Gravity

May 24

Gravity
semnotēs

Yesterday we meditated on sōphrōn (G4998, sober) and its importance in the life of every believer, especially pastors.

A word that emphasizes a further aspect of this is semnotēs (G4587). In Classical Greek, as one scholar explains, semnotēs denotes “that which is sublime, majestic, holy, evoking reverence. .

The [adjective] and the noun often denote the majesty of deity, but sometimes also the solemnity, serious purpose, and grandeur of a man.”

Like sōphrōn, semnotēs (and semnos) are used of various types of Christians: wives (1Ti_3:11), deacons and their wives (1Ti_3:8, 1Ti_3:11), aged men (Tit_2:2), kings and all people in authority (1Ti_2:2), and even for what all Christians should think about (Php_4:8; August 6ff).

Also like sōphrōn, semnotēs is used to describe another requirement for pastors (1Ti_3:4; Tit_2:7). As the same Greek authority goes on to say, semnotēs is used in the NT to denote “an ethical and aesthetic outlook resulting in decency and orderliness,” so “seriousness both of doctrine and of life is expected of the leaders of the church.”

This man is, therefore, a serious man; he’s devoted to a solemn presentation of the Scripture. As mentioned yesterday, does this leave any doubt that so-called Christian comedians and other “entertainers” are a sad disgrace? The pulpit is a place of solemnity, not slapstick.

As God declared through Isaiah the prophet, the man who God esteems is “him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isa_66:2).

John Calvin aptly writes here: “So far as relates to ‘trembling,’ it might be thought strange at first sight that he demands it in believers, since nothing is more sweet or gentle than the word of the Lord, and nothing is more opposite to it than to excite terror. I reply, there are two kinds of trembling; one by which they are terrified who hate and flee from God, and another which affects the heart, and promotes the obedience, of those who reverence and fear God.”

How many men in pulpits today tremble at the Word of God and teach their people to do the same? How many of us can say with David, “My heart standeth in awe of thy word” (Psa_119:161)?

Scriptures for Study: Read the following verses, noting the relationship of God’s Word to our hearts, that is, our thinking and feeling: Psa_119:11; Jer_15:16; Jer_20:9; Heb_4:12.

 
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