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Shibboleths
by W ilbur E. Nelson
T h e E p h r a im it e s had one linguis tic peculiarity which proved to be a serious disadvantage to them, as we read in Judges 12. They had come to Jephthah, the Judge of Israel, with the intention of picking a fight and he gave it to them. As a matter of fact, he really gave it to them, until the Ephraimites were a routed, dis organized herd of men trying to escape. Israel controlled the crossings of the Jordan and, when the Ephraimites who had escaped tried to get across the river to their own land, they were detained by Jephthah’s men, the men of Gilead. Each man was asked, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said he was not, they told him to say “ Shib boleth” and on the way he pro nounced that word his fate rested. If he was an Ephraimite, he said “Sib- boleth” — he could not make the “ sh” sound — and he was in trouble. The Ephraimites are gone, but shibboleth remains, at least as a pro verbial term, meaning any practice, persuasion or expression which we must accept or pronounce in order to be accepted. Often the shibboleth con cerns itself with non-essentials, with distinctions which are not primary, with notions or interpretations which are whimsical. You find it in society,
portant part of the demonstration of Christianity is a spirit of forbear ance and charity for those whose vision is different from ours regard ing these incidental things. When I say “ incidental,” I am not suggesting that anything in the Bible is put there out of mere caprice, or to fill up space. It all has relevance. Everything contributes, in a greater or lesser degree, to the full revelation of God’s truth to man. But it is in finitely more important that we know what the Apostle Paul has to say about justification by faith, for our personal salvation, than who the Apostle John meant when he men tioned the scarlet woman in Revela tion, important as that is for an un derstanding of eschatology. How about your shibboleths? Are they fundamental or incidental? Re member, true Christian love vaunts not itself, does not presume a brother is wrong and itself is right, or a brother is ignorant and itself . is learned, or a brother is shallow and superficial and itself alone capable of depth and sincerity. Let us learn to practice patience, forbearance, kindness and under standing toward others, and humility, and more humility, with regard to ourselves and our opinions.
in politics, in many areas, even in the realm of spiritual things. And it is here that it is most unbecoming, .even ugly- There are, of course, some absolute certainties — fundamental t r u t h s which can no more be abandoned than a compass at sea or water in the desert. They are based, not on bigotry but the Bible, and they are stated so clearly and so repeatedly that there is no room for any debate about them. To believe them, to preach them, to insist that they are true is not to dis honor Christ but to please Him, not to divide Christians but to unite them, not to hurt the Christian testimony but to establish it. They must be ac cepted and cherished or Christianity is finished. We know that man is a sinner and Christ is a Saviour — the only Sav iour. We know that we can be saved from sin and hell only by faith in this Saviour. We know that eternal fellowship with God awaits those who have this faith and eternal separation from God is the fate of those who reject Him. Such things are these we know. They are not sectarian; they are fundamental. The genius of practical Christianity is to determine what is fundamental and what is incidental. And an im
MAY, 1964
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