A WORD FOR TODAY, February 24, 2026
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, February 24, 2026
“For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you. For we write no other things to you than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end, as also you acknowledged us in part, that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.” 2 Corinthians 1:12-14, WEB
I read an article once about people who use big words in conversation to appear smarter. They think their larger vocabulary implies intelligence and impresses people. Unfortunately, this can go terribly wrong, especially if they use words that are not really intelligible. Take, for instance, the people on the television court shows. They try to sound more impressive to the judge and the audience by using language that is not typical of their daily life, and they often sound ridiculous rather than smart. One word I hear repeatedly is “conversating.” They talk about something happening while they were “conversating” with the other person.
Now, “conversate” is a word that can be found in dictionaries, but it is a non-standard word, sometimes acceptable in certain dialects. The correct word in those sentences would be “converse.” It is easy to make this mistake, particularly when you are nervous or rushed. After all, we have a conversation when we converse with another. Our brains will translate conversation to conversate, and that’s the word that comes out. Of course, it would have been much simpler to simply say, “We were talking and this happened,” but they want to give their case a boost by sounding better than their opponent. In the end, it usually makes them sound more foolish. Perhaps they use it because it is part of their dialect, but I suspect it is usually to look smarter.
How often do people do the same thing with religious and spiritual words? I sometimes attend conferences and retreats with professional theologians, and I have to admit that there are a few that make understanding their lessons difficult for me. There are times I get glassy eyed as I try to figure out what the speaker is trying to say. It usually takes me a sentence or two to figure out the meaning of one of their big words which are often from another language, and then I’ve missed two more points. I don’t think they do this to make themselves sound smart, but they certainly don’t teach people like me.
I read a biography about Martin Luther for a trip to Germany. The writer talked extensively about Luther’s conversations with the other theologians of his day. He was often cruel with his attacks against his opponents, especially when they were supposedly educated teachers of the church. He used a lot of religious language in those conversations, but it was never meant to make himself look smarter. He was concerned about the Church and the Christians. His real goal, in all things, was to make his brothers and sisters in Christ “theodacti.” (Sorry for the big word. It means “those taught by God.”) He was heartbroken that most Christians did not even understand the most basic ideas of the faith. Many Christians did not know the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed.
So, if you read Martin Luther’s works, you will almost find yourself reading two different writers. He wrote to theologians, but he also wrote to the common man, making the Christian faith accessible to everyone, even children. The Small Catechism is the perfect example. He even included woodcut pictures by Lucas Cranach to give the children visual representations of the ideas.
Unfortunately, there are people today who use the big religious and spiritual words when talking about Christian faith, not because they are trying to build up the church or other Christians, but because they want to appear to be smarter or more spiritual than others. Though these theological conversations can help Christians grow deeper in knowledge of God, we don’t need the Latin and Greek words to have faith in Jesus Christ. The more I study, the more I understand theological concepts, but we don’t need to understand the many different “-isms” of Christianity to believe the Gospel. We don’t need big words; we need simple faith. We don’t need special education to be able to share the truth of Jesus Christ with our neighbors. We can all be theodacti, people taught by God, by reading and studying the scriptures with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276.