One of the steps involved in the method I use for studying scriptures is to explore original languages. You can definitely read your Bible, make lists and observations, and receive benefit from it in English. Or whatever your native tongue. But I believe delving into the author’s words and phrases behind the translator’s words and phrases allow me a more rounded and comprehensive picture of what they were trying to say.
I personally find this to be of such import that in the last few months I’ve begun studies to learn Bible Greek and Bible Hebrew. I’m using William Mounce’s Greek for the Rest of Us, which can be found here. I’m also using the companion volume by Lee Fields called Hebrew for the Rest of Us, which can be found here. I’ve been in a Greek class previously but it was at a time that I was homeschooling four kids. Dedicating years of study to learn an entire language and not speak it seemed not only overwhelming but pointless. As I’ve continued my biblical education, I found that Bill Mounce of biblicaltraining.org understood this problem and developed this book, Greek for the Rest of Us, and corresponding class to provide teaching for “Church Greek” as opposed to seminary classes designed to teach full-on Greek. So that is an option for you to consider as you approach the opportunity to understand the author’s words behind the translator’s words.
As I’ve been exploring original languages for a few years now, a concept I keep hearing my instructors stress is that translations are not one-to-one equivalents. It isn’t a code. As an example, just today I heard a lecture that was dealing with some of the intricacies of articles and conjunctions. Did you know Greek doesn’t have a word for “a”? I didn’t know that. And they used “the” everywhere, before nouns and sometimes adjectives. Plus the word “and” in Greek has myriad meanings and usages. I didn’t know that either. This stuff is so cool!
I think an important concept in studying the original languages of the Bible is that meaning can’t be conveyed simply by using words in a one-to-one fashion. Most of the time the meaning must be conveyed through phrases.
Another important concept is that we have to stay grounded in the context of the entire passage. If we take a verse or even just a word out of context and start defining it, we will get ourselves into misinterpretations. Often held up for example is a word like “trunk”. How many definitions are there for “trunk”? “There is a peanut in the trunk.” Is there a legume out there sitting in a big box or did an elephant suddenly breathe in quickly and inhale his snack? Who knows because the sentence has no context.
Additionally, as students of the word, we want to make sure we are not hearing the words of scripture with 21st century Western ears. Instead, we want to try to hear and comprehend the words and phrases as the first audiences would have heard and comprehended. We want to place ourselves in the culture and time that scripture was written.
Beginning to understand the actual words the author used starts with looking in a dictionary that contains definitions of the words as they were used at that time. Using an English dictionary will only help us understand the words and phrases the English translator used, while using an original language dictionary will explain what the definitions are behind the words the translator committees chose.
You can start to practice some original language study using free online tools. Here is a link to the studylight.org website and it’ll open right to what we’re studying right now in Ephesians 1. It has an interlinear and the ability to click on a word to see the Strong’s entry on the definition. It’s a good place to start.
Here is a list of dictionaries that I have in my digital library and that I use with regularity:
- The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume. Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985) I believe this book has also been referred to as “Little Kittel” which I think is cute and has the abbreviation of TDNTA. I also have the unabridged version, but I prefer this one. This is the lexicon I’ve had the longest and it was a challenge for me to figure out how to use it. For the words it defines, it takes you on a chronological journey of how it has been used through the ages. As you use this volume, don’t get confused with how it’s ever been used in opposition to how it was used in the author’s day. Don’t forget that we are trying to understand how the audience understood the word. We are less interested in how Homer used the word than how the word is specifically used in the New Testament. This is a very useful and scholarly lexicon.
- A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). My beloved husband Jeremy bought this one in digital format for my Logos library (this) in a bundle with The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament about 10 years ago for our anniversary. The abbreviation for this lexicon is BDAG. So far in my collection of scholarly lexicons, I’ve found this one to be the most useful. The entries are often lengthy, but that is because most of the time I can find the exact Bible reference for the word that I’m trying to understand. When I can find the verse I’m working on, I can scroll back up and see what the author/scholar’s actual definition is for that word in the actual verse.
- Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words by William Mounce. This lexicon is my most recent acquisition so I’m not as familiar with it, but I’m finding it to be useful in its layout. When I look up a word in Greek, the English words that are translated from the original word are listed at the end of the entry. Like if I look up πιστις (pistis), at the end of the entry is a “See dependable; faithful; reliable; trustworthy“. So if the word in my Bible I was trying to understand was “faithful”, I can go to the entry for faithful and read more information there. Cool.
These three resources are my favorites, although in the past I’ve also used Vine’s, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Dictionary of Biblical Languages, and New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries.
Learning church Hebrew and Greek, listening to lectures about Greek, and exploring different original language dictionaries are all different ways I’m endeavoring to make my understanding of the text more well-rounded.
I realize it sounds overwhelming–learn Greek, read dictionaries filled with incomprehensible words, compare and study–I know. I’ve been there. I’m still there because there is still so much to learn. (How fun!) I even want to say that if you make errors in how to use these study tools, the Holy Spirit is in it with you. Keep praying, keep communicating with our God. He will help and guide. And our modern translations are good, great actually! However, we can learn more and get a fuller understanding when we employ additional tools. We can paint using a broad brush, and we can also get details painted when we use smaller tools.
There is a Chinese proverb that my beloved just quoted a few weeks ago to our middle son:
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Our Bible Study Bite for today then is to plant an original language tree. We want to start to explore a little more for ourselves what the biblical authors meant so we can understand our God a little better. When we can see him a little more clearly, we will get to worship him a little bit more. A little here, a little there. Come on, it’s fun! And we can do it together.
