Astray

When I was four my older sister told me that no English word has more than two of the same letter in a row. “Oh yes there is!” I countered, and showed her my book with a fire truck and its siren wailing, “Wooooooooooooooooooo-ooooooooo-ooooooooo!” “That’s not a real word,” Nancy sniffed. “But it is in my book!” I protested. “It must be a real word if my book has it!” She, of course, is right. No dictionary contains wooooooooooooooooooo- ooooooooo-ooooooooo. My book had led me astray.

That traumatic event still haunts me two-thirds of a century later. So imagine my joy upon discovering that Greek (good ol’ Greek) has at least one word with a three-letter string: ἀᾱ́ατος (that’s aaatos for those who have not yet learned their Greek ἄλφα βῆτα).

The verb ἀάω [aaō] means “lead astray.” Zeus sometimes did that in Greek mythology, as could an evil fate, an untrustworthy colleague, sleep, or wine. A theoretical adjective derived from ἀάω might be ἄατος. If you put what is called an “alpha-privative” on the front of that (which serves to negate the word’s meaning, as English “asymmetrical” is the opposite of “symmetrical”), voilà! you get the actually-documented adjective ἀᾱ́ατος, which means “not able to be led into error.”

The point is not just that we have fun playing with words (though that is fun), but to learn how (by God’s grace) to ourselves become incapable of being led into error (or ἀᾱ́ατος). How can we do that?

The more filled we are with truth, the more obviously error glares. “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies.... I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed your precepts” (Psalm 119:98–100).

Notice that in the last verse understanding is connected with doing as well as with study. James warns of the same thing—that if we hear but do not do the word we lead ourselves astray. In some ways, self-deception is the worst kind of all!

May God help us at Grace Fellowship—as individuals, families, and church—to know, love, and practice truth, and in doing that become more and more ἀᾱ́ατος.

 And now, I need to talk with my sister about how many letters in a row are possible....