Christians have developed our own language, and we tend not to realize how we may even use biblical terms in different ways than the Bible uses them. Today I have been thinking about the word “lost.” This word is often used in evangelical churches to refer to those who have never accepted the gospel. The idea is reinforced by songs we sing (“I once was lost but now am found”), prayers we pray, labels we use for those who do not have “a personal relationship with Jesus,” and the way we read the New Testament. The term “lost” is a biblical term, but might the Bible mean something different by the term than “those who do not know Jesus”?

There are four passages where the word occurs in the Gospels, and ironically it is never used of those who do not know God. In Matthew 10:5-6, Jesus sends out the Twelve with instructions not to go to those who don’t know God: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In context, “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” refers back both to Matthew 9:36, where Jesus encountered his own people who were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” and to Ezekiel 34, which Matthew 9:36 draws the image from. In Ezekiel 34, “lost” does not mean not knowing God or not being among God’s people. It is a reference to God’s people who have been mistreated by their leaders (the shepherds) and who therefore have become vulnerable to hostile nations (Ezek 34:5-6) or even to the shepherds themselves, who are devouring the lost sheep (Ezek 34:7-10). Being “lost” means not having access to the pasture that is needed. Sure, this could be equated with non-churchgoers, but in its original context it is a reference to those involved in the believing community who are simply “harassed and helpless.”

The second use of the word “lost” is in Matthew 15:24. Jesus has been feeding the hungry (Matt 14:19-21) and healing the sick (Matt 14:34-36), and in Matthew 15:22 an outsider, “a Canaanite woman,” comes to Jesus looking for healing for her daughter, and he says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Again, “lost” does not refer to people who don’t know God; it refers to people who do, the insiders, “the children” of God (Matt 15:21)! This use is similar to the first instance. Jesus is coming not to tell the lost how they can escape hell; he is coming to help them overcome oppression, whether by the corrupt leadership of Israel or by demonic strongholds. The lost are insiders who are down on their luck.

The final two passages are slightly different in their usage, but they too do not use the term as if it is often used today. The word is used several times in Luke 15, in reference to the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In each case the emphasis is not on those who have never known God or who lack a personal relationship with God, but on those who have gone astray. Twice Jesus identifies the lost with the “sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7, 10), and in the third example he refers to someone who had been close to the father but had left to “squander his property in reckless living” (Luke 15:13). Nowhere here is “lost” equated with the modern idea of a person who doesn’t know the gospel. It is a person who has walked away from the Father to live for his own pleasure.

The final use of the word “lost” in the New Testament is in Luke 19:10 in reference to Zacchaeus, who had gotten rich by betraying his brothers and sisters and taking their property as tax to the Romans. As the man repents, Jesus pronounces salvation upon him (Luke 19:9) and then concludes with the maxim: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). This usage is similar to the other one in Luke: the lost are those who know God but have become consumed with themselves.

So there are four New Testament passages that describe “the lost.” In each case the lost person is someone who knows God. In two of these the person has been abused by the religious leaders; in two the person has gotten caught up in sin.

One thing that concerns me about the modern usage of the term is that it creates an insider-outsider mentality. We who have come to an evangelical faith are “the found” and those who have not are “the lost.” This mentality is reinforced in evangelical tradition with the songs we sing (even our children’s songs: “I’m on the inside, on which side are you?”) and with the way we read these passages. We read the story of the prodigal son and think of “non-believers,” and never question whether we are squandering our inheritance. We read the story of Zacchaeus and don’t ask ourselves, “How about me? In what ways do I need to repent?” We think of ourselves as being “the found” simply because we have a correct doctrine of God. The prodigal son had a correct “doctrine” of the father, but he was lost as ever when he was wasting the inheritance he received from his father. Zacchaeus had a correct doctrine of God, but he was lost as ever when his focus was on wealth rather than on caring for the poor. Insiders – churchgoers – are often lost and Jesus is calling out to us in these passages, but we cannot hear him because we think these passages are about someone other than ourselves. We need to hear the references to “the lost” in these passages and be aware of the fact that biblically “the lost” are people who know the Way but who are not properly walking in it. Perhaps we once were found, but it could well be that in the current moment we are lost and are truly the ones in need of the gospel!