Christianese

[auserna]

I'm curious about the particular idiomatic linguistic idiosyncrasies and buzzwords often used by religious people, especially evangelical Christians. Things like "Yours in Christ" and "washed in the blood", "prayed up", "I plead the blood".

I've just seen this comment (written by a Christian): "I learned several years ago that Christians have their own language called “Christianese.” It’s purely cultural and acts as a pseudo-wink to other Christians to let them know you’re in the club, not out of it." And that's how it comes across - exclusive, partly because I literally don't know what these phrases actually mean.

I'd like to belong to a church, but find the language off-putting. Can someone explain the point of this way of communicating if it's not to be cliquey, as it feels to me the opposite of welcoming.

Link for examples ?

I hate super spiritual language too.

I don't really hear too much nowadays (evangelical Anglican). Maybe the sign off in an email might be something like, 'in Christ'.

Are the four examples in my OP not enough to show what I mean? Or are you saying I've made them up?

Thank you - that's very interesting to hear from someone who is an evangelical Anglican.

What does "in Christ" mean? I understand it broadly - obviously it's a reference to Jesus - but why in? You can't be in another person (well, you can, but only in a few very specific ways, none of which I think apply here).

I realise I'm being very literal, but it is a genuine question. I have the same issue with expressions like "I could care less" which I can't make make sense.

I've definitely heard those phrases used in Christianity but don't use them myself, nor does my church use them. We don't communicate with each other, either by written or spoken means, using 'Christianese'.

"In Christ" means we (Christians) are 'one body' in Christ as we all share the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Another quote from the same article: "If we were asked to articulate what “I plead the blood of Jesus” meant, could we say it simply, or would we end up saying a lot without really saying anything at all?"

I'm quoting because this was written by someone who uses this sort of language herself - in fact she's not just a church-goer, she's a pastor.

What denomination ?

I do appreciate your post, but you've used the phrase "in Christ" as part of your explanation of the phrase "in Christ" which means I'm not really any closer to understanding what it means literally (as opposed to broadly or figuratively). I get the gist - which seems to be "We're all in the Jesus club" (sorry, I'm not sure how to put that better) - but not that actual meaning.

Any denomination that uses this sort of lingo. Tends to be evangelical, low-church rather than, say, Catholic, as far as I can gather. So Baptist, Vineyard (if that counts as a denomination), etc.

'In Christ' refers to a belief Christians have of living intimately with Jesus. That when we are saved we are brought into his kingdom and his family, and we receive the Holy Spirit so that even our own souls exist in close fellowship with God. So everything we do is done 'in Christ' spiritually covered by His lordship and grace. Likewise everything we do should be done with an awareness that we represent Jesus to others.

Obviously that's a lot of theology to wrap your head around so 'In Christ ' is shorthand for a much bigger thought.

I think a lot of the time Christianese sayings just accidentally slip in accidentally and are not used to purposely exclude others. Its just shared experience and enthusiasm. Every group of people will have their own version. The Christians in mu life gently tease one another if we speak in Christian clichés

"In Christ" is a reference to "We are the body of Christ" - as in
"Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he sees,
Yours are the feet with which he walks,
Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world." And also "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" - people say "In Christ" to emphasise sentiments of Unity and there being no barriers, as well as a reminder of the Christian duty to represent Christ on earth.

"Washed in the Blood" is a reference to the theological concept that Christ's death was a sacrifice that washes away the sin (separation from God) of those who claim that power. The full phrase being from Revelation* *7:14 where believers are metaphorically described as having "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb".

I'm not used to hearing the other two phrases "prayed up" or "I plead the blood". From what I know of the kind of people who would regularly use the other two phrases I would guess that "prayed up" should be seen as analogous (but in a positive way) to "drugged up" ie supercharged with having done so much praying that one is on a spiritual "high" and able to tackle something astonishingly difficult because of that; and that "I plead the blood" is a way of referencing the above idea of Christ's blood-sacrifice being intrinsic to the neutralising the power of sin (separation from God) ie like when you "Plead the 5th" means (in america) claiming the right to remain silent, "Pleading the blood" would mean claiming the promise of forgiveness and healing for ones imperfections.

"I could care less" is a peculiarly American corruption of the original saying "I couldn't care less" which is used in England. ie the amount by which you care is so little that it coukd not be further reduced. The change across the Atlantic to "I could care less" makes no sense but is supposed to be taken as meaning the same thing.

Thank you - that does make it a little easier to understand.

...so that even our own souls exist in close fellowship with God.
'In Christ' refers to a belief Christians have of living intimately with Jesus.

So why not say "Yours with Christ", which makes absolute perfect sense and sounds natural, just as you expressed it above? Why does it get changed to a different conjunction that doesn't make sense and sounds contrived?

Thank you for that background.

But no-one has really explained why it's in Christ!

I’ve been a Christian for nearly 25 years and I don’t understand a lot of these phrases either. I take ‘in Christ’ to mean that when you’re baptised or you choose to follow Jesus, you then live your life as a Christian so ‘in the way of Christ’ or ‘in the body of Christ’ (the ‘body of Christ’ means the whole Christian church).

If a church is using in-group language as a means of filtering who really belongs to their club then they are not really Christians. Jesus wanted to good news to be spread to all - he chose plain speaking men of the earth to be his disciples and spoke in parables to make things easy to understand.

Don’t let it put you off. Our church speaks plainly and we serve our deprived community in humble and loving ways. But they all have different cultures - you need to try a few churches and see which one suits you.

I think you're absolutely right in your interpretation of "prayed up" and "pleading the blood".

I find a lot of the phrases vary between churches as well. So some people would describe being a Christian as being born again, others would say saved and some would say walking with the Lord.

Thanks.

"In the way of Christ" is the closest suggestion to something that makes sense. (And if something doesn't make sense it's just meaningless words - to me, anyway.)

If a church is using in-group language as a means of filtering who really belongs to their club then they are not really Christians.

Yes, I think you're right there.

I've heard the first two of those, but not the third. They're all a bit jargonistic. I gather they're pretty much synonymous?

Good question!

I think it means in a relationship with Christ rather than a physical space.

I think you're right, but I'd still pick the preposition "with" rather than "in" from that sentence if I wanted to make it more concise but maintain the meaning.

If you're in a relationship with John you say you're "with John", not "in John"!

The phrase "In Christ" is just supposed to be shorthand for reminding each other of these wider theological concepts. It could be taken as meaning "focusing on the fact that we are trying to live within the worldview of Christian teaching"

But we aren't "in" John because John didn't revolutionise the entire previous worldview of how to be human, how to relate to God etc. We are "In" Christ because we are entirely dwelling within that revolutionised worldview.

Surely 'in Christ' is a shortening of 'in Christ's name'...

I thought this too. Or that it's the same style as writing, "yours in hope", or similar. Nothing complicated.

Christians in my church would sometimes sign an email off with Yours in Christ, or God's blessings, or similar. But we wouldn't use the other phrases you quote. We talk normal English to each other.

I find the prayers and sermons delivered by the minister generally are unnecessarily wordy and full of phrases which could be expressed more simply. This annoys me because it excludes people who are not clever in a wordy way themselves. But it wouldn't exclude a wordy non-Christian.
Prayers and sermons delivered by "lay" preachers are perfectly comprehensible and normal. I can only assume it's because they have not studied theology at university and got accustomed to using complicated phrases when simple ones would do.

My point is that every church has issues. Yours has stupid phrases. Mine has had a string of academic ministers! But just find the best one for you and then gently work to change less desirable bits where you can.

Interesting! Thanks.