(Author's note: Last week we looked at some beginner's pitfalls in studying Greek. This week we continue those thoughts along the same lines. If necessary, please review the context of last week's article for continuity.)

4. Assume That There Are No Rules to Greek, Just Exceptions

As we mentioned last week, there are those who assume that there are no exceptions to the rules of Greek. But another fallacy is to study the Greek language through the rose-colored glasses of postmodern thought and take the opposite extreme, namely, that there are no rules, just individual statements, each with its own subjective interpretation. (Truthfully, this mistake is more likely made by intermediate students than beginning, but it is mentioned here in an effort to balance out point #3 in the previous article.) Without going into an in depth analysis of postmodernism, it seems obvious that language must have some kind of rules in order for that language to be understood in another. Take for example the Rosetta Stone. That archaeological discovery was key to being able to decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics. How were we able to decipher it if language has no rules? If such were the case, then no foreign language could ever be decipherable. However, by comparing Egyptian Hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone to other known languages and understanding that languages follow patterns/rules, Hieroglyphics become decipherable.

Languages do indeed have more or less consistent rules. One such consistent rule in the Greek language is the meaning of the present tense. Present tense verbs in Greek signify ongoing or continual action. Are there some exceptions to this? Yes, such as present tense verbs with aorist stems. However, even this exception follows its own rule in that the verb in the present tense with the aorist stem falls back to the aorist tense rule, namely, that the aorist tense signifies point action (an action that is performed and completed in a single moment). These special verbs are recognized and categorized differently from regular stem present tense verbs. To suggest that there really are no rules in Greek grammar is to make the grammar to be unknowable and to subjectivize the translation process, which many translators of modern versions are, in fact, doing today.

5. Focus Upon One Definition and Ignore Context.

Another pitfall that the beginning student may stumble into relates to vocabulary. When one begins studying Greek vocabulary, there is an emphasis upon a one-for-one translation of a Greek word to an English word. This is done in order to build a student's vocabulary in a relatively short period of time. And while it is the case that Greek words have a primary or main definition, like English, most words may also take additional, secondary (and even tertiary, etc.) meanings in different contexts.

A great example of this is the Greek word for "head," KEFALH. The word may refer to one's physical head (the one with the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.). But the word may also refer to a leader, i.e., the head of an organization. These two meanings are apparent in the English language as well. The word is used in both senses in 1 Corinthians 11:4. Paul writes "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head." In this passage, the first use of the word "head" means my flesh-covered skull. The second use of the word "head" however, refers to an organizational head, namely, Christ. The meaning of the passage is when a man covers up his head (skull) while praying or prophesying, his Head (Christ) is dishonored. So we have the same word, but two different meanings of the word.

Another example is the Greek verb LUW, which can mean "to loose" or "to destroy." In Matthew 21:2 the word is used in regard to loosing the colt upon which Jesus was to ride into the city of Jerusalem. The same word, however, is used in John 2:19 and 1 John 3:8 to mean "destroy." How does one know the difference between the two meanings? One must understand the word in light of the context in which it is used.

An illustration of this fallacy is to assume the word DIAKONOS (deacon, servant) has no special reference to an office in the church (as Paul teaches in 1 Timothy 3:8-13), but that it is simply indicative of one who serves whether male or female. Such an over-simplification of the Greek language is not warranted because most words have more than one definition. When such is the case, one must examine context to learn what definition is being used and not assume that there is only one definition of the word.

6. Focus Entirely Upon the Context and Ignore the Definition.

Once again, there is an opposite extreme to the above pitfall, namely, that once one begins to understand that context helps a person to determine which definition of the word is being used, one may assume that all words are defined by context and the definition has no bearing at all. Such ignores the fact that words do indeed have definitions. Context helps us construe the correct definition, but in standard writing, context does not redefine words.

One such example of imposing context upon the definition of a word so as to come up with a completely new definition of the word is the way some interpret Matthew 19:9. Jesus says, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." Some look at this passage and say that Jesus was redefining adultery to mean divorce and remarriage. However, such is not the case. Jesus was not stating that that behavior was adultery. Jesus was stating that divorce and remarriage doesn't legitimize what is in actuality adultery, the definition of which is to carnally know someone else instead of one's legitimate spouse (compare Ezekiel 16:32). In other words, simply because one divorces and remarries doesn't mean that one is NOT committing adultery simply because they have gone through the process of divorce and remarriage. Those who take the context of this passage and redefine the meaning of adultery are missing Jesus' point and committing the fallacy under discussion.

More to come….

by Kevin Cauley

A few months back, Randal asked me to take on the challenge of writing about some of the pitfalls which beginning Greek students make in an effort to learn the language. I thought that that would be a good thing to do and having made several mistakes myself in the process of learning (and continuing to learn) the language, I wrote down a few thoughts in that regard. So while this particular article is not going to focus upon any particular aspect of the Greek language, per se, it will, I believe, help the Greek student to handle his Greek wisely and not to be labeled as one who "knows just enough to be dangerous" (some may yet classify me as such!).

1. Using Grammar to Interpretationalize the Text

Perhaps one of the most tempting pitfalls of studying the Greek language is the tendency to use grammar to interpretationalize the text. By interpretationalize, I mean to unnecessarily apply an interpretation based upon one's understanding grammar. This is not to say that grammar does not influence interpretation; obviously it does. However, interpreting what a sentence means or implies often depends upon more than mere grammatical concerns. What adds to the pitfall is that words often used to describe Greek grammatical constructions which are intended to have grammatical significance are often taken to have more significance than they really have. One such example comes from what is labeled the "habitual imperfect." The beginning student might take that to mean that anytime one sees the habitual imperfect, that it was a habit of the individual to engage in such and so action. That's not necessarily the case. The habitual imperfect is called that because the action in the imperfect is being repeated iteratively. The habit is not associated with the individual being described, but with the action in the verb. It would be an interpretationalization to suggest that the habitual imperfect "he was praying" meant he prayed every day habitually. It could just mean he prayed one prayer after another iteratively in the same day.

2. Force an Interpretation in Spite of Grammar

Somewhat opposite to the above pitfall is to ignore the grammar of a text entirely and opt out for one's own specialized understanding of a passage. This generally occurs when someone already has their mind set on a particular doctrine or teaching and is not willing to conform his doctrine to the dictates of the grammar in the passage. One such example is found in Matthew 28:19-20. The main verb of this passage is "make disciples." The two modal participles in this passage (baptizing and teaching) describe just how to complete the action in the main verb. The Greek participle does not contain a grammatical time of its own. It gets its time from its relationship with the lead verb. In Matthew 28:19-20, the time of the participles occur contemporaneously with the time of the lead verb. That grammatically implies that a disciple isn't made a disciple until he is both taught and baptized. That is to say that the actions of teaching and the baptizing both must occur within the context of the action of making disciples. One who doesn't believe that baptism is necessary to become a disciple would have a theological problem with the grammatical construction of this verse, but that doesn't change the grammar.

3. Assume that There are No Exceptions to the Grammatical Rule

Some rules of grammar are more or less absolute. For example, the Greek language is written and read from left to right. While there may be some intended exceptions to that rule, we recognize them as obvious aberrations. On the other hand, some rules in Greek are not as cut and dry as beginning grammars lead a student to believe. Take, for example, the combination of an aorist participle with an aorist verb. Most beginning Greek grammars will state that the time of the aorist participle is antecedent (happens before) the action of the main verb. However, more advanced grammars will clearly state that this is not a good rule to follow when it comes to the aorist participle, but rather, that such grammatical constructions should be taken on a more or less case-by-case basis. Then why do the beginning grammars say such? A good question. Most beginning grammars don't want to confuse a beginning student with advanced linguistic ambiguities. Hence, they reveal the language in as simplistic terms as possible, allowing the student to get the "gist." We do the same thing with our children when they learn language. We teach our children what the basic rule is first. One such example occurs with regularly formed verbs. We're all familiar with small children who understand that the suffix "-ed" is added to a word to indicate past tense. They assume all past tense words are like that, so they say things like, "I eated in the cafeteria today." They add "-ed" to the verb "eat" because this is the standard rule. They have to be taught as they get more advanced in the language that "eat" is an irregular verb, the past tense of which is "ate." And believe it or not, adults learning a new language do this too! Greek is no exception to this rule.

More to come...

by Kevin Cauley

There are several words that can be translated "Thanks" in the New Testament and seeing that this article will be sent out shortly after Thanksgiving and on Thanksgiving weekend, I thought that I would engage in a brief word study on the concept.

The Greek words, EUCARISTIA, EUCARISTEW, and EUCARISTOS are all Greek words that involve the concept of thanksgiving. Out of all of these words, EUCARISTEW, the verb, is most frequently used (39 times). The noun, EUCARISTIA is used 14 times and the adjective EUCARISTOS, once. The word is a compound word made from EU meaning "good" and CARIS, meaning "grace" or "gift." Hence, to say "thank you" in Greek was to express "good grace to you" or "good gift to you."

The word is used to express thanksgiving to both God and men, but it is used theologically in the New Testament to describe the state of the Christian's indebtedness to God's grace and mercy (2 Thessalonians 2:13). It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). And it is that which is expressed to God for his sovereignty (Revelation 11:17).

This word may seem familiar to you because we have an English word that roughly corresponds to the Greek word, namely, Eucharist. This is the term that many use in the religious world to refer to the Lord's Supper. It was the term used by early Christians as well. There are several references to the Lord's Supper using this word to describe the Lord's Supper in the writings of the apostolic "fathers." Indeed, Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 that thanksgiving must be involved in the prayer for both the bread and the fruit of the vine.

There are some additional words in the New Testament that may also be translated in this vein as well: CARIS, EXOMOLOGEW, and ANQOMOLOGEOMAI. CARIS usually means grace, but is used in 1 Corinthians 15:57 to express thanksgiving for the victory in Christ. It is also used in 2 Corinthians 9:15 in regard to God's "unspeakable gift."

EXOMOLOGEW is a completely different form. It is also a compound word from the preposition EK (out of) and hOMOLOGEW (confess). The idea is to express that which is out of confession. Jesus uses this word to speak to the Father in Matthew 11:25 and Luke 10:21. According to Vine's Expository Dictionary, the meaning is to "make thankful confession" or "make acknowledgment with praise."

ANQOMOLOGEOMAI is another compound word composed of the preposition ANTI (against, opposite) and hOMOLOGEW. The word is used in Luke 2:38 to describe Anna's thanksgiving and praise. The preposition ANTI seems to intensify hOMOLOGEW in this instead of offset it.

So let us practice what is written and give thanks regularly regarding all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

by Kevin Cauley

Greek prepositions usually merit their own major section of discussion in the syntax of most Greek grammars. They merit such discussion due to their multifaceted nature. The Greek preposition is one of the Swiss army knives in the Greek language; one preposition may have multiple uses. The Greek reader must carefully consider the context in which the preposition is used and correctly apply the proper usage if he is to get all there is out of reading the text. In our discussion this week, we will look at one particularly special nuance of the Greek preposition KATA.

KATA may take two cases depending upon how it is used. With the genitive case, KATA can mean "against," "down," or it can intensify the meaning of something as to it's depth (such as in 2 Corinthians 8:2). With the accusative case, KATA may represent ownership, authorship, or repetition (distribution). It is sometimes translated "according to" with this case. It is the last use of KATA, the distributive use, which we will focus upon here.

When the distributive KATA is used, the idea of repetition is involved, usually with reference to people, times, or places. The word "every" is a good word to use in reference to this preposition. For example, in Matthew 27:15 (and in the parallel in Mark 15:6) we have the distributive use of KATA. The ASV text says, "Now at the feast the governor was wont to release unto the multitude one prisoner, whom they would." The word KATA occurs early in the sentence. It is translated here by the word "at." However, when taking the distributive use of the preposition KATA into account here, we would more accurately translate the sentence, "Now at every feast…." The idea is that this was a repeated event. That it wasn't just at this feast, but was customary at all of the feasts to release a prisoner.

Another rather obvious example is in Mark 14:19 where the disciples question Jesus "one by one." The word translated "by" in this verse is KATA. The distributive sense can be seen clearly in this passage.

Romans 12:5 is also another good example. "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Each individual member is part of the body of Christ.

Perhaps one of the most significant uses of the distributive KATA is found in 1 Corinthians 16:2: "Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come." You may think that the word "each" in this verse is KATA, but it isn't. The word KATA is translated "upon" in this verse. The idea is upon every first day of the week, the church was to take up this collection. The implication is obvious. The church met every first day of the week and this was the time at which Paul instructed them to take up their contribution.

Other examples of the distributive use of KATA can be found in Luke 8:1, 4, 9:6, 13:22, Acts 8:3, 13:27, 15:21, 15:36, 17:17, 20:23, 22:19, 24:5, 24:12, 26:11, Titus 1:5, Hebrews 9:5, and Revelation 22:2. A good exercise would be to see if you can spot the distributive KATA in these verses.

by Kevin Cauley

Many years ago, scholars thought that the Greek language was a "specialized" language that was in place for the New Testament alone. More recent scholarship has dismissed this theory in favor of the idea that New Testament Greek was the common everyday language used by the average Joe of the day. What swayed scholars in this direction was the uncovering of tens of thousands of papyri written in Greek that discussed everyday Greek life during those years. The term "Koine" (common) is applied to the Greek of the New Testament, because that Greek was, in fact, the "common" language of the people during that period of time. The term is used in contrast to what scholars consider "classical" Greek of the Greek homeland proper in which genre many of the classical Greek works are written.

The fact that New Testament Greek is not a specialized sort of Greek, but the common every day kind of Greek that folks used during that time, stems from the conquests of Alexander the Great. As Alexander moved through, conquering the various countries of his day, he took along with him as the official state language, Greek. He also made a great effort to "hellenize" (convert to Greek culture) those countries that he conquered. By the time the Romans took over the Greek empire, the Greek culture had thoroughly saturated Alexander's conquered world. Greek remained the most popular language of the day, though Latin became the language of law under the Roman empire.

In the midst of this Greek cultural revolution, some Hebrew speaking scholars made a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. This translation of the Old Testament was called the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX). It testifies as to how popular the Greek language was that the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek. Tradition states that the translation was done in the city of Alexandria by seventy-two scholars from the country of Israel sometime around 250 B.C. Most modern day historians, however, doubt the reliability of this story, favoring a view that has the translation being accomplished in various Jewish synagogues and then compiled sometime before 130 B.C. Regardless the time of accomplishment, the entire work was in broad circulation well before the time of Christ. Many Jewish communities outside of Palestine (and some within) used the work as their primary text in studying the Old Testament because their knowledge of Hebrew had grown diminished from living in the Gentile world for so long.

There are several reasons why the Septuagint is valuable to the Greek student today. First of all, it gives the Greek student an additional source of reference in order to evaluate grammar and vocabulary in the Koine Greek language, particularly in regard to religious terminology. Much of the religious terminology of the New Testament was used in the Septuagint in translating the Old Testament. Second, the New Testament writers often quote from the Septuagint when citing Old Testament scriptures. One such quotation is found in Hebrews 1:6. The quote, "Let all the angels of God worship Him," is not found in a translation of the Hebrew (and most will not find it in their English Bibles today), but it is, however, found in the Septuagint. Third, many ancient Latin versions of the Old Testament relied heavily (if not entirely) upon the Septuagint. The King James Version favors the Latin translation in several Old Testament passages. This means that the Septuagint does have some influence upon one of the predominant English translations of our time. While purists may not appreciate this, there is something to be said for the knowledge of the ancients who translated this work from Hebrew into Greek. They were much closer to the language of Hebrew as spoken by the Hebrews than we and likely had resources to do the translation that we do not. Finally, the Septuagint is helpful in studying the Old Testament. I often look to the Septuagint to help clarify difficult passages. The Greek of the Septuagint can also help give us a better idea of how New Testament Christians would have read and evaluated the Old Testament.

The Septuagint is a valuable document in the study of both the Old and New Testaments. Today, the Septuagint continues to serve as the official Old Testament of the Greek Orthodox Church. We can gain a greater understanding of Greek through studying it, but more importantly, it can aid us in understanding New Testament Christianity. From time to time, in these articles, I will refer to the Septuagint (as I have already done) to clarify or illustrate the meaning of certain Greek words or grammar. I hope that you can use this article as reference when considering those studies.

(If you would like to have a Greek copy of the Septuagint, or if you would like an English translation, both may be found as part of the free online Bible program, www.onlinebible.net.)