Grammar saves lives.
Someone has wryly said, and millions have probably seen the clever jpeg showing the huge difference that grammar can make. “Let’s eat, Grandpa.” … or … “Let’s eat Grandpa.” Grammar saves lives; or at least Grandpa’s
life. Little things like commas are not,
in fact, merely little in the unfolding drama of our lives.
In a real sense, not merely relegated to quotable quotes that English
teachers might thumbtack to their classroom walls, grammar saves lives. It saved mine.
Threads or rhythms or cadences—whatever we want to call them—pre-existing
themes exist and echo throughout the human experience. You reap what you sow. Don’t count your chickens before they
hatch. Teach a man to fish and you feed
him and his family for a lifetime. Every
culture has its version of these, no doubt.
But there is one theme that the Christmas narrative slam-dunks; and its punch
is built upon grammar.
Jumping languages and linguistic grouping from English back to Greek,
back to Aramaic that the common people in Bethlehem would have called
their mother tongue, we can see the dignified power that continues the theme
that reverberates throughout Scripture: believing is seeing. The counterfeit of this theme pumps its fist
in the air seemingly daily—seeing is believing.
But the theme of belief unto sight is bedrock in the biblical worldview.
Ancient Greek didn’t use commas as modern English does, and word order
is not as rigid with the biblical languages as with the Germanic languages, but
still there is a grammar rule that reflects the Christmas message; the tidings
of great joy.
The first sentence—the initial phrase of the first sentence—that the angel
speaks to the humble shepherds encapsulates this belief-unto-sight theme perfectly.
“Fear not, for behold.” “Fear not” is a command; the most frequent
command recorded in all of Scripture. It
requires an active, personalized faith.
And notice how this command arrives—“and the angels said.” Later on, the Apostle Paul pressed the same point
when he said to the Romans, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the
Word of God” (Romans 10:17).
Belief/faith comes from/through the Word of God. And then, but never before, comes the seeing. It is not necessarily physical seeing, but it
can include it. The seeing that is so
often repeated in Scripture is the sight that happens from the heart. The shepherds would see the Christ-child with
their eyeballs, but they would see Him with the hearts first. Why?
Because believing is seeing.
It is a simple grammatical structure: fear not, for behold. But it cannot be inverted and maintain its
grammatical integrity. We cannot say, “Behold, for fear not.” The grammar simply won’t allow it and I am so
glad that it doesn't allow it. We cannot
see/behold before the act of faith and the act of faith cannot come before the Word
of God. The grammar demands faith first. Faith receives Jesus for who the Word of God says
He is. Therefore, grammar saves
lives.
We as a family are riveted to this truth this Christmas season; that
belief precedes sight. We are actively
believing the truth of the Word of God is dominate and definitive instead of
what we see with our physical eyes. Our
physical eyes look at the bald tires on the Jeep, the inbox full of rejection
emails from our many job application attempts, the dwindling numbers in our bank
account and the enemy of our souls whispers with his forked-tongue, “Now is the
time to fear.” But the Scriptures say, “Fear
not” first … then there is a strong conjunction “for” … then there is the possibility to “behold” the mind of the heart of
God.
There, right there--that is our manger where the Word of
God and the human experience meet. That
is our crucible where the promises of God and the fears of the unknown
clash. That is our night sky that is
pierced by the Bethlehem Star. That is our believe-and-then-you-will-see theme that floods our December this year. Jesus is the first Word. And Jesus is the last Word. May all our words in the middle find Christ’s
cadence … for believing is seeing. And
we are genuinely well because of that truth, built on the principles of grammar,
revealed in the Scriptures, embodied in Jesus.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where
the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of
His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
Glory,
glory hallelujah!
Glory,
glory hallelujah!
Glory,
glory hallelujah!
His
truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a
hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the
evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the
dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ
in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so
with you my grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the
serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that
shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men
before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be
jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was
born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that
transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die
to make men free,
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the
morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is
Succor to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and
the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory,
glory hallelujah!
Glory,
glory hallelujah!
Glory,
glory hallelujah!
His
truth is marching on.
(Julia Ward Howe, 1861)
