Join me in a brief experiment: Say the sentence, “I didn’t steal your money” out loud five times with the accent on a different word each time.
I didn’t steal your money.
I didn’t steal your money.
I didn’t steal your money.
I didn’t steal your money.
I didn’t steal your money.
You’ve just said five very different things!
There are several implications we could draw from this exercise. Here are two that I would like to highlight for our purposes.
How careful we need to be with God’s word, especially the public reading of Scripture. Just the simple inflection of our voices can carry a tremendous amount of meaning. It is therefore well worth giving some time to careful reading in preparation for the public reading of Scripture.
A speaker’s tone of voice matters… and so does an author’s. It is not always easy to discern an author’s tone from a written text but it is not as hard as you might expect.
Paul's tone (and God's tone through him)
Carefully read the following passages and pay particular attention to the author’s tone. Each one has a clear, strong exhortation, yet the variation in tone is remarkable!
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
—Philippians 4:1-3 ESV
You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
—Galatians 5:7-15 ESV
In Philippians 4, Paul is calling out individuals by name, appealing to them to work out some personal conflict. Yet he is not harsh but gentle and winsome, appealing to the mature character of these believers for whom he has much affection.
By contrast, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is quite sharp. (There is not even a warm greeting at the start of the letter.) In the passage above, Paul is bold, directly spelling out the problem in an almost curt fashion. When he addresses the opponents of the gospel, he is graphically sarcastic. His blunt tone is purposefully aimed at raising awareness to the seriousness of the issues. He has no less affection for the Galatians than for the Philippians, it is just that they are on the very brink of total shipwreck and so his admonition has an appropriate intensity.
For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
—Philemon 1:7-16 ESV
Paul’s letter to Philemon has a similar tone to Philippians: affectionate, winsome and inviting. Still, there is something more in this intensely personal appeal. Paul is very firm concerning what ought to happen in accord with the gospel, yet he makes no demands. He is wisely leading Philemon to draw the same conclusions that Paul himself has come to.
Read these three texts once more, this time out loud, seeking to faithfully convey Paul’s tone for each in your reading.
Isaiah's tone (and God's tone through him)
For behold, the Lord God of hosts
is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply,
all support of bread,
and all support of water;
the mighty man and the soldier,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
the captain of fifty
and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
and the expert in charms.
And I will make boys their princes,
and infants shall rule over them.
And the people will oppress one another,
every one his fellow
and every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
and the despised to the honorable.
For a man will take hold of his brother
in the house of his father, saying:
'You have a cloak; you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule';
in that day he will speak out, saying:
'I will not be a healer;
in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me leader of the people.'
For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence.
For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.
—Isaiah 3:1-9 ESV
Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
—Isaiah 55:1-3 ESV
These two passages from Isaiah are written to the same people! The first (Isaiah 3) is an unflinching word of judgment, calling out human self-reliance, arrogance, and rebellion. Like Paul’s letter to the Galatians, it is blunt: “Woe to them!” Isaiah 55, on the other hand, written to people likewise steeped in sin, is a heartfelt appeal to turn from sin and find satisfaction in God. Both texts are aimed at repentance: one by dreadful warning, the other by invitation to abundant delight.
Again, read these texts from Isaiah out loud, giving your best effort to capture the proper tone.
As you read Scripture, make note of the features you see that indicate an author’s tone. Some clues will be clear and obvious, others may not surface until you’ve read the passage several times.