One of the conclusions of post-modernist linguistic philosophers is that words do not speak for themselves. Rather, words function within a context. That context includes culture, history, personal experiences, etc. This is particularly true with written words. Written words not only lack the context of culture, history, personal experience, etc., they also lack the verbal cues that we get from watching someone as they speak. In other words, we interpret the meaning of words, in part, by observing someone’s body and facial expressions for clues as to what they are trying to communicate.
Think about it. There are many phrases whose meaning is not clear if you cannot hear the person’s tone and observe the person’s body motions. “Man, you are so bad!” You can know what that phrase means, but you cannot know what it signifies unless you know whether it was said in England, Australia, South Africa, or the USA, and unless you know the tone in which the person said it and the probable age of the person. This is why “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
Though there are stories of people who simply come to the Lord by reading Scripture, the reality is that they are rare. Most of the time, they are people who already have had some background in Christianity. The case of the person with no contact with Christianity who comes to the Lord by reading the Scriptures is an almost negligible occurrence. In fact, all the evangelistic and church growth studies show that it takes multiple multiple contacts in order for someone to commit themselves to our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, it takes that people contact in order for people to be able to correctly interpret the words of Scripture in order to understand what it means to follow the Lord.
This is why St. Paul says that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” For people to understand the Word of God, so as to have faith, they need the whole package. They need the Word of God made alive to them in a context of culture, history, and the non-verbal communication of the person who is speaking to them. A shorter, and older, way to put it is that they need the Word of God made incarnate for them so that they can see it, feel it, touch it. That is why St. John said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life . . .” He then implies that all that they have experienced they are passing on to those who are hearing them.
How are they passing this on? By way of the Body of Christ. You see, both individually and corporately, we are the presence of Christ upon earth. It is our job to be that context within which the Word of God can be understood unto faith unto salvation. When we are the right context, when the unbeliever or nominal believer can hear, see, look upon, and handle the Word of life in us, then they will be much more likely to believe the Word of God. Mind you, like our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be empowered by the presence of the same Holy Spirit who descended upon Jesus at His baptism.
But, there is a negative side to that. We cannot simply give out tracts, or get away with leaving them behind instead of a tip, or post them anonymously. If we are serious about reaching people for our God, it needs to get personal. And, by personal, I do not mean buttonholing or high-pressure tactics. I mean that we need to be serious in having people see the Word of God being lived out both corporately and individually, so that when we speak it is the type of hearing that leads to our Lord Jesus, the Word of God himself.
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