Difference between revisions of "Sermon for March 10th, 2013"
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Our journey--actually our *word*--begins long before 1066 and the English language. The word, of course, is Faith. Faith has a lot of different meanings and uses even today, and we'll eventually come back to those. The further back in time you follow this word, and the farther away you roam from English culture, the more muddled it gets. | Our journey--actually our *word*--begins long before 1066 and the English language. The word, of course, is Faith. Faith has a lot of different meanings and uses even today, and we'll eventually come back to those. The further back in time you follow this word, and the farther away you roam from English culture, the more muddled it gets. | ||
| − | We'll start in Ancient Israel | + | We'll start somewhere around 1,000 B.C. in Ancient Israel in the Hebrew language. In the Old Testament, there are about 9 or 10 different words that we translate as "faith," each one with slightly different shades of meaning. In today's passage, Psalm 32, the word we see as "faithful" is the Hebrew word חָסִיד "hasid"(from חֶסֶד "hesed") which, confusingly, is also sometimes translated as righteousness, goodness, mercy, or...love. Take your pick (but remember that one for later). |
| + | |||
| + | Things are a little bit more straightforward in the New Testament. Moving forward to sometime around the first century A.D., the language of most people in the Mediterranean is Greek--and the letter to the Hebrews (where our New Testament scripture passage comes from) is considered by some scholars to be the most beautiful example of Greek writing in the Bible. Pretty much anywhere you see the word "faith" in the New Testament, it is a translation of just one Greek word: πίστις. This is the word Jesus uses when he calls Peter "O ye of little faith (ὀλιγόπιστος)" and when he talks of faith (πίστιν) that can move mountains. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Still with me? Now we're going to jump forward to the present for just a brief moment before jumping back into the history again. Ok, in Modern English the word faith is a noun (faith), an adjective (faithful) an adverb (faithfully) but never a verb. In other words, you can have faith, you can be faithful and you can faithfully do something, but if you try say to someone "I faith you" they'll just think you have a lisp. In Greek πίστις shows up often as a verb: πιστεύω. We translate that with a whole different word: Believe. I don't faith you...I believe you. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Let's jump back into history again. Greek eventually gave way to Latin, and the word πίστις in the Bible was generally translated as fides (where we get the words fidelity and confide, the expression "bona fide" and why "fido" is a good name for a faithful dog). Incidentally, Latin had the same problem English does, and so πιστεύω (I believe) has its own separate Latin verb, too: Credo (as in the Apostle's "Creed" which begins, "I believe...") | ||
| + | |||
| + | The word Fides gets shortened to "Fe" in Old French, and then when the French invade England in the 11th century, they bring the word "faith" with them. But by then the English language is already middle-aged. Backing up When the Bible finally makes it across the English channel and first meets up with a very young, very German sounding English language, Credo is nowhere to be found, and Fides (which does eventually become our wo | ||
Revision as of 20:40, 7 March 2013
Hebrews 11:1-3
1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
Psalm 32
1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
6 Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
7 You are a hiding-place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Psalm 32: Let All Who Are Faithful
I'm going to try something. I'm about to take us on a convoluted journey back in time that will reveal to you all just how nerdy your pastor is. That's not really the main point, of course. And yes, there actually will be a main point to this journey, but I wanted to give you fair warning. Some of you know this about me already, but I love etymology--the study of the history of words, their origins, and particularly (for me) the point at which ancient words from other cultures *first* collide with the English language and culture...and especially if all that happened before the year 1066.
Our journey--actually our *word*--begins long before 1066 and the English language. The word, of course, is Faith. Faith has a lot of different meanings and uses even today, and we'll eventually come back to those. The further back in time you follow this word, and the farther away you roam from English culture, the more muddled it gets.
We'll start somewhere around 1,000 B.C. in Ancient Israel in the Hebrew language. In the Old Testament, there are about 9 or 10 different words that we translate as "faith," each one with slightly different shades of meaning. In today's passage, Psalm 32, the word we see as "faithful" is the Hebrew word חָסִיד "hasid"(from חֶסֶד "hesed") which, confusingly, is also sometimes translated as righteousness, goodness, mercy, or...love. Take your pick (but remember that one for later).
Things are a little bit more straightforward in the New Testament. Moving forward to sometime around the first century A.D., the language of most people in the Mediterranean is Greek--and the letter to the Hebrews (where our New Testament scripture passage comes from) is considered by some scholars to be the most beautiful example of Greek writing in the Bible. Pretty much anywhere you see the word "faith" in the New Testament, it is a translation of just one Greek word: πίστις. This is the word Jesus uses when he calls Peter "O ye of little faith (ὀλιγόπιστος)" and when he talks of faith (πίστιν) that can move mountains.
Still with me? Now we're going to jump forward to the present for just a brief moment before jumping back into the history again. Ok, in Modern English the word faith is a noun (faith), an adjective (faithful) an adverb (faithfully) but never a verb. In other words, you can have faith, you can be faithful and you can faithfully do something, but if you try say to someone "I faith you" they'll just think you have a lisp. In Greek πίστις shows up often as a verb: πιστεύω. We translate that with a whole different word: Believe. I don't faith you...I believe you.
Let's jump back into history again. Greek eventually gave way to Latin, and the word πίστις in the Bible was generally translated as fides (where we get the words fidelity and confide, the expression "bona fide" and why "fido" is a good name for a faithful dog). Incidentally, Latin had the same problem English does, and so πιστεύω (I believe) has its own separate Latin verb, too: Credo (as in the Apostle's "Creed" which begins, "I believe...")
The word Fides gets shortened to "Fe" in Old French, and then when the French invade England in the 11th century, they bring the word "faith" with them. But by then the English language is already middle-aged. Backing up When the Bible finally makes it across the English channel and first meets up with a very young, very German sounding English language, Credo is nowhere to be found, and Fides (which does eventually become our wo
