The Christian must use precise language, whether talking with another Christian or not—indeed, perhaps especially in the latter case. A few weeks ago I was at a Campus Crusade meeting and the worship leader/speaker for that day began a prayer thus: “Holy Spirit, we thank you for this time gathered together and ask that you exalt Jesus now; You were created to glorify Christ, so we ask now that you do so and inhabit our praise now[…].”
If you are a believer of any substantial length of time, that should make you hiss like a vampire struck with a vial of holy water in a B-movie from the ’60s. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, WAS NOT CREATED. One with the Godhead from before the beginning was quantifiable, present at Creation: Just as we confess that Christ is, was, and always shall be, so it is with the Father and the Spirit. Father, Son, and Spirit are and always have been in a beautifully perichoretic* relationship, and to let slip the idea that the Spirit was created is, at best, a gross error, and at worst, blasphemy and idolatry.
Now, this man is, by my estimation, a godly fellow, and a gifted worship leader. His area of spiritual excellence/giftedness did not lie in teaching, but in other areas; and I have no doubt that, if confronted about this bit, he would recant and be rather embarrassed about it. My little rant is not meant to blast this otherwise venerable gentleman, merely to point out that, no matter how careless you are in other areas of speech—as it’s not always the most prudent thing to be perfectionistic or overly verbose, especially face-to-face—you must always be careful in talking theology, lest you lead to confusion amongst yourselves or in the minds of unbelievers.
In a post that I think somewhat dovetails with this one, my favorite (living) up-and-coming theologian has written an insightful post dealing with the poor quality of preaching these days at in-fraction.
* Perichoresis—from the Greek, roughly translated “interpenetration”—a very good explanation is like this, from (go figure) Perichoresis.org:
Genuine acceptance removes fear and hiding and creates freedom to know and be known. In this freedom arises a fellowship and sharing so honest and open and real that persons involved dwell in one another. There is union without loss of individual identity. When one weeps, the other tastes salt. It is only in the Triune relationship of Father, Son and Spirit that personal relationship of this order exists, and the early church used the word “perichoresis” to describe it. The good news is that we have been included in this relationship and it is to be played out fully in each of us and in all creation.
