Sinner Saved or SS: The language of fellowship among believers often reveals itself in small things. Not only in sermons and doctrinal statements, but in tone, vocabulary, instinct, and even in the closing lines of personal letters. Over the years I began noticing how differently certain men signed their correspondence. And the differences were not merely stylistic. They often reflected an entire atmosphere surrounding assurance, fellowship, humility, and the believer’s standing in Christ.
What interested me was not merely the wording itself, but what seemed to stand behind it. The spiritual atmosphere surrounding certain circles of believers often shapes not only doctrine and preaching, but even tone and ordinary speech. Over time, even small phrases begin to reflect the spiritual environment a man has lived in for years. And in reading these old correspondences, I began noticing subtle but meaningful differences in the way believers instinctively expressed fellowship, assurance, and nearness to Christ.
These thoughts first returned to me yesterday while rereading a number of old letters I had received many years ago, mostly from brethren connected in one way or another with the Gospel Standard and Old School Baptist traditions. Some of those old correspondences stretched across several pages and carried a real weight of heavenly mindedness, spiritual discernment, and thoughtfulness concerning the gospel and the things of Christ. As I looked again through them, I found myself noticing not only the contents of the letters, but the tone, greetings, and closing expressions as well.
Before long, I found myself moving from those old letters to the shelves of my library and back again through a number of old familiar volumes. I pulled out Philpot’s Letters, searched through Huntington’s correspondence, revisited writings and letters by Beebe and Trott, and looked again at works by William Gadsby and J. K. Popham, among others whose books I have returned to repeatedly over the years, and from whom I have received real help, comfort, and spiritual insight. And the more I looked, the more I noticed that the atmosphere surrounding these expressions often differed quite significantly from one writer to another.
The differences were not always dramatic, but they were often noticeable. Huntington’s familiar “S.S.” — “Sinner Saved” — spoke with a striking openness concerning personal standing in Christ. Whatever differences one may have with Huntington in other areas, there is something noticeably direct and unguarded in that expression. He also frequently closed his letters with expressions such as “Yours in the Lord Jesus,” or “Yours affectionately in Christ,” language carrying a certain warmth, confidence, and directness concerning fellowship and union with Christ.
By contrast, many later experimental writers, such as Philpot and Gadsby, often closed their letters in much more restrained language, using simple expressions such as “Yours sincerely,” or “Affectionately yours,” while generally avoiding more direct language concerning assurance or standing in Christ. Meanwhile, among writers such as Beebe and Trott, one more frequently encounters the warmer language of fellowship and gospel union: “Your brother in Christ,” or “Yours in gospel bonds.” These things may appear very small outwardly, yet over time I found them increasingly revealing, as even such simple expressions sometimes carried with them very different assumptions and emphases concerning the Christian life.
I should add that I am simply making some observations here, not writing in a critical spirit. Many of these writers have been dear companions to me over the years, and I have received much help through their labors, correspondence, and reflections upon the things of Christ. Nothing I am saying is meant to diminish that, but simply to reflect upon how differing spiritual emphases often reveal themselves through the instinctive language believers use with one another.
And perhaps what makes these things especially interesting is that they rarely remain confined to one generation. The instincts, expressions, greetings, and forms of speech shaped within particular fellowships often pass quietly from one believer to another over many years, until they almost become subtle markers of identity, fellowship, and alignment. Even today, ordinary greetings and familiar expressions often reveal far more than simple doctrinal agreement, instinctively reflecting the deeper emphases and instincts a person has absorbed over time.
Of course, the Christian life does not consist in greetings, signatures, or familiar religious expressions. Yet ordinary language often reveals what lies nearest the heart, and over time those patterns of speech can disclose what has settled deepest into a believer’s thoughts. And for that reason, even the smallest phrases can sometimes become little peepholes into the deeper influences and convictions that have shaped a believer’s thinking over many years. MPJ