Q&A - Origin of Language
April 18, 2021 Sunday Evening Study

Introduction

Why do a series like this? What are we going to accomplish?

On Sunday mornings, I preach. I teach through lecture, generally using different tools to try and engage you - to make the lesson something that makes sense to who you are. This is a very common form of teaching - most pastors do it this way because there are very few successful ways to engage a “class” the size of a congregation other than to proclaim the truth is a relevant and applicable way.

Why do we study the Bible? (Allow for Answers)

Hebrews 4:12 - “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” The Bible is not a textbook to be read to increase our knowledge of a principle or a specific subject. Books are static - they convey information, and we use that information to alter our thinking and our lifestyle. This is absolutely true of the Bible, but the Bible is not static. The Bible teaches us, then re-teaches us depending on the circumstances in our lives.

John 5:39 - “You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.” It is simple - ignorance of the scripture is ignorance of Christ. We study so that we know the Word - we learn the Word so that we might know Him.

My goal with this lesson is to foster interaction. I may have seminary training, but I stand to learn just as much theologically from you all as you do from me. This series is intended to create discussion. Proverbs 27:17 - “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”  We are here to sharpen each other. For this reason, I am going to ask you to step out of your comfort zones and talk to me - talk to each other.

In order for me, and by extension all of us, to properly teach the Bible as it was meant to be taught and learned, we must utilize its truths as a launching pad for life change. Reading the Bible is not enough. Studying the Bible is not enough. Luke 11:28 - “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Obey it. Apply it. Change their lives because of it.

So why questions like these? How will knowing if Noah brought scorpions on the ark going to help us transform our lives? The truth of the matter is this - most of the questions and answers we discuss are not going to be life changing revelations. In fact, some of them may not even seem interesting to you at first glance. But here and now, I want to issue a challenge to everyone participating in this study.

I challenge you to change your approach to how you understand not just God’s Word, but how you understand how that Word compels us today in every aspect of life. I am going to ask questions of you each Sunday - and these will be designed to shake up your normal way of thinking. I want you to consider the ramifications of seemingly unimportant facts and questions as they relate to our shared purpose as believers. Each of you is a Christ follower, and in that truth, we share some aspects of our lives - roles that we play, whether or not we recognize it. Let’s look at the 12 disciples - disciples - what we are called both to create and to be:

Learners - The disciples never stopped learning. To be fair, they got the best 3 year seminary program in the history of mankind by following Jesus and benefiting from His direct teaching. Each of them - through teaching, letters, and example showed that they were constantly learning the nature of Christ and how to mold their lives after Him.

Teachers - They were teachers - shown through several examples all throughout the NT. Many even performed miracles in Jesus’ name. Many of you are teachers - some by vocation, others by volunteer, others through example and evangelism. Each of us here is called to be a teacher of the Good News - and we must be equipped to play that role.

Rebels - The NT picture of Christ followers was one of bold people who understood their identity in the face of a hostile world. The world is just as hostile today as it was then. We are called to rebel from many of the values and expectations of society.

Failures - The disciples failed. Often. We even joke about Peter and his inability to grasp Jesus’ concepts. We say dumb things, do dumb things, and we know that we all sin. Yet, failure is evidence of trying - evidence of doing the work. Spiritual growth is a process, and if you are not failing, then you are not growing.

Tonight’s question is one of many that will largely lend itself to a concept call apologetics -the defense of the faith, defense of doctrine. Many of these questions are the types of things that are brought up by skeptics - skeptics looking for ways to deny the credibility of a follower of Christ. 

Talk about Incident Management - clear, concise directions in a crisis. Talk about the car-breakdown story from the book. This is why we study - this is why this matters. 

And maybe, just maybe, it will ignite in you a desire to dive deeper as you study the Word.

Question: How did Adam and Eve communicate if there was no such thing as language?

Open with discussion - what does the group think? Can they support their argument?

Theories: 

• Paley Hypothesis - Popular in 1800’s - Speaks about intelligent design. In his book Natural Theology, he tells the story of the Watchmaker:

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had before given, that for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. ... There must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed [the watch] for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use. ... Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.”

Basically, to see a rock for the first time, one could assume it has always been there. But to see a watch for the first time, we must infer that it was designed” - it would not actually occur in it’s functional form naturally.

Paley went on to argue that the complex structures of living things and the remarkable adaptations of plants and animals required an intelligent designer. He believed the natural world was the creation of God and showed the nature of the creator. According to Paley, God had carefully designed "even the most humble and insignificant organisms" and all of their minute features (such as the wings and antennae of earwigs). He believed, therefore, that God must care even more for humanity. He suggested that God created creatures fully adult like, so God creating a speaking Adam would have been perfectly natural.

What do we think of this theory? How does this coincide with what we see in the Biblical text. Why do you suppose this is attractive to some people and not attractive to others?

How can we use our knowledge of this theory to help spread the Gospel?

Adamic Language - Originated Jewish, popular in LDS Church

The Adamic language, according to Jewish tradition (as recorded in the midrashim) and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by God to address Adam (the divine language), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve.)

Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, in his revision of the Bible, declared the Adamic language to have been "pure and undefiled".[14] Some Latter Day Saints believe it to be the language of God.[15] Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, was commonplace in the early years of the movement, and it was commonly believed that the incomprehensible language spoken during these incidents was the language of Adam. 

Some other early Latter Day Saint leaders, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and Elizabeth Ann Whitney, claimed to have received several words in the Adamic language by revelation. Some Latter Day Saints believe that it will be restored as the universal language of humankind at the end of the world. Apostle Orson Pratt declared that "Ahman", part of the name of the settlement Adam-ondi-Ahman" in Daviess County, Missouri, was the name of God in the Adamic language. An 1832 handwritten page from the Joseph Smith Papers, titled "A Sample of the Pure Language", and reportedly dictated by Smith to "Br. Johnson", asserts that the name of God is Awmen.

What is your initial reaction to this theory? Can we get past the fact that it is now predominantly LDS and see merit here? Is it possible that both this theory and the theory before it are actually addressing the same language?

How can we use our understanding of this theory to spread the Gospel?

• Breath of Life (biblical) - Open to Genesis 2.

It says that God breathed into the human Adam the breath of life. Since there's no explanation of how that worked, one can only infer from a lack of detail that within this "breath" came all the necessary components that Adam needed for living, including speech.

Gen 2:7 …”Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Gen 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

Gen 2:19 “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”

Gen 2:23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

This breath of life also apparently gave Adam the ability to walk, talk, name creatures, build a garden, and be attracted to women.

The fact of the matter is that we cannot find a definite all-inclusive answer to this question. Based on sound biblical interpretation we can extrapolate that God gave the gift of communication to man - that man was created with the ability to commune with God and therefore with each other. What language was it? Could it have been this Adamic language? Could it have been Hebrew? Could this language have been present all the way until the Tower of Babel? Did it survive the Tower?

What argument can we make if a skeptic asks why people are not born with the innate ability to communicate - why must we learn it?

How can we look at the way communication is portrayed in Genesis and benefit from this in our own spiritual lives?

How can we use our understanding of this “answer” to spread the Gospel?