![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dictionaries.jpg\")
It is true that you cannot define a word by using the same word to describe it. It just doesn’t work. You can’t explain a term by comparing it with itself. It would do little good to describe “repentance” as what happens when one repents.<\/p>\nIt is true that you cannot define a word by using the same word to describe it. It just doesn’t work. You can’t explain a term by comparing it with itself. It would do little good to describe “repentance” as what happens when one repents.<\/p>\n
You also cannot describe a word by making up your own definition. Oh, it’s fun sometimes to try and come up with a funny definition for an unknown word. However, when you want to know the definition of a word, you find a good dictionary.<\/p>\n
All of this is likewise true in evaluating one’s character. In II Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul showed the foolishness of trying to judge our own character by our own opinions. “… but when they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. … For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends<\/em>” (II Corinthians 10:12,18). We would be wrong to evaluate ourselves by devising our own standards and guidelines. We must use God’s line of measurement. He evaluates our lives by the standard of His unchanging Word. What we are is what the Lord says we are. One cannot change that by using an inferior standard.<\/p>\n As we take inventory of our lives and what we have done in the Lord’s service, let’s not be too quick to commend ourselves. The real test is whether we are of those “whom the Lord commends<\/em>” (II Corinthians 10:18).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Shane Williams via\u00a0The Lilbourn Light, Vol. 10, No. 6, Oct. 2009. It is true that you cannot define a word by using the same word to describe it. It just doesn’t work. You can’t explain a term by comparing it with itself. It would do little good to describe “repentance” as what happens when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[220],"class_list":["post-56517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20349,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-father-the-only-true-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":56517,"position":0},"title":"Is the Father the only true God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Do You Believe in Three Gods or One? it is stated: We believe in the one true and living God because the Bible teaches it. Jesus identifies who the \"one true and living God\" is in John 17:3 which states in the King James Version: \"And this is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18531,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/catholics-venerate-mary-they-dont-worship-her\/","url_meta":{"origin":56517,"position":1},"title":"Catholics venerate Mary, they don’t worship her","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Allow me to begin by saying that I am not a member of your congregation. Please attend to your own flock before this is taken into account. I am a practicing Catholic that believes strongly in building character through criticism. I also do my best to apply this in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":819,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-the-greek-word-translated-himself-in-james-127-also-be-translated-themselves\/","url_meta":{"origin":56517,"position":2},"title":"Can the Greek word translated “himself” in James 1:27 also be translated “themselves”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: While reading a book by Basil Overton, I ran across this argument, \"Some have argued that the church cannot help orphans but the individual Christians must do this. They say James 1:27 is addressed to the 'individual. James 1:27 is not addressed to the individual. \"Himself\" of the text\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60566,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unitarian-universalists\/","url_meta":{"origin":56517,"position":3},"title":"Unitarian \/ Universalists","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Lovelace First, understand that Universalism as a religion is a belief that all people will be reconciled to God. The New Testament does not teach, nor does the Old Testament, that eventually all people will be reconciled to God. Paul said when Jesus is revealed with His mighty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/radical\/","url_meta":{"origin":56517,"position":4},"title":"Radical","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Al Diestelkamp via THINK, Volume 33 No. 1, January-March, 2002 The word \"radical\" has come to have more than one meaning. Initially, it meant \"from the root.\" Somewhere along the way, it began to be used as a synonym of the word \"extreme.\" When used as an adjective to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56346,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pearls-from-proverbs-where-there-is-no-vision\/","url_meta":{"origin":56517,"position":5},"title":"Pearls from Proverbs: Where There Is No Vision","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXXI: 5, p. 134 March 5, 1987 \"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he\" (Proverbs 29:18). The first part of this proverb is quoted frequently and pretty generally misapplied. Vision The \"vision\" under consideration is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vision-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}