Dave Black’s Resources for Learning NT Greek
Dave Black has a knack for making difficult subjects less difficult. (By the way, I thought this about Dr. Black before he was my PhD mentor.) He has written several “introductory” books that aid the student of New Testament Greek. Here are a few books that everyone learning NT Greek should have at their disposal:
Learn to Read New Testament Greek
In his introductory Greek grammar, Black introduces the student to the morphological method of NT Greek. He shows his reader how to identify the “building blocks” (i.e. morphemes) that make up Greek words.
It’s Still Greek to Me
In this book, Black “introduces” the reader to intermediate topics in Greek grammar and syntax. He discusses difficult topics in an easy-to-understand and humorous manner.
Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Discourse Analysis
This book introduces the student to the field of linguistics and discourse analysis as it pertains to the New Testament. The essays in the first part of the book discuss various principles related to linguistics, while the essays in the second part of the book uses those principles to study various passages in the NT.
Learn Greek to Ask Questions
A few days ago, I wrote a post called “Don’t Study Greek” which listed several bad reasons to study Greek. But, what are some good reasons to study NT (or Koine) Greek?
There are many good reasons to study NT Greek. You can Google the question and see the responses from many different people. For the most part, these are very good reasons.
But, there’s one additional reason that I can think of for studying NT Greek. If you read the NT in Greek, you will learn to ask different questions about Scripture, and those questions will be based in the text of Scripture and not in a translation.
That’s right. If you learn to read NT Greek, you may find the answers to some of your questions about Scripture, but you will also learn a whole new set of questions. These new questions will be raised by the Greek text of the Scriptures, not by our English translations.
There is one simple and well-known example of this phenomenon. Consider the popular verse John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)
The English word “so” translates the Greek word “οὕτως” (hootÅs). Most of the English translations use the word “so” here. The problem is that the English word “so” can be “so much” (the most common usage) or “in this manner” (a much less common usage). (The NLT translates “οὕτως” (hootÅs) as “so much” while the HCSB translates the term as “in this manner.” Otherwise, other translations use the English word “so.”)
But, the Greek word “οὕτως” (hootÅs) cannot mean “so much.” Instead, it means “in this manner.” John was not writing about the quantity of God’s love (“so much”) but about the means that God loved (“in this manner”).
Of course, if we read the English translation as “so much,” we ask different questions (i.e. “How much did God love”) than if we understood “οὕτως” (hootÅs) to mean “in this manner” (i.e. “How did God love”). So, reading the Greek text causes us to ask different questions; but, we’re now asking questions that arise from the text of Scripture not from a translation.
Often, in order to make their English translations, translators had to answer those questions for themselves (and for their readers). So, the readers will never know that the questions are there in the first place, much less will they know to ask the questions.
So, when we learn Greek, we’re able to study the words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of the Scriptures ourselves. We learn to examine the relationships between terms and phrases. And, we learn that new questions arise from the texts – questions that we may have missed if we only studied our English (or other language) translations.
Don’t Study Greek
There are many, many good reasons to study New Testament (Koine) Greek. Of course, there are some not-so-good reasons also. Don’t study Greek…
- if you think it will make you more spiritual or “closer to God.”
- if you think knowing Greek will answer all of your questions about Scripture.
- if you want to impress people with how much you know.
- if you want to win theological arguments.
It’s all Greek to me
From time to time, I get emails or comments asking questions about New Testament (Koine) Greek. I know that many of my readers have studied Greek, and I know that other readers are currently learning Greek or are interested in learning Greek.
I would like to assist those who are studying NT Greek. But, while I have already talked with several people about this, I would like more input. If you don’t mind sharing with us, please answer the following questions:
- Are you currently studying Greek, have you studied it in the past, or do you want to (plan to) study Greek in the future?
- If you have studied Greek in the past or if you are studying it now, how do you currently use Greek in your study of Scripture?
- Why is knowing NT Greek important or not important to you?
- Would you be more interested in motivational help, grammatical/syntactical help, linguistic/discourse help, other help?
- Do you have any other suggestions, questions, or comments about learning and using NT Greek, I would love to hear them.
I would greatly appreciate your feedback!