SPEECH ACTS IN THE BIBLE

The life of Abraham was a classic biblical example of the godly adventures of faith. God promised him that he would become and was called to be a father of many nations despite the fact that the promise came to him when he was very old, and his wife Sarah was barren. Nonetheless, St. Paul explains,

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:19-22)

By faith, Abraham was able to receive the promise of God. In Genesis 22, we read that in Abraham’s 100th year, Sarah bore a son unto him according to the exact time that the Lord promised to them. The story exemplifies the patient and active faith of Abraham. He did not base his faith in God according to circumstance and physical condition. He believed “that God was able to do what he had promised.”

Faith is an advanced and godly form of speech- act. It is both a declaration and an application of what God has promised in His Word to do for you.

Speech Acts in the Bible 33

Faith is an advanced and godly form of speech-act. It is both a declaration and an application of what God has promised in His Word to do for you. However, it is important to define and describe the biblical faith far different from the theory of positive thinking. Fundamentally, positive thinking roots in self-determination. But the speech-act of the biblical faith is rooted in the divine promises. Thus, even when in a troubling situation, a Christian man is able to say, “I will fear no evil. There’s no reason for me to worry.” Yet, the Christian man is saying this to himself not because he has a high level of self- determination. His positive outlook is not caused by positive thinking but by a Positive Being – his God. He believes the objective word of his God who promised him to never leave and abandon him (Ps. 23; Mt. 6:25-34; Heb. 13:5-6).

Thus, the biblical speech-act is not subjective. It is objective. It believes in God, it is not self-confident. Its positive outlook about good is not defined by human desires but by God’s desires. In other words, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” a person can still say that “all things work together for good” because God is good (Ps. 23:4; Rom. 8:28). With this view, positive speech is defined by the goodness of God, not by the earthly desires of man which is easily tossed back and forth by socio-cultural conditioning.

The godly power of our speech-act as a Christian comes from what God says.

Biblical speech-act has also self-determination, but a kind of self-determination that is described by Paul during his time of poverty: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). In other words, our determination to overcome uncomfortable situations comes from God’s presence with us. You can experience victory not because you say it, but because God said, “no one can separate us from the love of Christ” (Rom. 8:37).

The godly power of our speech-act as a Christian comes from what God says. It’s the repetition and affirmation of what God says. Therefore, when a person says something outside the clear and reasonable statement of God’s word and claims what he says is God’s word, he falls into self-deception. Under the passion of self-deception, a person may strongly feel that he or she is right. But if his passion or sincerity is not based on an objective truth or even a misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the objective truth – like the promises of God – he is sincerely wrong. He’s still on his way to destruction. King Solomon said, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

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