When learning a language one must start with the basics in order to speak like someone from another country. Romance languages, based on Latin, are the easiest because we find so many consistencies.
Spanish is probably the simplest. Once you learn its alphabet you can correctly pronounce any word in that language! The letter A always says “ah”, E says “eh”, I and Y are pronounced “ee”, O is sort of an open “oh”, and U is pronounced “oo”. Those rules hold true for every single word. And that foundation is essential for anyone desiring to speak Spanish.
In contrast, English words can have various meanings or pronunciations depending on usage or geography.
For instance, a crane is both a bird and construction equipment. You can use foil in the kitchen or you can foil a robbery. And point means to draw attention to something or it can refer to a sports score.
Similarly confusing to foreigners, English speakers pronounce “aunt” as either ant or ont. Envelope can begin with “ehn” or with “on”. Other examples include route, caramel, pecan, and roof. George Gershwin wrote an entire song about ending a relationship based on the pronunciation of tomato!
Not surprisingly, one mispronunciation in another language can put you in an awkward position. For instance, if you’re hungry in Italy you might ask for cane (dog) instead of carne (meat). In German you could easily confuse a church with a cherry: kirche or kirsche. And in Chinese you might say mom, hemp, horse, or scold depending on the tone used in the word ma.
Communicating incorrectly leads to all sorts of misconceptions and wrong assumptions.
And this plays out with communicating about redemption as well. Using the Bible as a starting point, one person declares that only those who obey God’s laws perfectly have a chance at getting into heaven, while another person concludes that everyone’s going to end up there regardless of what they believe or how they behave. Obviously they can’t both be right!
So what’s the problem? They’re missing the key to communicating God’s heart correctly. And it’s not by learning the accurate pronunciation of Greek and Hebrew words.
The Old Testament reveals unique facets of God’s character through His names. But they’re all summed up in a key found in the New Testament. That key is a person and His name is Jesus.
Jesus declared Himself as the “key” when He told us He is the way, the truth, the life, the door, the light of the world, the bread of life, and so much more. In John 10:30 He declared, “I and the Father are one.” He told Philip in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” And Hebrews 1:3 tells us that He’s the exact representation of God’s nature.
So when you hear or read something about God that leaves you confused, go back to the key and look at Jesus. Whether rebuking self-righteous religious leaders or forgiving repentant sinners, He always did the Father’s will. Only Jesus reveals God’s true nature. And we can only find our way to the Father by following Jesus.
