Languages

Languages are interesting. I am not smart enough to think about everything that is involved when we speak to one another, or read, or listen to the spoken word, or whatever. I simply don't have the energy or the capacity to develop a "philosophy of language," or whatever you want to call it, that some of my friends can -- a philosophy about how words transmit information, and about whether this is a learned or an inherent behavior in us, and so on. All I know is that, for whatever reason, I enjoy speaking Spanish and I really don't like French. Maybe that kind of thing is just a matter of taste, or maybe I simply associate my experiences learning and speaking Spanish with the language itself, and the same with French. Probably. All I know is that I am not totally alone in preferring certain languages:

"Even now I cannot fully understand why the Greek language, which I learned as a child, was so distasteful to me. I loved Latin, not the elementary lessons but those which I studied later under teachers of literature."
--Augustine's Confessions, I.13

So if Augustine can get away with it, so can I. :) I do think it is important, however, to understand both the limitations and the amazing potential of language when we read the Bible. I was thinking about it today when reading Ecclesiastes, because sometimes (especially in Biblical poetry) a verse in the NIV can be really different in the NASB. The verses I was thinking about today are Ecclesiastes 12:13-14:

"Now all has been heard: here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (NIV).

"The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgement, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil." (NASB).

I was reading this verse in the NIV today and something really jumped out at me. It was kind of cool actually -- it donned on me that the words "duty" and "this" are singular, while TWO things are listed as being the "conclusion of the matter." That is, THE duty is actually two things, namely to fear God and keep His commandments." There is one duty - one thing that you and I should strive for each and every day. But that singular thing is two things.

This same idea comes up in the introductory chapter of John Piper's book Desiring God, where JP talks about the opening line of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." He notes that there is a (singular) chief end of man, but that this end consists of two things - to glorify God AND to enjoy Him forever. Piper basically bases his entire book on the observation that glorifying God and enjoying Him are the same thing viewed from two different perspectives: thus, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

I think God plays with plurals like this in order to get us to look at ideas - and I think I might start looking for it more. One other example I can think of off the top of my head is in Galatians 5, where Paul is discussing the fruit (singular!) of the Spirit -- which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. One fruit, nine characteristics.

Anyways, that is just something to think about. God means to say that fearing Him and obeying His commandments are not two separate things, but one thing, expressed in two different ways with two different terms. It would be worth it to sit down and think long and hard about how that is true. At the very least, it got me thinking today about languages because this same observation is a lot harder to make - at least it is more subtle - when you read the text in the NASB. You would need to see the singular in the phrase "this applies to every person, " which could refer to the "conclusion" rather than the fearing of God and the following of His commandments. It is still there, but the idea that is (probably?) in the original languages comes across better in certain English renderings than in others. To know for sure, of course, you would need to look into the original language to see where all the pronouns point. Anyone else have any examples of this type of stuff?