Uh, you know, whatever

Words matter, and sorting things out is the Christian's ultimate task | Joel Belz

When God called on Adam, very early in the history of the world and of human experience, to name all the animals, the Creator was in fact putting on a dual demonstration. On the one hand, he was showing off the penultimate aspect of his incredibly imaginative handiwork. Adam must have been stunned-even in his early, unfallen condition. But on the other hand, God was also apparently eager to show Adam the critical importance of language and words to be used as tools for stewardship of the new creation. To this day, both are wonderful gifts from God-the creation itself, and the words he gives to describe, to analyze, to understand, to develop, and to enhance it.

Words by their nature are intended to make distinctions. That's why you need so many of them. For Adam, aardvark clearly meant one thing, antelope another, ant still another, and anteater something radically different-especially for ants. It's not at all clear that Adam, at that early date, had also to distinguish between cocker spaniels and German shepherds, but at least the pattern was established that God was providing a profound means to sort things out.