Peter SmytheDecidedly Unprofessional

Give diligence |thyself approved| to present unto God, A workman not to be put to shame, skilfully handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2.15, Rotherham)

… cutting straight the word of truth (Smythean literal version)

In his letter to Timothy, a young minister, Paul instructs him to exercise the self-control and discipline necessary for “cutting straight the word of truth.” Paul’s God-breathed instruction carries with it the implication that the minister (or lay person) can cut the word awry, thereby sending him and his hearers far afield from their desired destination (like getting lost in the woods). But while we all may mentally assent to Paul’s prescription, few of us associate the handling of the Word with our own thought life and our use of language.

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation, even among people who should and do know better. (George Orwell, Why I Write, “Politics and the English Language” at 116)

As Christians we are commanded to preach the Gospel to every creature, but that command to proclaim presupposes that we possess some understanding of what the Gospel actually is. Unless we are to go around and quote King James to the heathen as automatons, our vocabulary never deviating from the printed word, communication of the Gospel requires thinking (sometimes good hard thinking) and the choosing of the right words to accurately convey those thoughts. Consequently, the vocabulary that we choose in cutting straight the gospel, the good news of salvation for mankind, certainly should not be flimflam. But this same concept applies to the calling out of false teachers. The demarcation of false teachers and the depths and contours of their heretical teachings are part and parcel of the gospel (cf. Galatians 1.8 - “if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed”).

In a recent comment, a man (or woman) who carries the moniker, Maestroh, castigates “faith teachers” as Word of God heretics, meaning that they not only are teaching some error, but going all the way to damning the souls of their hearers. As support for this bald-faced accusation, made available worldwide when published, Maestroh points to a vague reference to Kenneth Hagin’s The Name of Jesus book (pp. 29-32) and adds:

Both McConnell and Hanegraaff went through NUMEROUS biblical passages demonstrating the folly of the ‘born again Jesus’ doctrine.

True Bible faith is not some exercise in hero worship, but consists of the deliberate application of our soul-intelligence to spiritual realities. In pinning this politically-charged heretic badge on unnamed “faith teachers” without spelling out his thought processes, Maestroh violates the very instructional demands of “cutting it straight”:

“Who are these ‘faith teachers’?” “What exactly are they teaching?” “Are all of their teachings heretical or just a few?” “How is it that they should be cursed by God?” “How is ‘the folly of the ‘born again Jesus’ actually damning the souls of the hearers?” “Based on what scriptures do you justify your accusation?” “What numerous biblical passages are you talking about?” “Who is McConnell and Hanegraaff and who made them Pope?” “What about that Smythe guy’s Trouble in Paradise essay - how does that fit into the McConnell’s heretic equation?” “What about It is Finished?: Precursor to Hell and The Blood and the Resurrection posts, don’t they affect Hanegraaff’s accusations at all?”

This kind of work, or lack of it, is The Real Faith’s reason for being (see Why I Write - “I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts … ” at 1).

But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. (George Orwell, Why I Write, “Politics and the English Language at 105).

If Maestroh’s lack of cutting it straight was an isolated case, there might not be any need to address it (it’d be difficult to keep up with every yahoo out there), but it is not. With the advent of instantaneous internet publishing and its access by millions of uncouth minds, the heretic badge is thrown out to the masses with all the vulgar titillation of a cheap trick. And because of that, many are apt to spend the balance of their Christian lives walking out their salvation in a drunken stupor, forever lost in the woods.

As we head into the Jesus born again folly, as Maestroh calls it, we aim to cut it straight, even if it saws our heroes in half.