Learning New Testament Greek
by Wyatt Houtz   November 12, 2008 4:39pm v.14 Rating: Status: Hidden

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This summer, I was inspired to learn New Testament Greek and bought the ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament. This ESV bible presents the English verses on the first line, and then the rearranged original Greek words on a line beneath the English. The Greek words are numbered and have arrows to indicate their original ordering. It's easy to read the English and to see the original Greek words at the same time. In addition to the Greek, the Latin transliteration of the words are provided on a third line to make pronunciation and work recognition easier. On the fourth line is the parsing code indicating, gender, plurality, etc. and then the fifth line has the Strong's Numbers for dictionary look-ups. It has everything! Here is a sample page: This bible contains the Greek New Testament, and doesn't contain the Septuagint (LXX) Greek Old Testament; it would be a huge book otherwise! Besides, the LXX's Classical Greek is much different than the NT's Koine Greek. I was surprised how many Greek words I had learned after I had read through this entire bible, as well as how many amazing details can be seen from simply looking at the original Greek words (even without knowing what they meant.) Seeing the Greek word patterns, repetitions and phrases occurring repeatedly allowed me to see significant details that are lost in translation. For instance, there are many words for "love" in the Greek: philo, agape, eros, etc. but only one ("love") in English. So in John 21:15-19, Jesus asks Peter if he ("agape") loves him, but Peter responds that he ("philo") loves him. Agape is much more significant than Philo, so it's no wonder why Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" The NT Greek has thoroughly impressed me and made me appreciate the importance of learning Greek and Hebrew. I'm not prepared to learn Hebrew yet. But, I have renewed appreciation for the NASB bible for its 97% literacy ratio, because it italicizes words not in the original language and tries to do word for word translations. I'm not ready to start translating Hebrew, so this has become my preferred study bible for the Old Testament.  I've decided to take my Greek to the next level, and try to understand Greek grammar, rather than only building Greek vocabulary. I found an excellent introduction book to NT Greek grammar that is easy to follow and productive! Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce. This Greek grammar has a CD and workbook to accompany it, but my library only had the textbook. Bill Mounce informs you that there are only about 5,000 distinct Greek words in the New Testament, and he tells you after each chapter what percentage of the words you have learned so far. It's amazing how fast that percentage rises too! I read through the first five chapters in one sitting, and am finally understanding how to pronounce the words, transform them into English letters, and determine if words are plural or feminine, etc. I highly recommend both books from personal experience! By combining the two, I have learned more in a few months than I thought I would learn in a few years! Learning Koine Greek no longer feels impossibly, but now attainable!   Last Update: November 12, 2008 7:46pm Tags: Greek, Translation, Hebrew, Koine Greek, Classical Greek, ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, William D. Mounce

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Comments: #1 November 13, 2008 5:58am I'm impressed! Greek isn't easy to learn (though it is easy to forget....). Mounce does a good job of making Koine Greek accessible (yes, that was my textbook when I learned Greek). Another good one (which I had to buy just as a resource for my Greek Reading course) is Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. I also have the Vocab CD (which is now loaded into my iPod... though I don't listen often). I think I'd do better with Greek reading now if I had someone to actually do it with. Aha. An idea. You must move back to Jackson! Then we could totally meet up for Greek reading and theology chats! ben krateo.blogspot.com Jackson, MI #2 November 13, 2008 6:25pm I have Daniel Wallace's book sitting next to me. I've checked it out of the library in the past, but it was too advanced. Hopefully the Mounce book will be a key into Wallace's textbook. I noticed, if you have Wallace's book on your bookshelf, people will think you're smart! I hope to write a follow up blog on the Wallace book and the blueletterbible.org I love theology and can talk about it all day! Hopefully we can have one of those chats sometime soon. Wyatt Kirkland, WA #3 August 8, 2010 4:02pm PRIVATE MESSAGE YOU MUST LOGIN TO VIEW THIS MESSAGE Ronaldo Nascimento http://retornoaoevangelhodacruz.blogspot.com/ Brazil Add a comment: Name: Email: WWW: AIM: Location: Comment: PublicPrivate