Language (or Langue, or Sprache, or لغة, or språk...)

Language is difficult.

It has been a few years, but I have had multiple semesters of Spanish classes. If I had to carry a conversation in Spanish right now the conversation would contain a lot of counting.

I finished with A’s in my Greek classes. At one point I could recite the first three chapters of Romans to you in Greek. Give me two verses of Koine to translate today and I will go running to my books trying in vain to even remember the order of the alphabet.

Hebrew has been, and remains, my academic nemesis. I’ve taken the preliminary course twice and dropped the beginner’s course twice.

I tried to teach myself German once. I made some headway, but at this point all I can remember is that “fahrtwind” has something to do with tavel or buses. And that is because I couldn’t stop laughing as a 16 year old after reading the sign at the stinky bus stop in Hannover. Fahrtwind.

This week I have had the last track from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack stuck in my head. I try to sing it, but I end up sounding like this kid but not nearly as adorable. The song sounds real cool, but I don’t know the words. They say “jai ho” a lot. I’m not sure what that means, but I think that “ho” is the third person singular for “to be.” At one point of the song there is, I think, a little Spanish. I know I heard a “Salud” in there.

This post by my friend Rachel is quite funny: online-translation-of-cooking-instructions-for-my-black-beans.

Language is beautiful.

Words can move you. Move within you to stir up emotion. Move within you to make you think. Move within you to propel you into action.

It is not even necessary to know what the words mean. Words can be powerful and beautiful even if their referents are unknown. Add music and their power is increased. What is music after all? Sound. It is sound without a specific referent, but sound that still contains a certain power. Music can cut to your soul. If I ever meet someone that does not find pleasure in any sort of music, I will most certainly pity the person.

I have no idea what Feist is saying in her cover of “Tout Doucement.” But I love the sound of her voice as she sings the words “la vie c'est épatant.”

Have you ever heard a church service in Latin? Did the words strike you as holy? Did the foreign sounds strike you as something old and sacred?

People can imitate accents because there are certain things that characterize the sounds of a language. Perhaps the sounds of the language come off of the edge of the lips. Perhaps the sound comes more out of the bottom of the mouth. Or maybe the language is more in the throat.

Language, it is so beautiful.

In English, I have so many options. I do not have to just say “timber.” I can also say “lumber.” They are not exactly the same. They have the same referent, but they are different in their form. They each have a different sound and that is for a reason. Language is not simple or confined. It is rich with all sorts of delights to be found within it.

I can look at the sky and thank the Lord for the heavens. Or perhaps I might want to thank Him for the firmament. Or maybe the wide blue yonder. Or the atmosphere. Or up there. I do not have to just thank Him for the sky. But my brother beside me can thank Him for the “cielo.” And another looks to the himmel.

I like to hear words. To say words. And to look at words. They are a gift.

Language is a gift from God. It is something that points us to Him. Words are beautiful because the Word is beautiful.

The essence of a word is true because the One who is the Word is true.

But not everything about language is delightful. It is difficult to learn a foreign language. I have not met my Hebrew requirements for school yet. I have friends on the mission field who struggle daily with communicating the Gospel because of a struggle with language.

The story of the Tower of Babel found in Genesis 11 is an odd story. The people of the earth were attempting to build a city that would extend into the heavens. It is a lofty dream and ideal: a city so grand that it would be a part of the city of God. A city so glorious that its reach extended into the starry realm above. They had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.

YHWH came down to see the city and He said, “Behold they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

This part of the story baffles me. I get the part about building the city that reaches into heaven. It sounds good. I even get the idea that man was trying to do something that is going to be accomplished in Christ. These people were trying to build a city. They did not have the understanding that the splendid vision of a unity between the city of man and the city of God is the result of Christ’s redeeming work. However, the city of man will not reach up into the heavens to touch God in His dwelling place. Rather, the city of God will come down and be joined together with a new earth and the people will say “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man” (Revelation 21:3). I get that this is all to happen in Revelation 21 and not in Genesis 11.

But I am baffled by the idea that nothing would be impossible for man were it not for the confusion of language. I mean, I can think of a lot of other things that seem to be keeping us from building a city that reaches to the heavens. Do we really have the money? Or the necessary knowledge to engineer such a thing? I don’t really even know where heaven is, much less how to build a city to it. I love looking at the Hubble images of space. I think the images are telling of the glory of God, but I have not noticed a celestial city out there.

I believe language is powerful, but it is difficult to see how a unified language would enable us to do things that I consider impossible.

And still yet, I am even further baffled by the story. Language came from God in the Garden of Eden. I suppose it is a part of being made in the image of God. He speaks, so we speak. The multiplicity of languages seems to be the result of His desire to confuse man in Genesis 11. And certainly, it is confusing. But I am baffled that even this act of confusing man and preventing him from making a terrible mistake contains so much beauty and grace. As maddening as they can be, a part of me loves the multiplicity of languages.

Move along in the story of redemption and you get to Pentecost. Pentecost is the day that the Spirit of Christ was poured out on the sons of God in a new and exciting way. Among a great many other things that happened on the day of Pentecost, the redemption of Christ is applied to the confusion of languages. But oh man! It is such a glorious redemption! It does not abolish the different languages. No, instead it abolishes the confusion! What a glorious surprise! It is so unexpected. The Lord did not reverse Genesis 11. He redeemed it.

“We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11).

Go further along in the story of redemption and it gets even better. When John sees visions of glory, he sees people of every tongue gathered around the throne of God. He sees a great many people.

People from all languages crying out with one voice saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Language is beautiful. For now, language is also difficult. But this will not always be the case. There is a coming day when we will experience the glories of language in its entirety. It is a day in which all languages, with all of their beauty and nuances, will be spoken and heard. It is the day of our Lord.

But that day is not yet. That day will come at the right moment. For now though, it is our responsibility to carry forward the message of the Word. It is a beautiful message of redemption. A message preached with words so beautiful that Isaiah, that prophet of old, once exclaimed that the beauty of the message found in those words would make even the feet of those who carry it beautiful (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15).