Get your pronouns straight - The culture of I

Misplaced authority

This message stems from something that has been eating at the back of my mind for a while now. We hear a lot today about taking dominion, taking authority, rebuking this, rebuking that. One thing that has been troubling me, is that even though we may have the name of Jesus in all of these pronouncements, the name of Jesus is always at the back end of the pronouncement, “I” is first.

Misplaced authority - when Jesus is not Lord of every aspect of you life, what authority do we have in using his name?

Identity - The Greek word for “I” in the New Testament is “εγώ” (pronounced ego). It appears frequently in the biblical texts and is used to refer to oneself or express personal identity. This word is essential for understanding various passages and dialogues in the New Testament 12. If you encounter it while studying biblical Greek, remember that it signifies the first person singular pronoun, equivalent to the English “I.” Feel free to explore more about biblical Greek vocabulary and delve deeper into the rich linguistic heritage of the New Testament! 📖🌟

I adjure you Acts 19:13 “But some itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches!””

Pronouns - in a culture of self-centeredness, of course a description of yourself is supremely important

Examples of (I) not at the beginning statements, commands:

God - Ezekiel 28:14 “You were an anointed guardian cherub, and I placed you on God’s holy mountain; you walked in the midst of stones of fire.” God said, “I placed you” Forgetting the order of things

Archangel Michael “The Lord rebuke you” - Jude 9 “But Michael the archangel, when he argued with the devil, disputing concerning the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!””

Examples of (I) at the beginning of statements, commands:

Paul and the possessed girl Acts 16:18 “And she was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed and turning around, said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out immediately.” Paul’s main purpose was to be preaching the Gospel, casting out the demon from this girl seemed to be an aside, working to get rid of the distraction from his mission.

Seven sons of Sceva - Acts 19:13 “But some itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches!””

Samuel - here am I.

Lucifer, Isaiah 14:12–16 “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations! And you yourself said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon; I will ascend to the high places of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you, they will look closely at you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who caused kingdoms to shake,”

Anointed guardian cherub: Ezekiel 28:12–15 ““Son of man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre, and you must say to him, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You were a perfect model of an example, full of wisdom and perfect of beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God, and every precious stone was your adornment: carnelian, topaz and moonstone, turquoise, onyx and jasper, sapphire, malachite and emerald. And gold was the craftsmanship of your settings and your mountings in you; on the day when you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub, and I placed you on God’s holy mountain; you walked in the midst of stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day when you were created, until wickedness was found in you.” Is this the same one in the garden that spoke to Eve?

Hath God said? - Genesis 3:1–7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God indeed say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die. For God knows that on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, then she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed together fig leaves and they made for themselves coverings.”