Forget, Lest You Forget

What is it like to be unaffected?

How sad it must be to go to church, attend a class, interact with your neighbor, and be indifferent to what they say.

What is it like to be unaffected?

To be so confined to yourself that when you look at your natural reflection in the mirror, you see your flaws—you might even acknowledge them—but the moment you look away, you forget them. You carry on with your life. It’s a curiosity, an interest, a fleeting insight, perhaps. But it’s a compartment, a facet of your identity that you create that fits into something you control—a picture you paint that does not influence how you live.

What is it like to be unaffected?

To live in such a way that everything around you exists as an experience in service to you on your checklist—an item on your itinerary, your menu, your agenda.

What happens when every member of society treats everything like a trophy wife? Their job, partner, children, friends, family, affiliations, and even the place they pray?

Everything becomes a trophy wife.

Even God—the god of their imagination—becomes a trophy wife.

What happens when everything is the object of the reflection of their natural face?

What is it like to be unaffected?

To resolve the dissonance of your natural reflection with the comfort of forgetfulness.

To return to what was left behind. To turn away from what lies ahead. To prefer a lie. To lie to yourself.

What happens when you look away?

This week, I discuss Luke 8:19–21.

Show Notes

Refer to Episode 548: Μαγδαληνή / ג-ד-ל (gimel-dalet-lamed) / ج-د-ل (jīm-dāl-lām)

In Latin, creāre means “to create,” “to produce,” or “to elect.” In Rome’s political sphere, it referred to the act of appointing or electing officials, including Julius Caesar.

Hearers Not Listeners

“For if anyone is a listener of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” (James 1:23-24)“Γίνεσθε δὲ ποιηταὶ λόγου καὶ μὴ ἀκροαταὶ μόνον…”

“But be doers of the word and not listeners only…”
(James 1:22)“Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Μήτηρ μου καὶ ἀδελφοί μου οὗτοι εἰσιν οἱ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ ἀκούοντες καὶ ποιοῦντες.” (Luke 8:21)

In James 1:22, ποιηταὶ λόγου (“doers of the word”) and ἀκροαταὶ (“listeners") correspond to the participial forms found in Luke 8:21: ἀκούοντες (“hearing”) and ποιοῦντες (“doing”). Notably, ἀκροαταὶ and ἀκούοντες come from different roots. ἀκροαταὶ from the root: ἀκρο- (akro-), meaning at “the edge” or “the extremity,” implying passive reception, or “listening” vs. ἀκούοντες “to hear.”)

Someone who sees their natural face (πρόσωπον τῆς γενέσεως, “the face of his birth”) in a mirror and then forgets what he saw is the one who hears Scripture and neglects to act. He chooses to forget his appearance in God’s eyes. His knowledge of Scripture (the mirror) is overtaken by willful self-deception. He is a listener, not a doer. 

ἀκροατής (“listener to”) occurs only four times in the New Testament, all with the negative connotation of inaction: 

1. Romans 2:13: 
   1. γὰρ οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου δίκαιοι
   2. “for it is not the listeners of the Law”
2. James 1:22: 
   1. καὶ μὴ ἀκροαταὶ μόνον παραλογιζόμενοι
   2. “and not mere listeners of the Law, who delude themselves” 
3. James 1:23: 
   1. ὅτι εἴ τις ἀκροατὴς λόγου ἐστὶν καὶ οὐ ποιητής
   2. “for if anyone is a listener of the word and not a doer"
4. James 1:25: 
   1. παραμείνας οὐκ ἀκροατὴς ἐπιλησμονῆς γενόμενος
   2. “not a forgetful listener, but a doer”

παραλογίζομαι / ر-م-ي (rā-mīm-yāʼ) / ר-מ-ה (resh-mem-he)

To deceive, defraud. To desert, aband