About

The title for this blog is based on a translation of my given first name, ElShaddai, one of the first Hebrew names for God in the Bible. Commonly translated as “God Almighty” from the Greek pantocrator and Latin omnipotens, there is also a tradition for translating “Shaddai” with the Greek hikanos, which means “the Sufficient One” (cf. Ruth 1:20 and Job 21:15, 31:2 and 40:2 in the Septuagint). Based on rabbinical exegesis rather than etymology, this alternate translation doesn’t appear in our modern English Bibles, which generally conform to the original Hebrew text and traditional English rendering.

A wilderness of words…

Originally coined by Joseph Conrad in his novel Under Western Eyes (1911), the phrase “a wilderness of words” is used in the New English Bible to translate the Greek mataiologia (1 Timothy 1:6). The root mataios means “devoid of force, truth, success, result” or “useless, of no purpose”, while legos suggests the act of discussion. The NASB suggestively captures this phrase with the translation “unfruitful discussion”.

The acts of studying, writing about and debating God’s Word often seem to me to be logomachy – endless debates of words that have little Kingdom living associated with them. Without application, we share common beliefs and knowledge with the demons – it is building works on faith, putting theology in action, turning empty talk into fruiting branches that separate us from the world and are the working out of our salvation in Christ. These are the directional compass points of this blog and my life as a Christian, none of which are possible apart from Almighty God, who is sufficient for all our needs.