Theology and language are inseparable. Theology is speech about God, and this speech is linguistic and therefore culturally defined. Languages, particularly those of civilizations with imperial and colonial histories, are the words of the most affluent and well-to-do. (This is why words like ‘suwanne’ and ‘purdy’ are not found in the OED). Words of conquered civilizations were often lost and replaced with cognates from the conquering language. Therefore, when humanity speaks about God, even in the Bible, we speak about him, still separated from an accommodating God by the distance of a cultural by-product: language. Is it possible, then, to listen to a speech theologically? Surely we must since speech, an already fallible instrument for theological work, has been so corrupted by the pride of sinful humanity. Language is redeemable, and only a Christological treatment of language can redeem it.
So… Donald Trump… ?
In this particular season, the U.S. is rather beholden to the speeches of political candidates. As Christians, we respond by contextualizing everything under the shadow of the cross. Everything that we hear, as we “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ,” is recontexualized by the gospel (2 Cor. 10:5). So how do we do this with Trump’s tirades and Clinton’s harangues? How do we take the speeches that we hear and submit them to the cross?
“Let your speech always be gracious, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to respond to each person” (Col. 4:6).
As we analyze and process the upcoming debates and any speech, political or otherwise, we ought to hold that speech to this standard–not with a pass/fail mentality, but with the clear judgment that if a speech is not gracious, etc., then it is unbiblical, and therefore should not merit our persuasion. We live a life fully persuaded of Jesus Christ and dissuaded of evil. As such, we ought to gravitate toward whatever is “true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable–if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise, dwell on (λογίζεσθε) these things” (Phil. 4:8). The double-edged nature of this verse requires that we do not dwell on things dishonorable, unjust, impure, unlovely, morally obscene, etc. The implication is clear: if anyone’s speech is anti-Christological, we are not to dwell on it. The word λογίζεσθε is better rendered here with the phrase “take [these things] into account.” The point here is that we ought not take into account that which is not praiseworthy. We refuse to accept them into our paradigm, and instead consider them dead on the cross. When Donald Trump says racist things, and no doubt he does, we call it sin and therefore powerless, dead on the cross. Likewise, when Hilary Clinton calls image-bearers “deplorables,” we do the same. Only that which has proceeded from the grave is powerful and victorious.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Cor. 5:18f).
This verse is often quoted in Calvinist-Arminian battles over the regeneration of the soul(?) of the believer. However, it hardly bears any meaning in that respect. The point of this passage is to demonstrate how God’s reconciling pattern (the passing away of the old and coming of the new, cf. Matt. 24, Rom. 1-4, and Rev. 21:1f, etc.), is revealed as such in us! We are the revelation of God’s redemption! We have been reconciled along with the whole world to God in Christ. This reconciliation is not limited to a substitutionary atonement; rather, Christ’s death and resurrection serves as the theological precedent for the reconciliation of speech to God. Any study of Colossians quickly reveals that chapter 3:1a is the hinge on which the commands surrounding it swing:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…”
Paul sees the resurrection as the clear and only precedent for his command to speak graciously. Therefore, to speak Christologically is to speak with the clear understanding that Christ has reconciled all things to himself including you and your speech. To listen Christologically is likewise to listen with the clear understanding that your ears ought to take captive thoughts because of the Christ event; and to consider good and not consider evil is precisely the dialectical tension of the cross: the evil that Jesus became was not worthy of consideration and his glory and divinity was.
When politicians speak, and the church listens (and respectively speaks) Christologically, we proclaim God’s ministry of reconciliation.
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