Ought You Read This?

Man, I really oughta exercise more. I oughta drive more carefully. You oughta be nicer to children. You oughta - ought to!

What stirs in you with this phrase "ought to"? What effect does it really have within us (as opposed to the effect it oughta have)?

• Do you experience guilt, because you're not doing something you oughta? Chances are you already knew you oughta, and the word just exposes your failure.
• Perhaps it's about something you didn't already know you oughta to - so, maybe the phrase just alerts you to a new behavior that you will eagerly start doing now that you know you oughta.
• Does the phrase bring dread - yet one more thing I oughta do, but I'm busy enough as it is! 
• Does it evoke a rebellious spirit, predisposed to do the opposite of oughta ("noughta"???). 
• Does it suggest something that would be a really good option to have, but isn't really necessary? "I know I oughta take a shower, but I'm not expecting anyone to come over today."

And then Scripture uses the word. Well, that just makes it worse. Now my guilt is biblical guilt, my dread is unholy dread, and my rebellion is against God. Thanks a bunch. (And I ought not say stuff like that about the Bible. Thanks again!)

However, I wonder if the Bible uses the word in a way somewhat different than how we typically take it. If so, would that help us react to the word with a more positive attitude, or more sobriety, or more internal motivation?

There are a few different Greek words used in the New Testament that often get translated "ought" in English. Two frequent ones are:

ὀφείλει - to owe something, to owe a debt in particular, to have something due from you, to be obligated, to be bound; something that is necessary or indispensable

 δεῖ - to be necessary, to be in need of; something that is right and proper

Is that at least slightly different than how you respond to the word? If anything, this word suggests something that is less optional than we may have thought. Even though the implications of the words are pretty firm, perhaps there is less guilt, because the word doesn't talk about what makes you good or bad, but rather describes your relationship to someone or something. In other words, ought is not about defining me, but the connection I have with someone else. Perhaps the idea of "owing" something gives ought a more specific nature, something less vague.

See Romans 15:1, for example.

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 

This uses the first of the two Greek words above. Rather than looking at this as "well, if you were a good Christian, you would bear the weaknesses of those without strength, but if you don't, you're a bad Christian," I suggest there is a different way to look at this word.

Consider it this way:

You who are strong, you owe a debt to the weak. Yup, that's right. I know it sounds backwards - usually the weak owe debts to the strong, but God's Kingdom doesn't work like the world works. In God's Kingdom, the strong owe a debt to the weak. That's why God made them strong for a time. With the strength came a debt attached - the obligation of being strong. And it's a debt payable to the weak. You who are strong, you ought to bear their weaknesses - that's your debt. In fact, bearing their weaknesses is indispensable for you. 

Furthermore, you ought not merely please yourselves with your strength. You don't owe yourself that debt. That's why you "noughta."

Apply the same idea to other passages and see how they pan out:

• Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:11).
• Therefore, we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth (3 John 8).
• ... for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:20).

And so on. Give some thought to how we react to the word ought and how that might change a bit if we looked at it more positionally than morally.

You oughta see this word ought differently. Really. You owe yourself that much.