The 'Key' Word

I think the definition of 'KEY' is very relevant to understanding the Bible. Key is defined and used in seven different ways in the following table:

Each definition of the word is correct, but they are different. One does not have to twist, force, bend, or adjust the meanings to see that a word does not always have the same meaning, context is important.

If someone says, "He lives in the keys." we understand. 

If someone says, "He is holding the keys in his hand." we understand. BUT if we insist that keys means a low offshore island, then we will say the person cannot hold them in the hand and therefore the speaker is 'wrong'. We do not know, in the above sentence, if the 'keys' are car keys, house keys, or sheets of paper with test keys, or cotter keys, or if they hold half-moon shaft keys.

Words don't always mean what they say. When the Bible speaks of 'the horn of my salvation' 2 Sam 22.3 NIV, or 'a horn of salvation' Luke 1.69, the writers are not speaking of an animal horn, even if they use the same term as an animal horn. 

If we insist that words cannot have a semantic range then we set ourselves up for muddled communication.

The reverse is also true, if we find what seems to us as muddled communication then we will be well served to broaden our understanding of the semantic range of the words or concept.