The Dead Fish

BY TIM MCCOOL, Pastor, Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church

A Christian worldview is essential for a Christian. That’s a fairly obvious statement. A worldview is, in a nutshell, the way in which we view the world around us.

Consider this. A doctor, an engineer and a lawyer all happen upon a wreck. (And no, this is not a joke!). The doctor would probably immediately begin treating injuries. The engineer might look around and consider how it happened--where was the impact and where the cars come to rest. And the lawyer--well, I’m sure that he would be thinking about who was at fault. All are different views, because of the way they are trained.

And so the Christian is supposed to have a specific view because of the way his mind is shaped. And the primary shaping influence for a Christian worldview is the Bible.

I am sure you are wondering about the dead fish by now. The Christian worldview on sin and death is found in Rom. 6:23. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Paul makes it plain that the payment, the earning, the wage of Adam’s sin (and our sin too) is death. Now to the dead fish. The root word of wage is “a cooked fish.” This is a word picture and it represented what the people in that culture thought of when they were paid wages. They thought of that which was the most common need of their daily life--to eat. And interestingly, the most common food consumed in that area and culture was not lamb, beef or chicken, but fish.

When I think of wages I earn, I don’t think of a fish, but a check or a number on a computer screen when I look at my balance online. But back then they thought of what their wages would materialize as: food.