p. 2 | 3274.-Reverend by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 1, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 43.

3274.—Reverend

By Editor

Is it right to use the word "reverend" as applied to man?

The English word occurs but once in the Bible, namely, in Ps. 111:9, and is then applied to God: "Holy and reverend is His name." But the original word yawray occurs more frequently and is rendered "affright," "be afraid," "dread," "fear," etc. It is not applied to man, but is applied to inanimate objects. Words undergo a change of meaning by usage; sometimes they are elevated in their meaning; sometimes the word is degraded. That is true with the term "reverend;" it does not mean what it formerly meant; it has come simply to mean a title for a minister or preacher, and it is generally applied to such, utterly incongruous tho it may be to its original meaning. Inasmuch as it is so generally applied, the best way perhaps is to use the word not in its original sense, but in its now ordinary sense. It would be better, however, it seems to us, to use "pastor" or "elder" to designate preachers, instead of "reverend."

Another word which has undergone the same degradation or debasement is that of "divinity." The former expression "Divinity of Christ," meant the Deity of Christ; but the new human religious view makes all men by nature as truly divine, tho perhaps not to the same degree as was Jesus. According to the new use those who wish to speak of the "Divinity of Christ" in the old meaning of the term must use the word "deity" instead of "divinity." Human usage generally lowers the value of words instead of enhancing them. The Gospel of Jesus Christ did the very opposite — it took Greek words which were low in their origin and made them of divine import. It is good to know that in the wealth of our language if a sacred term does become so abused as to lose its original meaning, we have another to take its place.