian
holiness has frequently concentrated almost exclusively on the ‘holy man’ or
the ‘holy woman,’ to the neglect of the biblical concern for ‘the holy people’
or the ‘holy church.’ The ideal of the ‘omnicompetent Christian individual,’
able to meet every spiritual challenge and live a life of unbroken victory over
sin and the devil, has undoubtedly produced remarkable examples of Christian
character; but as every Christian counselor knows, this emphasis has driven
many to a lonely struggle ending in despair and disillusionment, or, worse, in
the hypocrisy of a double-standard life.[8]
The second person plural “yous” of
Scripture remind us that sanctification is a community-project. When listening
to a sermon, be on the lookout for second person pronouns in your Bible and
always ask whether they are singular or plural. Bible software is the fastest
way to determine which they are. If the text demands community-wide
application, let that discovery enrich your appreciation for the spiritual
fellowship those plural pronouns necessitate. Let your sermon-listening
experience involve the people around you. After the sermon, ask them, “What
should we do now?”
[1] As cited in Elizabeth Drescher, Tweet If You [Love] Jesus:
Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse
Publishing, 2011), 18.
[2] John Piper as cited in Joshua Harris, Stop Dating the Church
(Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2004), 50.
[3] Keith W. Drury, There Is No I
in Church: Moving Beyond Individual Spirituality to Experience God’s Power in
the Church (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006), 58–59.
[4] Even letters such as Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 3 John,
which were addressed to individual recipients, were delivered to those individuals
while they lived within a community of believers. The implications of those
letters affected not just the individual recipients but their entire circle of
Christian associates.
[5] Keith W. Drury, There Is No I
in Church, 59–60.
[6] Ibid., 60.
[7] Christopher Ash, Listen Up!:
A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons (New Maiden, Surrey, England: The
Good Book Company, 2009), 14.
[8] Bruce Milne, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief,
3rd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 265.
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