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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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DIGGING DEEPER This 80 page book shows you how to study the Greek New Testament without knowing the Greek language. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF GREEK We never say it out loud, but many of us really are afraid of languages. There are several reasons for this. We begin to learn languages, other than our own, quite late in our educational experience. In Israel, for instance, children are learning Hebrew, Arabic and English in the kindergarten. Another reason is that our educational process involves a low level of memorization. This makes it difficult for us to learn any language. English is quite simple in form. Languages, like Russian and German, can be much more complex. All of these reasons and more make it more difficult for us to learn foreign languages. The same thing is true when it comes to the pastoral education. The time ministerial students spend in seminary or other schools was not increased even though the number of courses has increased. This has created a situation where cuts were required. Unfortunately, these cuts came in the reduction of courses in Bible and the number of classes required in Greek and Hebrew. Indeed, in some seminaries it is not necessary for students to study Greek or Hebrew at all. All of these things come together to create a situation where the church is less familiar with the teachings of the Scripture than we have been in the past. The problem with this is that the Scriptures are our basic source of knowledge about God and His will for our lives. As this knowledge declines, we can also expect our awareness of God and His will for our lives to decrease as well. Interestingly, this comes at a time when there is more information and resources available, concerning Scripture, than ever before. It is for this reason that we must make it possible for the laity to study the Scriptures for themselves and for pastors to study the Scriptures in the languages in which they were written. That is the task to which this study is committed. Languages, like people, have a personality all their own. The characteristics of each one are usually easy to identify. English, for example, is known for its many exceptions to the rules. It is known for having words that sound the same, but have quite different meanings - so, sew, sow. German, on the other hand, is known for its careful, precise meaning and few exceptions to its rules. Unlike German, Spanish is a romantic language. It is known for its beauty and deep emotion of expression, but with a lesser emphasis on precision of statement. The Greek is more like the German. Though the original manuscripts of the New Testament books were probably written in Aramaic - a Semitic dialect spoken throughout much of the Near East prior to the time of Christ - our oldest and best New Testament documents are written in Koine Greek. It was not the dialect of the intellectuals. It was rather spoken by children in the market-place and by soldiers on the battle field. This was the vernacular of the common people. We will give our attention to this dialect. In this study, you will not learn Greek. You will learn enough about the Greek so that you can use the Greek New Testament. We will begin by working with the Greek alphabet. Learning this alphabet will save a large amount of time in your research. You also will learn how to look up the meaning of Greek words. As I said earlier, Greek tends to be very precise. In the Greek New Testament, for instance, there are 39 different words that are all translated by the word "come" in English translations. It is not difficult to understand how important it is to discover the precise meaning of a Biblical word or idea the author intended to convey. The understanding of the precise meaning of a Biblical word can mean the difference between knowing the real meaning of a passage or misunderstanding it altogether. Luke chapter two is an excellent example.
The meaning of the word "inn" is interesting. The word translated "inn" is "kataluma" (kataluvma) and literally means "guest chamber," a room on the roof of the house where guests slept. The word for "inn" is "pandoxeion" (pandoxei'on). It was a caravan stop. Think of it as a first century truck stop. It was thought of as a brothel. In one version of the Talmud, (a collection of commentaries on Mosaic law written by Rabbis between 250 and 500 A. D.) Rahab was spoken of as an "innkeeper" not a "harlot." It was to this kind of establishment that the Good Samaritan took the wounded traveler, as reported in Luke 10:34. The difference between the two meanings is very significant. If the word is "guest chamber," then Luke was talking about the fact that when Joseph went to his parent's home with his pregnant, betrothed, but unmarried bride, they had no room for him there. On the other hand, if the word is "caravan stop" then the explanation which we have always heard is appropriate. The hotel space was already taken by earlier guests and all the rooms were full. The difference this makes in the meaning of the text is immense. There are a host of passages where the precise meaning of the Greek text gives a totally different meaning to the passage. Because the meaning of the text is very important to us, we will want to learn how to discern exactly what the author was trying to say. You can do that even though you are not a Greek scholar. THE PROCESS We will follow a definite process in this learning experience. We will begin by becoming familiar with the Greek alphabet. We have created practice sessions to help you learn the alphabet. It will be immensely helpful as you study. We then will look at the Greek text itself. You need to become familiar with it and how it can be used to your best advantage. There are some books that will prove to be very helpful as you seek to interpret the meaning of the words and the way in which they are used. We will explain the use of the Concordance. We will also show you how to use the "Strong numbers" to keep you from errors with Greek words that do not seem to be taken from their original root. We will describe the use of The Expanded Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. This volume is very helpful in giving you different shades of meaning. It also deals with synonyms and especially differences in shades of meaning. Many people study the Bible on computer. There are a number of very good software packages available that can be of great help in such a study. We will deal with these at a later point in this study. We will then learn the important Greek forms. This will tell us how the words would be translated in English. This is extremely important in many different passages. We will use what is called a "parsing guide" to identify the Greek form of each word. We will practice identifying these forms and then indicate how it would be said in English. These steps will give us a lot of information about what the author meant in any given text. As people have learned these steps, they have come to a much greater understanding of the meaning of the text. This has resulted in a heightening of confidence and interest in the text. We hope that you will have the same experience. |
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