3 Tips for Using Biblical Languages in Preaching
Don’t be a Greek jerk, make your points from alternative English translations, but use Greek if absolutely necessary for your sermon.
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Biblical Greek Made Simple: A New Grammar | Danny Zacharias
Year after year, students take Greek, pass Greek, and forget Greek. Maybe you were one of those students. Maybe you’re the one teaching them. How can we make the most of the tools available to us in Bible software, the most of our students’ time, and actually teach them to comprehend the basics? Danny Zacharias, associate professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College, wrote Biblical Greek Made Simple (Lexham Press) to answer those very questions.
When the Root Fallacy Doesn’t Apply
Sometimes, a word is basically the sum of its parts. But that doesn’t mean the interpretive job is done.
Greek Matters | Is That in the Greek?
“Keep your Bibles open. My job is to preach the text; your job is to make sure what I’m saying is really there,” my pastor said to begin his Easter morning sermon. Liam was appropriately preaching out of John 20, so I slipped out my Greek New Testament and tried to follow along in it. In doing so…
Greek Matters: A Student’s Epiphany about γάρ
Sometimes simple discoveries can change significant things. One of our assignments for third semester Greek at Westminster was to scrutinize, translate, sentence flow, and perform a discourse analysis on Romans 1:15-17. This is a familiar passage for sure. I’ve worked for a parachurch missions agency. I listen to Christian rap. I know Romans 1:16. I have heard this passage preached from many times. I have heard missionary appeals given from this passage many times. I’ve heard this line sung many times. And I have seen “116” tattoos many times. It is familiar. Glorious. But familiar….
Greek Matters: Colossians 2:20 and Liberation from Fleshly Living
Εἰ ἀπεθάνετε σὺν Χριστῷ ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου, τί ὡς ζῶντες ἐν κόσμῳ δογματίζεσθε; (Colossians 2:20)
There are two difficult elements of Greek grammar here, but, once sorted out, we see a powerful question posed to the Colossians. The first four words are simple enough, “If you died with Christ…” But the following preposition ἀπό seems strange following the verb ἀποθνῄσκω, “to die”; what does it mean to “die from” something? As you can imagine, it means more to “die to” or with reference to something, but even more than that. According to BDAG….
Greek Matters: Colossians 1:9-12 and Pleasing God
How can we please God? Colossians 1:9-12 is a complex passage with lots of participles and prepositional phrases. One could translate each clause and read it well enough, but analyzing the paragraph as a whole enables us to see what the major idea of the passage is and how Paul develops that idea. After Paul tells his readers that he always thanks God for their faith, hope, and love, he continues on that basis (Διὰ τοῦτο, “because of this”) to say that he never ceases praying and asking “that you might be filled” (ἵνα πληρωθῆτε) with the knowledge of God’s will….
Greek Matters: Colossians 1:3-5 and Christian Hope
Εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ πατρὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν προσευχόμενοι, ἀκούσαντες τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ἔχετε εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους 5 διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἣν προηκούσατε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
(Colossians 1:3-5)
In Colossians 1:3-5 we see Paul’s triad of faith, hope, and love. By sorting out what a particular prepositional phrase modifies, we discover something unique about Christian hope. The main idea of this section is the first verb, “We give thanks.” Paul then explains the reason why he and his co-workers give thanks: ἀκούσαντες (because we have heard) of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints….