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word `Gentile' could be used with propriety or truth, for here Israel is intended. When
moreover we discover that the rest of the world outside of Israel is looked upon as `the
nations' we realize that this is the one all covering word that will suit every reference and
distort none. We can speak of Israel as a `nation' and we can speak of the Gentiles as
`nations', and this method when applied to any of the words of Scripture always help to
clarity and avoids ambiguity. It is therefore a useful procedure, and should be in constant
use by the unashamed workman.
No.16.
Figures of speech.
pp. 48 - 50
Rule #5.
Value at its true worth the fact that God has
condescended to use figures speech in revealing Himself to man.
"It is not too much to say that the whole dictionary of ancient religion is made up of
metaphors. With us these metaphors are all forgotten. We speak of spirit without
thinking of breath, of heaven without thinking of the sky, of revelation without thinking
of a veil."--Max Müller.
Some of us, because we have become acquainted with the Scriptures, do think of a
veil or of breath when we use the above terms, but Max Müller is speaking generally, and
is right.
"What if earth
Be but the shadow of heaven and things therein
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?" (Milton).
Our ability to understand by human language anything to do with the nature and being
of God, is, at the base, closely associated with the fundamental fact that man was created
in the Image of God. If this had not been so, terms used by God could have meant
nothing. There is but one thing we can apprehend immediately and apart from any figure
of speech. We can know what God means when He says "He is", because we find within
ourselves the ability to say `I am'. We may have no theory as to `personality', but we
understand sufficient without learning or study to believe the fundamental fact of faith
`He that cometh to God must believe that He is'.
All further knowledge of God that reaches us through the instrumentality of words,
must come by the use of words that are necessarily associated with human experiences
and with created objects. We cannot understand the meaning of a word whose origin and
reference lie outside our own orbit. All words therefore that are used in the Scriptures
concerning God are founded upon resemblance. No title of God comprehends Him. He
is more than Mighty, He is more than Love. We read "God is spirit", but what do we
know of `spirit'? We dare not conceive of form, shape or visibility, without destroying
its essential meaning. If we read "God is light", we may have stated a profound truth that