How much am i missing out by not reading the Bible in greek?

[kittyio]

I have a very basic basic knowledge of Greek, probably only enough to be dangerous to myself. I know that the genitive means "of" and the accusative is the direct object and such. But I read the lexicon and I see "this word +accusative means this and that same word +genitive means something else" I have begun worrying that perhaps the translations don't take into account these nuances. To people who have read the Bible in Greek just how different is it?

 

[sandman]

My suggestion is to learn and understand Greek grammar rather than Greek itself.

Most of the Greek to English sites have parsed out the word(s) to which you can compare between the various manuscripts. For the most part they are relatively close and fairly accurate.

 

[kittyio]

My suggestion is to learn and understand Greek grammar rather than Greek itself.

Most of the Greek to English sites have parsed out the word(s) to which you can compare between the various manuscripts. For the most part they are relatively close and fairly accurate.

So would you say for example these verses all indeed refer to the same Spirit? Despite being in different cases?

Luke 3:16 - The Mission of John the Baptist

John answered all of them: I baptize you with water, but One more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

biblehub.com

1 Corinthians 12:13 - The Body of Christ

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

biblehub.com

Luke 11:13 - Ask, Seek, Knock

So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

biblehub.com

 

[Philip_B]

I have great admiration for those who are accomplished in Koine Greek. There is an abundance of commentaries and articles that will explore the finer points. Translations generally strive to replicate what they apprehend as the original meaning in the original language and context. I would always prefer a translation with the authority of numerous scholars who have worked in committee and peer-reviewed each other's work. I generally prefer to use translations that represent a broad spectrum of œcumenical oversight, and I am always ready to compare translations. There are some online resources that can be helpful,

Interlinear Bible: Greek, Hebrew, Transliterated, English, Strong's

Greek Bible

I have a couple of years of Koine Greek under my belt, and I by no means consider myself proficient. Nonetheless some of what I have learned I have carried with me and it has given me a greater appreciation of the text. Do I beat myself up about not being better at Greek? No. Do I think I know more than others without Greek? Sometimes I can offer something, however, sometimes they can offer something as well.

How much your should struggle with the greek should depend in part on how you understand your own giftedness.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Look at the word for word translations, A.K.A "literal" translations such as Young's and Green's.
Look for an interlinear Bible.
Look at Robertson's Word Pictures.
Look at Vincent's Word Pictures.
I like Vines.
Strong's concordance does not do it, nor do the Strong numbers. Neither do the various lexicons. They just give you the root word and not the grammatical nuances such as the genitive and etc etc.
I have always loved the deeper studies into the Greek and Hebrew. I even worked up my own translation of 1 John. Hey better than watching TV and Movies.

 

[Kees Boer]

I have great admiration for those who are accomplished in Koine Greek. There is an abundance of commentaries and articles that will explore the finer points. Translations generally strive to replicate what they apprehend as the original meaning in the original language and context. I would always prefer a translation with the authority of numerous scholars who have worked in committee and peer-reviewed each other's work. I generally prefer to use translations that represent a broad spectrum of œcumenical oversight, and I am always ready to compare translations. There are some online resources that can be helpful,

Interlinear Bible: Greek, Hebrew, Transliterated, English, Strong's

Greek Bible

I have a couple of years of Koine Greek under my belt, and I by no means consider myself proficient. Nonetheless some of what I have learned I have carried with me and it has given me a greater appreciation of the text. Do I beat myself up about not being better at Greek? No. Do I think I know more than others without Greek? Sometimes I can offer something, however, sometimes they can offer something as well.

How much your should struggle with the greek should depend in part on how you understand your own giftedness.

I'm trilangual, Dutch, English, and Spanish. I can say that when you switch languages, you always will lose something in the translation. I did study Greek and Hebrew, but I'm not fluent in either one of those. I will say that Greek is more technical, i.e. verbs are very specific when it comes to exactness.... Hebrew is more like pictures. Sort of like what I said in the video. I think you lose more by not knowing Hebrew, because it is so different. But no matter what translation you use, it's never like the original. Because most words don't perfectly translate.

 

[sandman]

So would you say for example these verses all indeed refer to the same Spirit? Despite being in different cases?

Luke 3:16 - The Mission of John the Baptist

John answered all of them: I baptize you with water, but One more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

biblehub.com

1 Corinthians 12:13 - The Body of Christ

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

biblehub.com

Luke 11:13 - Ask, Seek, Knock

So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

biblehub.com

The accusative case (Luke_11:13) refers to the case used for a noun or pronoun that is a direct object.

The dative case (Luke_3:16) shows the relationship of an indirect object to a verb, often found inside a prepositional phrase.

1 Cor_ 12:13 the first Spirit is dative….. the second spirit is accusative.


Context determines the use of spirit… (you cannot go by interpreters’ capitalization) It is either referring to God who is Holy Spirit or the gift of holy spirit, from the giver. (there are addendums to those)

The scripture you cited both Luke’s reference the gift…
1Corinthians appears to reference God in #1 and the gift and/or spiritual abilities in #2



Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask him?

Luk 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire:

1Co 12:13 For by one (#1) Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one (#2) spirit.

Another occasional usages of spirit.. is The spirit of man (again context determines)

 

[Blade]

Thinking here at the age of 61 known the lord for what over 50 years now. So looking back do I know more now since its so easy to read how it was originally written and granted all Greek translations are not the same. But did I miss out? Never...its as if I knew more before and less now. Well who am I relying on? Before all I had was that bible and prayer and just prayed and asked. Off the top of my head waiting for my son to get out of school I was reading and just said "Father I keep reading this but what does it mean?" He came right back and told me. So yes I will always look up how it was originally written but if all one has is the bible and never read Greek and Hebrew its His word not mans if the word is translated the wrong way.. He is really good at what He does and will tell you. Do we not every time we read ask Him to open our eyes? I want what HE was saying not what man was saying. I don't think about it.. faith.. knowing Luke 11:13 doing what He says there. Yet learning Greek Hebrew praise God awesome but will not make one more spiritual or strong in the faith you can still be a child knowing all that. It makes man feel better.

Now in this world there are those that will not talk to you (Jewish Rabbi) if you do not know Hebrew. In that case very wise to learn it...your there to show them what God said about the Messiah Yeshua Christ.

 

[Kees Boer]

Thinking here at the age of 61 known the lord for what over 50 years now. So looking back do I know more now since its so easy to read how it was originally written and granted all Greek translations are not the same. But did I miss out? Never...its as if I knew more before and less now. Well who am I relying on? Before all I had was that bible and prayer and just prayed and asked. Off the top of my head waiting for my son to get out of school I was reading and just said "Father I keep reading this but what does it mean?" He came right back and told me. So yes I will always look up how it was originally written but if all one has is the bible and never read Greek and Hebrew its His word not mans if the word is translated the wrong way.. He is really good at what He does and will tell you. Do we not every time we read ask Him to open our eyes? I want what HE was saying not what man was saying. I don't think about it.. faith.. knowing Luke 11:13 doing what He says there. Yet learning Greek Hebrew praise God awesome but will not make one more spiritual or strong in the faith you can still be a child knowing all that. It makes man feel better.

Now in this world there are those that will not talk to you (Jewish Rabbi) if you do not know Hebrew. In that case very wise to learn it...your there to show them what God said about the Messiah Yeshua Christ.

Wow, you found Jewish Rabbis not to want to talk with you, because you don't know Hebrew? That's horrible of them. I will say this, that if someone speaks a language from birth totally fluently, it's very difficult to compete with them. Because it's not just the language, it's the whole culture that's connected with it. Just a simple example, that I ran into when I moved to the USA. Someone asks me: "How are you doing?" My response was "How am I doing what?" Then finally I figured out what they were asking only to later figure out that they did not want me to really tell them. Most of the time they could care less.... Unless they asked it with a certain tone in their voice. There is so much to a language.

But if you want to have real good understanding, practice God's Word and you will tremendously grow in your understanding. God will give grace for you to have tons of wisdom.

On languages, the younger you start, the easier and faster you will pick it up. We are teaching all of our kids groups Hebrew now.

 

[Daniel Marsh]

My suggestion is to learn and understand Greek grammar rather than Greek itself.

Most of the Greek to English sites have parsed out the word(s) to which you can compare between the various manuscripts. For the most part they are relatively close and fairly accurate.

Google PDF Word Studies, AT Robertson Pictures Word Studies

Word Pictures in the New Testament by Archibald Thomas Robertson - PDF Drive

positions explained in terms of conjectural English translations or . some of the very words of Jesus we have still as he said: "The words that I have

www.pdfdrive.com

When I download from pdf drive, I contact the publisher and they give me permission to keep the pdf files. Most of the books there have been avialable for a long time. The only ones now you need to check are in 2020 to current copyright dates.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

You are not missing out on the overall message of the Scripture when you are reading in English. As others have said, the nuances can get missed in a translation. Aside from seminary, my go-to book is Basics of Biblical Greek by Mounce. You learn the most frequent words first like "kai" which is "and". This way a reader is picking up vocabulary and grammar rather than delving into declensions of nouns right away. For example, by chapter 4, you can read 11% of the NT and pick up names of people and places.

 

[Kees Boer]

As some of you know I'm a missionary in South America. So, I function in Spanish. However, I was born and brought up in Holland, then I moved to the USA, where I lived a long time. Having to function in three different languages, I have learned to appreciate the big differences that nuances and culture bring to a language. People talk and think differently in other countries, unless their language is the same like the USA and Canada, but even there there are some differences. I've thought about that much and have devoted a lot of time to studying the Hebrew and Middle Eastern culture during the time of the Bible. It's like the whole Bible can come to a different light. It's well worth studying that. That is actually what I base the short little videos on my channel about.

Reading the Bible through Middle Eastern eyes in the original languages will literally blow you away!

 

[Paidiske]

I agree with @Kees Boer that it's not just the nuances of words that change with a language, but a whole way of thinking. In the case of Biblical languages we're making not just a cultural shift, but also a historical one; trying to appreciate a way of thinking that existed in a world millennia away from where we are. That's a very big gap to bridge, and while learning the languages will help you, on its own it won't get you there.

I think learning about the history, sociology and so forth of those times will probably be just as useful to you as the nuts and bolts of Greek; and which you prefer to put time and energy into might depend on your own gifts and personality!

 

[FireDragon76]

I agree with @Kees Boer that it's not just the nuances of words that change with a language, but a whole way of thinking. In the case of Biblical languages we're making not just a cultural shift, but also a historical one; trying to appreciate a way of thinking that existed in a world millennia away from where we are. That's a very big gap to bridge, and while learning the languages will help you, on its own it won't get you there.

I think learning about the history, sociology and so forth of those times will probably be just as useful to you as the nuts and bolts of Greek; and which you prefer to put time and energy into might depend on your own gifts and personality!

Another thing you have to consider is that biblical scholarship isn't synonymous with theology, because theologians have to account for not only biblical scholarship, but also the history of ideas, philosophical presuppositions, and religious experience. That's an area where somebody like even N.T. Wright can get tripped up from time to time. When you have a hammer, there's a tendency to see everything as a nail. So biblical scholarship is just a tool, and sometimes certain theologians or pastors focus too much on biblical scholarship (as does the lay public).

 

[Kees Boer]

The last post I did really showed how much more you would get out of understanding the cultural background of a story in the Bible. Reading It as a westerner, many things will go over one's head. It's like here in South America, people watch Forest Gump with a Spanish audio track. I asked what accent Forrest has. They told me none. Then the movie is filled with so much US culture and history, you can see how a huge part goes right over their head. Now, they still see the main story and enjoy it, but a lot less than folks from the USA. Watch this video. It's a short six minute video. You'll be amazed how you will see the story differently.

 

[PeterJennen]

Look at the word for word translations, A.K.A "literal" translations such as Young's and Green's.
Look for an interlinear Bible.
Look at Robertson's Word Pictures.
Look at Vincent's Word Pictures.
I like Vines.
Strong's concordance does not do it, nor do the Strong numbers. Neither do the various lexicons. They just give you the root word and not the grammatical nuances such as the genitive and etc etc.
I have always loved the deeper studies into the Greek and Hebrew. I even worked up my own translation of 1 John. Hey better than watching TV and Movies.

Hi SavedByGrace3,
I was looking at Rev 14:9 to understand who the holy angels are. I was surprised to see that the word "holy" is translated from is the same word that "saint" is translated from. As I have only used the Strong's Concordance for my Greek understanding, and I am not multilingual, I'm curious if you have looked into this and if you have any insights you are willing to share?

 

[Davy]

I have a very basic basic knowledge of Greek, probably only enough to be dangerous to myself. I know that the genitive means "of" and the accusative is the direct object and such. But I read the lexicon and I see "this word +accusative means this and that same word +genitive means something else" I have begun worrying that perhaps the translations don't take into account these nuances. To people who have read the Bible in Greek just how different is it?

Probably not as much as those who do 'claim' to read Biblical Greek, and try to lord it over those who don't. Past Bible scholars have given us the tools to go into the Greek for ourselves. That's one of the things the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance that has the Hebrew-Greek Lexicons in the back, is about.

 

[GenemZ]

I have a very basic basic knowledge of Greek, probably only enough to be dangerous to myself. I know that the genitive means "of" and the accusative is the direct object and such. But I read the lexicon and I see "this word +accusative means this and that same word +genitive means something else" I have begun worrying that perhaps the translations don't take into account these nuances. To people who have read the Bible in Greek just how different is it?

Excellent teacher of the Greek "function" in Scriptures can be found here.

R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries | Home

He was recommended to me while in Bible college by the professor of ancient languages. He told me he benefitted from this pastor's teachings himself

I just listened to a message today he taught from Romans. He went into an extensive breakdown of the Greek.

As I was listening I kept thinking that someone who studies the Greek would truly appreciate what was taught.
He used to openly exegete during certain messages because he had seminary and pastors learning from him.

His messages were a helpful and unique experience for those so inclined and disciplined.

Some think that concordances and Lexicons are all they need.
They fail to realize that the Greek syntax could greatly modify a words meaning that it root meaning could never explain properly a passage. I heard such a lesson today do just that.


If you wish... PM me and I will set up emailing you a copy of that message.

grace and peace ...................