I'm the Culprit! by Joy Margetts

 

Hebrews 5:9

And having been perfected, He (Jesus) became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

 I was reading Hebrews 5 the other day and paused at this verse. The word ‘author’ jumped out at me. I have read this verse many times, I have described Jesus as the ‘Author of my Salvation’ before, I think I have even sung about it (Mighty to Save, Hillsong Worship). But on that particular day the word ‘author’ jumped out at me afresh and I felt the need to investigate further.

Why? I think because the word ‘author’ evokes such a confusing response in us as writers. We can get so hung up on the difference between two descriptors. Am I an author, or am I a ‘just’ a writer? As if being an author is somehow more prestigious. A title to aspire to. I said in an earlier post that we are the ‘Association of Christian Writers’, not the ‘Association of Christian Authors’. We seek to be a group that encourages all Christian Writers not only those who also happen to be authors.

In modern English a person can call themselves an ‘author’ when they have work published. But where did the word come from? What did it mean originally? You may well know all this but I reverted to a google search and this is what I discovered.

The etymology of our English word ‘author’, is the Latin ‘auctor’, which in turn derived from ‘augere’ which meant ‘increase, originate, promote’. It was thought that the ‘th’ was added in the 15^th century, with influence from the word ‘authentic’.

I also went back to the Greek (online, I’m no scholar!) and the word used in Hebrews 5:9 is the word ‘aitios’, which means ‘to cause or be responsible for’. Of course this applies beautifully to Jesus, who through His obedience to the Father, and His love for us, went to the cross, died and rose again, to be the one responsible for, the ‘author’ of our salvation. As I read further however it seems that the same word, ‘aitios’ can also be translated as ‘the culprit’ or, ‘the accused’. That makes sense if you take it to mean the one responsible for the deed, whether that deed is good or bad.

This little word study got me thinking. If you are reading this and you have written anything. If you caused words to appear on paper. If it was you that was responsible for that work. Then in the truest sense you are the author of that piece of writing. You made it happen. In some cases you might even say you were the culprit (some of my writing could definitely be considered a crime!). Regardless of whether it is published or not, even if it is never read by anything else, you authored that piece of writing.

I don’t know whether that encourages you or not! I don’t particularly like labels when is comes to writing. Even though I have had work published I still feel more comfortable referring to myself as a writer rather than an author. I can remember when I first set up my website and wrote the word ‘Author’ after my name. It seemed pretentious at the time. Like I was claiming to be something I wasn’t - associating myself with a whole library full of much more famous writers than I.

I am grateful to be able to cause writing to happen, to be responsible for creating and increasing it. I love being able to call myself a writer. I am even more grateful to Jesus for being the author of my salvation, that allows me to call myself a 'Christian' writer. And maybe even to call myself a Christian author!

 Joy Margetts writes Christian Historical Fiction. Her debut novel 'The Healing' was published in March 2021, and her second ‘The Pilgrim’ in July 2022. Her third novel 'The Bride' will be published in October 2023. She is also in the process of publishing her first non-fiction book, an advent Devotional entitled 'Christ Illuminated'.

 Joy makes her home in beautiful North Wales and takes her inspiration from its rich spiritual history and stunning landscapes. She is also wife, mother and grandmother and a lover of the Word of God. Her personal blog and more information about her books can be found here www.joymargetts.com