I Love Greek

You should too.

I love New Testament Greek because it enables me to see the Bible as it really is. No translators, commentaries, or translations needed. Just the text as originally written.

This doesn't mean that you can't read the Bible in English, or that it is of dimnished value - quite to the contrary. Our English translations of the Bible are amazingly accurate. But they will always be translations, and we need to understand that there is a depth and life to the Greek that translations simply cannot produce. I mean, come on, you can barely parse English verbs; but to learn Greek, you have to parse Greek verbs.

So, to my brothers who want to learn Greek but haven't had the guts or the desire to do it yet, I offer more reasons to love and learn and use Greek:

1. It tends to reveal God's glory more in your study.
This reason alone should be enough to learn Greek. If you even have an inkling to learn it, you may well be like me and enjoy the verb tenses and moods and all the connections they make for us, right there in the text. English can sometimes obscure these. I'm not saying that Greek is some sort of secret knowledge, only that the closer we get to the truth, the brighter God's glory shines.

2. It is the language in which God chose to write His New Testament.
Again, this reason alone should be enough to learn NT Greek. God didn't write the original text in English - sorry, KJV-only folks, it's simply not true - so we ought to bown humbly before His sovereign choice and learn in the school He's given us.

3. It reveals what translations can sometimes obscure.
So many connections, wordplays, and exegetical pointers get lost in translation. You know how, in English, you often see words repeated in a close context? Count on seeing that twice as often in Greek.

4. Pure exegesis is impossible without it.
Simply put, without the original languages, you're always leaning on someone else's translation. Your exegesis will always be dependent on theirs.

5. God will use it to build your faith in Him.
By seeing more of His glory in the text and His beautiful design in its arrangement, God will build your faith upon solid rocks of Biblical exegesis. You will be able to say, "Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! I've seen it in the Greek text!"

Now I know that many of us simply cannot learn Greek because of time or resources or even learning limitations. And if that is the case for you, Christian, please know that God is not displeased with you and you are not missing out. If you are Christ's, then He is blessing you in a thousand different ways besides learning and using Greek.

But if you have a mission in your life of preaching and teaching, if you want to rightly divide God's Word, if you love the Scriptures, stop your delay. We could list a hundred more reasons to learn Greek, but do you really need them? You already know that you should, because God's witness in your own heart is telling you to do it.

I'll offer some more pointers in the next post. (Ps - I also love Old Testament Hebrew; but it is really hard, and I need some help on it. So I understand that, too. More on getting help in the next post.)