A Bridge Language
Words are only one of the languages we speak. A look at symbolism as the bridge between words and reality — and at one symbol, death, sounding the same note at every level, from a garden to the Holy of Holies.
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The Mask and the Mirror
To “observe” the commandments has quietly come to mean perform them. But the word means to watch — to see. That single shift is the difference between a mask and a mirror.
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The Right Tool for the Job
Concordances and lexicons: the right tool for one job, the wrong tool for another. One Greek word — epithumia, rendered both “desire” and “lust” — shows why.
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When Words Move
I picked up the first English dictionary, printed in 1604, and couldn’t read half of it. One word stopped me cold — and it’s all over the Bible.
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An Entire Message
A wedding runs out of wine. Jesus says “not yet” — then does it anyway. Two odd snags in one short story. What if they were put there on purpose?
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The Tower of Babel
They built with brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. The language fracture wasn’t a punishment. It was already inherent in the materials.
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Mask and Verdict
The Greek behind it is hypokritēs. In the world Jesus spoke into, that word had a specific, concrete referent: a stage actor. Someone who puts on a mask and performs a role for an audience. The mask is not incidental to the image — it is the image. The face the audience sees is not the…
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The Mask and the Metamorphosis
The word translated “repentance” in English points to guilt, remorse, a promise to do better. The Greek word it translates — metanoia — points somewhere else entirely. And the difference is the whole game.
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The Word That Isn’t Just a Word
“In the beginning was the Word.” We picture text on a page — something spoken, written, gone in a moment. But the word John actually wrote means almost the opposite of that. And it changes who he’s saying Jesus is.
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The Importance of Understanding in Jesus Christ
We think of understanding as something you acquire — study enough, grasp enough, and eventually you understand. But the Greek word the New Testament uses for “understanding” means something different: unification. A bringing together of what was scattered. Connecting the dots is the literal meaning.
