Words Have Meaning

Words have Meaning.

The word "rock" may be considered concretely, and its meaning would be "the hard solid substance that forms part of the Earth’s surface" or similar meaning. Used as: "He threw a rock at the rat."  This meaning of words is the foundation of all language.  The world is made up of created things that stimulate the imagination and make communication between people possible.

The imagination is a great gift from God and makes speech possible.  The word "rock" may be considered figuratively, meaning "like a rock." Used as "The man is a rock." This requires the use of the imagination which is developed more in some people than others, but does require intelligence. An animal and a man run concretely, using legs and feet.  A clock runs figuratively; hence, time also runs.  A river runs also.  The concrete acts of running can be used as a figure for almost any kind of action, as sand running out of an hour glass.

The word "rock" may be considered spiritually, as in the Scripture, meaning "like a rock," but at a deeper level of trust and commitment. Used, "God is my rock" speaks of covenant reliance upon God as a place of rest and security, and would be an expression of faith.   The ability of man's imagination enables him to make a connection between concrete things and events and figurative ones.  His ability to connect the figurative to the spiritual requires the work of the Holy Spirit; otherwise a man is deaf, blind, dead--without spiritual understanding.

When life comes from the Spirit the child of God sees even in the fall of a sparrow reason to trust in the goodness of God, for a man is of much greater value than a sparrow.   This is the reason that each of the senses in the Bible is used as a figure for faith as in the Scriptures "Open mine eyes..." "Hear my voice...."  "Taste and See that the Lord is good"  etc.

The first two uses require intelligence and involves cognitive reasoning, which may be present without faith. The third requires faith as a work of the Holy Spirit.