Re: "Why study Greek?"

From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Sat Dec 11 1999 - 17:42:03 EST


<x-flowed>To: Pastor Jayce C. Edwards,

<< How would you answer the question, "Why study Greek?" if posed to you? >>

I would should stress some negative as well as positive reasons.

First, I would point out that by simply knowing Greek that will not
necessarily make any Greek text completely lucid so that by merely peering
into one's Greek text one will know what that author really meant. I would
also stress that ironically often the Greek text is more vague than our
English translations (of course, understanding what part of a text is truly
vague and what part is not, is part of any real understanding of a text).
Also, I would stress that many people would be better off reading a real
good commentary, than trying to figure out what a Greek text means with
only one year of formal study (or its equivalent). On the other hand, if
one wants a really in depth understanding of any text, whether it is the
NT, Dostoevsky's "War and Peace," Vergil's "Aeneid," Hugo's "Les
Miserables," Homer's "Iliad," or whatever, one can only do a real in depth
study in its original language. There is simply no sort cuts here. And I
would also point out that there is an interesting side advantage to
learning even just a little bit of Greek, and that is it makes reading
scholarly commentaries (on Greek texts) much easier to comprehend.

As a Christian I am also somewhat ambivalent about learning Greek and/or
Hebrew in order to understand scripture. Most of the more godly people I
have known have not been among the more educated, although I have been
fortunate to meet a few exceptions. And I seriously doubt that my personal
knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin (although I really only keep up with
my Greek), has helped me to live a more godly life. On the other hand,
scripture is the foundation document of a Christian's faith, and if one is
to do a real in depth study of scripture, one needs to know the original
languages. Hugo wrote of the bishop in his "Les Miserables" that "He had
great respect for the learned, but still more for the ignorant."

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller@www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree),
what do I know?"

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