There is a word in the New Testament we have flattened into something lifeless. Words are how we communicate. Words are the only way we have to share messages. Maybe you are thinking, uh-uh Mr. Wood. We speak in all kinds of different ways. Body language. Gestures. Facial expressions. True, but how do ways of communication get interpreted by the recipient? Into words. Even if it’s a feeling we get, we interpret that feeling into words. And that is why when a word is stripped of its intended meaning, especially in scripture, we are left without a proper understanding of what that word means.
Words are an essential aspect of human life. Words are also how God chose to reveal Himself to us. Words define clearly. Words reveal intentionally. Words expose bare.
In Christianity there are words that have transcended definition. Amen. Hallelujah. There is one ancient Greek word that we have translated that doesn’t give justice to the original word. Homothurmadon. It’s used 12 times in the New Testament, 10 of those are in the book of Acts. It is a compound of homos (“same”) and thymos (“soul” or “heart”). It is often translated as “of one accord”, “with one mind”, or “unanimously.”
The problem with that translation is that it denies one crucial aspect of the word. Thymos has a related adjective thymikos which means “hot-tempered,”. When I read the common translations of homothurmadon there is a distinct lack of energy. We have associated “unanimously” with stale board meetings after months of debate. This isn’t homothurmadon.
Homothurmadon has fire connected to it. It has an anger that is burning and has been focused into a laser that cuts through the superficial fluff that surrounds human existence. Homothurmadon is what can take a group of people who are scared for their lives in a locked room and bring them to a place where they face the same people who killed their master. Homothurmadon endures persecution and murder and gives endurance and boldness when your brother is killed. I think of the disciple who Jesus loved writing his gospel story after watching his best friend and hearing of his brother being brutally murdered. Homothurmadon, ignited by the Holy Spirit, burning in the souls of the believers, united a group of people who couldn’t be more different, and what came of it changed the entire landscape of history.
The spirit of homothurmadon echoes in Paul (Romans 15:5-6) and Peter’s (1 Peter 3:8) exhortations to the believers that the fire is still there and needs to be re-kindled to burn in their context. The flame is still lit. It didn’t go out. And it hasn’t gone out.
Jesus prayed for you and me in John 17. The night before His death, he went to a garden and prayed that you and I would be united. I don’t see much unity today. I legitimately wonder what Jesus thinks of that. There are some people who call themselves believers who we shouldn’t be united with. And there are some we have rejected who are legitimate brothers and sisters. The capability of Homothurmadon is still around, and there are pockets of it, but it doesn’t take 20/20 vision to see that there isn’t much of it around today. I imagine that breaks God’s heart.
We must get it back. That’s a daunting task though…
My brain immediately went to the things we need to do to get it back. I created a three point sermon in my mind.
- Humble Ourselves (true)
- Put on Love (true)
- …
It doesn’t matter. As I was putting together my sermon in my mind, I was reminded of how it began in the first place.
The ignition of the Homothurmadon was and only can be the Holy Spirit.
Humbling ourselves and putting on love are Godly things. They are noble things. But they are things that when done without the ignition of the Holy Spirit will fizzle out like a cheap firecracker.
There is an interesting tight rope that Christians walk. On one side we have the danger of taking matters into our own hands, like what was discussed above. And on the other side of the rope is “spirit-filled” passivity. Doing nothing, expecting the Holy Spirit to do all the heavy lifting for you. The rope that we walk is not igniting the flame by ourselves or passively waiting for it to get lit, but positioning ourselves to be ignited by it.
How do we position ourselves to receive homothurmadon without falling on either side of the rope?
I want to avoid giving the answers here in this blog. Writing the answers here removes the nuance from your individual context and leads to the temptation of ritualizing moves of the Spirit into processes that can be defined and manipulated. Instead of attempting to answer the questions I want to take a look back at the moment the homothurmadon was ignited for the very first time.
The disciples did things, sure… They prayed and fasted… they sought the face of God. Those are things I am going to assume you are doing if you desire this fire. What I believe set the stage for the ignition was less about what they did and more about a specific posture of their hearts.
Longing.
As we all do, they had many longings. None of them greater than their longing to receive the power Jesus promised so that they could go and do the thing that Jesus told them to do.
That’s what kindles homothurmadon: not agreement on doctrine, but a shared longing for God’s kingdom to advance through their surrendered lives.
God didn’t choose a benign word for unity. He chose a word that burns with passion, excitement, and even anger focused into energy. And when the Church settles for a weak understanding of what unity is we strip ourselves of the power that comes along with it.
Let us be a people who long to be empowered by the Spirit and used by Christ to do the things that we were made to do.
