WHY LEARN GREEK 23
Complexity
From the first day of the course, we have started the class with what I chose to call “Why Learn Greek” illustrations—the name suggesting both a question and an answer. Usually, these WLG’s were short examples from the NT that highlighted where our English translations have inadequately conveyed the fuller meaning of the original Greek text. In effect, they were like mini-sermons designed to remind us why we began this walk and to encourage us along the way.
What follows is a WLG that will, I hope, neatly summarise the purpose behind, and practise of, the WLG illustrations; an encouraging overview that will explain and exemplify just why we learn Greek.
1. The complexity of the Greek language cannot be rendered completely into English.
Consider this table:
These twenty-four Greek words are arranged into three columns according to their genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; four top rows of singular forms; four bottom rows of plural forms; and four cases each of singular and plural: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. All these different categories are shown in the endings.
Here’s how English translates all of these words:
Keep that reduction in complexity and nuance in mind as we continue.
2. This complexity gave flexibility.
In the KJ translation, there are heaps of italicised words. This was a typesetting device the translators used to indicate a word which wasn’t in the Greek text, but had to be added in order to make the sentence understandable. In John 5:2 the word “market” is italicised. Here’s the first clause of the verse in English:
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool…Without the word “market”, we would just have “by the sheep”; which, as it turns out, is exactly what it says in the Greek:
ἐστιν δε ἐν τοις Ἱεροσολυμοις ἐπι τῃ προβατικῃ κολυμβηθραNow, there are two questions which spring to mind: 1) Why did the translators need to add a word? And 2) Why did they choose the word “market”?
As to the first question, the word for “sheep” in this verse is προβατικη. The actual word for a single sheep in Greek is προβατον. The word προβατικη is an adjective—a describing word like “big” or “woolly” or “green”—so the pool at Jerusalem is by the sheep “something” and that something isn’t in the text. That’s why they needed to add a noun—a person, place or thing.
As to why they used market, well, let me first say that all subsequent translations, also realising they needed to insert a thing into the sentence, chose to insert the word “gate” instead. Here’s why:
The ending for “sheep” is feminine singular dative. The rule for Greek adjectives is that their endings must accord with the endings of the noun they describe. The Greek words “market” (ἀγορα) and “gate” (πυλη) are both feminine. Unfortunately for the KJV translation, there is only one recognizable “sheep-thing” near the pool in Jerusalem and that’s the Sheep Gate—as we’re told in Nehemiah 3:1, 32 and 12:39.
Of course, let’s not forget that, however likely it might be, “gate” is still an addition based on an assumption.
3. This complexity decreased the need for punctuation.
Here’s what the original manuscript text of John 1:3-4 would have looked like:
ΠΑΝΤΑΔΙΑΑΥΤΟΥΕΓΕΝΕΤΟΚΑΙΧΩΡΙΣΑΥΤΟΥΕΓΕΝΕΤΟOnly capital letters, called “uncials” (lowercase letters, or cursives, were not developed until the 10 Century), no punctuation, and few, if any, spaces between the words. So, a great deal of editing was done to transform the original into this:
ΟΥΔΕΕΝΟΓΕΓΟΝΕΝΟΓΕΓΟΝΕΝΕΝΑΥΤΩΖΩΗΗΝΚΑΙΗ
ΖΩΑΗΝΤΟΦΩΣΤΩΝΑΝΘΡΩΠΩΝ
All things were made by him; and without him was not anyNow, as an example of how critical the punctuation choices are here, let me alert you to a small controversy regarding the full-stop at the end of v3. Some scholars give another reading, supported by some later manuscripts, which puts the full-stop after “was not any thing made”, thereby changing the two verses into this:
thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was
the light of men.
v3: All things were made by him; and without him was not anyAll sorts of stylistic and contextual arguments are made against this reading, but no rule of Greek grammar can refute it. So, because punctuation was not in the original, this reading is as grammatically legitimate as the more common one. Imagine how you’re impression of these lines would be if most Bibles had adopted the alternate reading—all based solely on a punctuation whim of a translator.
thing made. v4: What was made was life in him; and the life was
the light of men.
4. This complexity can put translators in a bad mood.
Verbs are the words which carry the primary meaning of a sentence. Like “run”, “think”, and “believe” they convey whatever activity is being expressed. Verbs have what grammarians call “moods”. These are the state of the action of the sentence. For example, the Indicative mood is used to form statements or questions. The Imperative mood is used to form commands.
Here’s a common Bible verse with two imperative verbs and one indicative:
Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believeHowever, in the original Greek, the 2nd and 3rd verbs are the same form; they are both indicative and imperative:
also in me. (John 14:1)
Μη ταρασσεσθω ὑμων ἡ καρδια• πιστευετε εἰς τον θεονOn top of that, the word και can mean “and” or “also”. So, in actuality, there are four other legitimate ways this verse could read in English:
και εἰς ἐμε πιστευετε.
a) Ind/and/Ind: you believe in God and you believe in me.
b) Imp/and/Imp: believe in God and believe in me!
c) Imp/and/Ind: believe in God! And you believe in me.
d) Imp/also/Imp: believe in God! Also believe in me!
So, unless they’re writing an amplified version, English translators are forced to take a Greek verse bursting with a combination of at least five distinct ideas and reduce it into a lean and brittle English sentence cable of expressing a single, solitary notion.
5. This complexity has forced us to resort to the original text.
In the translators’ attempts to render the expressions of a highly nuanced and complex language into our comparatively barbaric Anglo-Saxon tongue, a great deal of meddling has taken place within (and between!) the lines of our English Bibles—but for two very good reasons, this is actually a good thing.
Firstly, in their continuous editing attempts to force the flexible Greek verses into the rigid English shapes that suit the current academic fads, they haven’t busied themselves with adding to or subtracting from the original Inspired Word of God (okay, not all of them have kept their hands off the Greek text; but that’s a whole other lesson!) and avoided bringing the curse of Revelation 22 onto their heads.
Secondly, because of the sometimes vast differences in wording between the various English versions, we, the laity, have become troubled; our translations are now suspect! Our only recourse now, if we want to know what was actually said, is to become good Bereans and search the Scriptures for ourselves—and not a translation of the Scriptures, but the actual Scriptures—the words in the original language.
And that, ultimately, is Why Learn Greek.
WHY LEARN GREEK 22
The Desire of Idols
It never ceases to amaze me how altered our perceptions of a range of doctrinal concepts can become when we examine the etymologies of the original Greek words behind common Biblical expressions.
Take the word “covetousness” for instance. A slew of doctrines and theological ideas are centred on covetousness, but I wonder how many of them take into account the actual meaning of the word we know as “covetousness”. I also wonder how many of them draw the connection between covetousness and idolatry.
To make matters easy, the Apostle Paul defines covetousness for us in Chapter 6, verse 8, of his letter to the Colossians:
καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία
and covetousness, which is idolatry
So, there’s the connection; covetousness is the same thing as idolatry. Let’s examine the two Greek words here and see how they compare.
The word for covetousness is πλεονεξια is made up of the adjective πλεον, meaning “more”, and the verb εχω, “to have”. So, πλεονεξια literally means “a desire to have more”. Notice that it isn’t limited to the desiring of more of one’s neighbour’s possessions.
The word for idolatry is εἰδωλολατρια which is formed from εἰδωλον, “idol”, which comes from εἰδος which is literally “that which is seen”; and λατρεια which comes from λατρευω, “to worship”, primarily, and “to serve”. So, εἰδωλολατρια is “to worship that which is seen”.
That definition of idolatry brings the word’s Ecclesiastes 1:8 to mind, “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing”. “More” is like “tomorrow”, it’s eternally next.
So, putting these ideas together, if we are covetous, desiring to have more, we are in idolatry, worshiping what we see, and are therefore slaves to a desire that can never be satisfied—foolish heretics spending our energies forever bending in obeisance to the fickle god of self!
That’s definitely different from my old perception of both of those words and all the doctrines related to them…and that’s another good reason to learn New Testament Greek.
WHY LEARN GREEK 21
Narrow Down the Definition
On the front page of our church newsletter, we write a verse of Scripture in English and Greek. One week we read the following:
ὅτι στενη ἡ πυλη και τεθλιμμενη ἡ ὁδος ἣ ἀπαγουσα εἰς την ζωην, και ὀλιγοι εἰσιν οἱ εὑρισκοντες αὐτην.
—KATA MATTHAION 7:14
Because narrow is the gate and compressing is the way leading into the life and few are the ones finding it.
—Matthew 7:14
Was that right? Does the New Testament say that the gate is “narrow” and the way is “compressing”? Here are the three most common English versions of that verse:
KJV: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
NKJV: "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
NIV: But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
So, along with ours, there are three different adjectives for the gate: strait, narrow and small; and three for the way: compressing, narrow, difficult. Are they all right? Are they all wrong?
Obviously, the only way to know for sure is to examine the meanings of the original Greek adjectives. The word describing the gate is “στενη”; the word describing the way is “τεθλιμμενη”.
The lexical form of στενη is στενος and the lexical form of τεθλιμμενη is θλιβω. These words are defined thus:
στενος: from the root στεν— ; as in στεναζω, “to groan,” στεναγμος, "groaning"; as well as στενοχωρεω, “to be straitened, compressed”.
θλιβω means “to press” (as grapes), press hard upon; or compress. The noun form θλιψις is the word translated as “tribulation”. Vine’s dictionary reminds us that, in this verse, “the verb is in the perfect participle, Passive Voice”; which means it should be rendered “is _____-ed”.
So, good on our newsletter translator for using a more graphic meaning which is closer to the original sense of the verb, but unfortunately, he loses a few marks for using the participle compressing rather than compressed.
At the end of the day, regardless of the English used, the Way and the Gate that lead to the Life are anything but comfortable.
WHY LEARN GREEK 20
Hear and Obey
As any poet will tell you, there are more to words than mere definitions. Often, the structure of a word—its morphology—is just as important a feature in understanding the text as meaning. To take just one morphological feature as an example, let’s look at “rhyme”. In a poem, when the final words in two successive lines rhyme, a relationship is established between them. By virtue of their shape, they have been imbued with an expanded significance beyond their simple lexical definitions that affects how both lines are understood. Consider this final rhyming couplet from Shakespeare’s sonnet VI:
Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fairIt’s obvious to anyone that the impact of the text would suffer irreparably if we were to lose the rhyme by changing the word “heir” to the synonymous word “scion”. Clearly, in this case, the shape of the word is just as important (if not more so) than the definition. Given the high degree of damage to Shakespeare’s intent from one small change in English morphology, imagine how great the loss would be if we converted both lines into another language.
To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.
It is well known amongst translators that it is impossible to reproduce all the subtlety of meaning and nuance from one language to another—they know that much of the original is lost in translation.
Well, as with works of human writing, so with the Work of the greatest Writer of all! When we translate the Word of God into English from its original languages, we are forced to destroy all manner of morphological relationships between the words. By erasing any structural similarities the words of Scripture might have in their original forms, we can’t help but erase a great deal of the intended impact and significance of the entire text.
One such pair of words in the Greek New Testament whose structural relationship is lost is ἀκουω, meaning “to hear” or “to understand”, and ὑπακουω, meaning “to obey”. ὑπακουω is a compound verb made up of the verb ἀκουω and the preposition ὑπο, meaning “under”. In this compound, the preposition ὑπο functions as an intensive; it increases the force of the verb ἀκουω. Therefore ἀκουω means “to hear”, “to understand” and “to obey”. So, to “under-hear” in Greek means to “really hear”, to “really understand” and to “really obey”. Therefore, when Jesus says, “Let those who have an ear to hear, hear”, in effect he is commanding “those who can understand” His words to obey His words!
It is unavoidable, to grasp the finer points of Shakespeare, a non-English-speaker has to learn the English in which he wrote his works. And it is just as unavoidable that, to grasp the finer points of the words of God, the believer must also learn the languages in which He chose to pen them.
How else are we to hear, to understand and to obey?
WHY LEARN GREEK 19
Another Other
As with many issues pertaining to the Greek New Testament, there is an ongoing debate surrounding synonyms. Simply put, one side of the debate says that much of the nuance between words with similar meanings has been lost in Koine Greek. The other side says that there are no true synonyms in Greek and that two different words should never be translated with the same English word.
There are many of pairs of Greek words in the New Testament that are translated with the same English word. The meanings of some are so obviously different that both sides of the synonym divide readily agree that different English words should be used—or, if unavoidable, the same word used, but with other qualifying words included.
The words καινος and νεος are good examples of undisputed “synonyms”. Unfortunately, they’re both usually translated as simply “new” despite their being entirely different types of “new”. καινος is new in the sense of quality, as in “fresh”, “brand new” or “renewed”; whereas νεος is new in the sense of time and is used with respect to the young. Under the entry for νεος, Vines Expository Dictionary explains the differences of the two words this way:
Nεος and καινος are sometimes used of the same thing, but there is a difference, as already indicated. The "New" Covenant in Heb 12:24 is "new" (νεος) compared with the Mosaic, nearly fifteen hundred years before; it is "new" (καινος) compared with the Mosaic, which is old in character, ineffective, Heb 8:8,13; Heb 9:15.The words αλλος and ἑτερος, on the other hand, are on the front lines of the synonym controversy. Many scholars insist that their originally distinct differences have entirely disappeared. However Vines, while admitting “a tendency (for their differences in meaning) to be lost”, states that they are still “to be observed in numerous passages.”
ἀλλος expresses a numerical difference and denotes another of the same sort. Christ promised to send 'another Comforter' (ἀλλος, “another like Himself”, not ἑτερος)… In Luke 23:32 ἑτεροι is used of the two malefactors crucified with Christ.The crux of the argument for erasing the differences here seems to be that, in several corresponding verses of the synoptic Gospels, where one writer chose αλλος, another one chose ἑτερος; which would be a convincing argument, if we were talking about literature. But when we are speaking of the inspired Word of God, I can’t help but think that, if God wanted to say the same thing in each Gospel, He would’ve used the same word. Therefore, the different words were used in those different Gospels for a reason. A reason we shouldn’t try to erase; but try to discover. And God knew we wouldn’t even know there was something to discover until we learned Greek!
WHY LEARN GREEK 18
Our Proud Enemy
The Christian is at war. This is evident from all the military terms and expressions used in the NT—Armour of God, Sword of the Spirit, Lord of Hosts. For the Prince of Peace, Jesus certainly uses a lot of bellicose imagery. Of course, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, our war is a spiritual one; we battle against spiritual forces, not flesh and blood people. Yet, rather than mitigating the horror of our being at war, if you think about it, that fact actually heightens it, because in spiritual warfare it isn’t merely temporal flesh that is in danger, it is our immortal souls that are in the enemy’s crosshairs!
Given the degree of spiritual peril we are in, the importance of our NT translations conveying the intended sense of the original language used in the Scriptures can’t be overstated. Let’s take a look at an instance where the sense of the Greek text has been, once again, lost in translation. Consider the following two verses:
James 4:6 – Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”.
1 Peter 5:5 – [F]or "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
What does the verb “to resist” suggest to you? To reject? To rebuff? Let’s see the word used in the Greek:
ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ 4:6 – διο λεγει Ὁ θεος ὑπερηφανοις ἀντιτασσεται ταπεινοις δε διδωσιν χαριν
1 ΠΕΤΡΟΥ 5:5 – ὁτι Ὁ θεος ὑπερηφανοις ἀντιτασσεται ταπεινοις δε διδωσιν χαριν
The word ἀντιτασσομαι is actually a military term meaning “to range against”, which gives the sense of a military leader organizing his forces before a battle with an enemy. Clearly, ἀντιτασσομαι conjures up a more forceful image than the almost timid “resisting”. Where using “to resist” almost suggests God is on the defensive against the pride of man, ἀντιτασσομαι leaves no doubt that He is well-prepared; a determined, calculating King ready for swift, aggressive action.
WHY LEARN GREEK 17
Dip, Drench or Dunk
The proper way to baptise someone might not be a highly contentious topic these days, but not that long ago opinions were sharply divided on the issue. That being said, though, the controversy hasn’t entirely disappeared. Let’s take a look at the cause of all that contention.
The debate sprang from two distinctly different interpretations of the word “baptism”—a word Anglicised directly from the Greek βαπτιζω without benefit of translation. Along with this, the preposition εν (in), used in connection with βαπτιζω to form the phrase “baptised in”, was translated “with” by the KJV translators. For example, in Mark 1:8, where the Greek reads, “ἐγω μεν ἐβαπτισα ὑμας ἐν ὑδατι αὐτος δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμας ἐν πνευματι ἁγιῳ”, the KJV gives us, “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”
Another use of the word βαπτιζω is in Luke 11:38:
ὁ δε Φαρισαιος ἰδων ἐθαυμασεν ὁτι οὐ πρωτον ἐβαπτισθη προ του ἀριστου.
And when the Pharisee saw [it], he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. [KJV]
The Pharisee is of course referring to ritual washing, not washing for the sake of hygiene.
Now, just why βαπτιζω wasn’t translated when referring to baptisms and εν was but incorrectly as “with”, is a matter of some speculation, but clearly the controversy over dunking or sprinkling would’ve been much harder to start had the Authorised English Version produced verses such as Mark 1:8 using terms like “immerse in” or “ritually wash in”.
Thayer’s Lexicon tells us that the word βαπτιζω means 1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse or submerge; 2) to cleanse in this way, to wash. It comes from the word βαπτω, meaning to dip; this was originally a dyer’s term, so, clearly, it meant to dip cloth completely in dye.
The online Blue Letter Bible writes this about βαπτιζω:
The clearest example that shows the meaning of βαπτιζω is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (βαπτω) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (βαπτιζω) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.
Hard to understand why there ever was a controversy…once you learn Greek!
WHY LEARN GREEK 16
Goodwill for Some or All
At some point in the study of New Testament Greek, the English-speaking student becomes aware that the broad disagreement he finds between the various English versions of the NT is a result of the deliberate choices made by the translators as to the superiority of various Greek manuscripts. As you can imagine, disagreement over which manuscripts are authoritative results in controversy over which translation is authoritative. The following illustration is not intended to address this controversy per se, but is simply presented here as an example of the wide difference in doctrine which results in the favouring of one set of manuscripts over another.
Τhe following quote is from an Exegetical Insight written by Verlyn Verbrugge for Bill Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek (Zondervan 1993).
“Peace on earth, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14.KJV). You have probably all received Christmas cards containing this part of the angels’ song to the shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem. But most modern translations read differently: “on earth peace to men on whom his [God’s] favour rests” (NIV); “and on earth peace among those whom he [God] favors” (NRSV). The difference between the KJV and the others is the difference between the nominative and the genitive.Here are the two different versions of the verse in question:
The Greek manuscripts used to translate the KJV contain εὐδοκια (nominative), whereas the older manuscripts used to translate the modern versions contain εὐδοκιας (genitive)—literally translated, “of good will” or “characterized by [God’s] good pleasure”.
και επι γης εἰρηνη· ἐν ἀνθρωποις εὐδοκια.As you can see, the first rendering—the nominative version—proclaims peace on earth and goodwill to all men. The second—the genitive version—proclaims peace on earth to men of goodwill only; unquestionably two distinct, disparate ideas.
And on earth, peace; [to] men, goodwill.
και επι γης εἰρηνη ἐν ἀνθρωποις εὐδοκιας.
And on earth, peace [to] men of goodwill.
On a personal note: Certainly a translator should use the manuscript he genuinely believes to be superior, but the implication that the second sentence means “peace to men on whom his [God’s] favour rests” or “among those whom he [God] favors” is clearly extrapolation and not simply a direct translation of the Greek text. To me, inserting these types of textually-unsupported inferences as though they were direct translations boarders on deceit; and does a disservice to the translation, the reader and the Word of God.
WHY LEARN GREEK 15
The O Stands for One
Without a doubt, one of the most famous lines in the New Testament is the penultimate line (or last line, if Roman Catholic) of the Lord’s Prayer. Thanks to the King James Version of the Bible, most people over the age of 35 learned to recite this prayer as “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. Isn’t it a shame that there is a terrible mistake in this particular translation of the Greek text?
Here is how that line looks in chapter 6, verse 13 of ΤΟ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΝ:
και μη εἰσενεγκῃς ἡμας εἰς πειρασμον, ἀλλα ῥυσαι ἡμας ἀπο του πονηρου.
The words translated “from evil” are “ἀπο του πονηρου”. The word “ἀπο” is the preposition meaning “from”. The word “του πονηρου” is the genitive form of the masculine “ὁ πονηρος” (it’s genitive because it follows the preposition ἀπο) and it does mean evil—so no problems there. However, πονηρος is an adjective, so it means “evil” as a characteristic. Yet, here it is translated as a thing—a noun—as evil itself.
So, is this the mistake in translation?
Well, no. Notice the “ὁ”? This is a definite article and in Greek whenever an adjective has a definite article with no nouns around, the adjective becomes a noun—and often, the articles are not translated in English.
Okay, so where’s the mistake?
The mistake is that, along with becoming a noun, the adjective defaults to being a person if a) it is masculine or feminine; and b) if it isn’t referring to any non-living noun previously mentioned—and πονηρος in the Lord’s Prayer meets both those conditions.
So, with the article ὁ, πονηρος means, not “the evil”, but “the evil person”, or, grammatically better: “the evil one”.
And that’s how 0 can stand for 1 in Greek!
WHY LEARN GREEK 14
Tempted or Tested?
One of the first surprises I had from studying Greek concerned the Temptation of Christ. What I learned made me look at the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness from an entirely different perspective.
In Matthew 1:4 we read the following:
Τοτε ὁ Ἰησους ἀνηχθη εἰς την ἔρημον ὑπο του πνευματος, πειρασθηναι ὑπο του διαβολου.
Traditionally, this passage is rendered, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. However, when I looked up the meaning of the verb πειραζω, I discovered that “to tempt” was not its primary meaning; it actually has several, more common meanings, such as “to try, attempt or to test”
So, might the Devil actually have been testing Jesus, rather than tempting him?—which is quite a different matter altogether, doctrinally speaking!
The answer to that question boils down to what the Devil’s main purpose was. If it was to entice Jesus to sin, then he was definitely tempting him. If, however, he wanted to ascertain whether Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, then you could conclude that he was testing him.
Three things lead me to believe the Devil’s main purpose was to find out whether Jesus was Messiah:
- Every question began with the conditional “If you are the son of God”; a reference to Messiah. And his second and third questions referenced Messianic scriptures.
- As temptations, they were too obvious; lacking the subtlety you’d expect from the master tempter.
- He left after only three questions; which means either the Devil has no stamina or he found the answer he was looking for.
Oh, one more thing! Take a look at Psalm 95:8 from the LXX:
μη σκληρυνητε τας καρδιας ὑμων ὡς ἐν τῳ παραπικρασμῳ κατα την ἡμεραν του πειρασμου ἐν τῃ ἐρημῳ.
…Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, [and] as [in] the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Here πειρασμος is translated “temptation”, too. But, if you check, you discover that the Hebrew word being translated “temptation” is massah (מסה). And massah means “despair”, “trial” or “test”.
WHY LEARN GREEK 13
Called, Chosen and Gathered
In Matthew 16:18:
και ἐπι ταυτῃ τῃ πετρᾳ οἰκοδομησω μου την ἐκκλησιαν.
…and on this stone I shall build my church.
The word translated church, ἐκκλησια, is a compound of ἐκ, meaning “out of”, and κλητος, an adjective derived from the verb καλεω (to call); therefore the sense of ἐκκλησια is of a grouping of people “called out of”.
In Matthew 22:14 we read:
πολλοι γαρ εἰσιν κλητοι ὀλιγοι δε ἐκλεκτοι.For many are called, but few are chosen.
Chosen, ἐκλεκτος, is also a compound word starting with ἐκ, but the compounding occurred in ancient Greek to form the word which became ἐκλεκτος: ἐκλεγειν, meaning “to select”; which came from ἐκ and λεγειν (to gather). So, chosen has the underlying sense of “selected or gathered out of”.
And in Revelation 2:9 we find this:
και οὐκ εἰσιν ἀλλα συναγωγη του Σατανα.…and are not, but a synagogue of Satan.
This word συναγωγη (synagogue), meaning “to gather together” is a Greek compound word made up of συν (together with) and ἀγω (to bring)—ergo, the sense is “to bring together”. Interestingly, in the LXX, συναγωγη is the translation for the Hebrew qahal (קהל)—as is ἐκκλησια!
So, in examining the etymologies of these three Greek words, we discover a definite similarity in their underlying meanings; a similarity obscured by their English renderings—and another great reason to learn Greek!
Incidentally, the illustration above is a good example of how, when you’re learning Greek, even a cursory glance at one word in the original text can lead you on to a series of fascinating theological discoveries. Space doesn’t permit the examination of every path (many not yet exhausted!) I’ve been lead to since I decided to look at the word ἐκκλησια, but I’d like to mention one small one (itself a start along another path!).
In James 2:2 we find the word συναγωγη:
ἐαν γαρ εἰσελθῃ εἰς την συναγωγην ὑμων ἀνηρ χρυσοδακτυλιος.
For if there comes into your assembly a man with a gold ring...
Most translations follow the KJV and avoid translating συναγωγη as “synagogue”. I wonder, was this an attempt to disguise the overt Jewishness of the 1st Century Church? And if so, was it simply the result of the anti-Semitism of proponents of Replacement Theology? Or was it done to avoid insulting King James? After all, they had no qualms about changing the title of the book from the Greek Ἰακωβος, meaning Jacob, to the English James in his honour.
Happy hunting!
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Pharma-craft!
In the Book of Revelation 18:23, we read the following concerning Mystery Babylon:
For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery (magic spells, witchcraft) all the nations were deceived.In Revelation 9:21, we read the following concerning “the rest of mankind which were not killed by (the) plagues”:
And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries (magic arts, drugs), or their sexual immorality or their thefts.In Galatians 5:20, we read the following “works of the flesh”:
…idolatry, sorcery (witchcraft), hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies...The Greek word translated “sorcery” in all of these passages is φαρμακεια—where we get the word “pharmacy” from.
The Blue Letter Bible gives us the following four Biblical uses of φαρμακεια in descending order: 1) the use or the administering of drugs; 2) poisoning; 3) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it; 4) metaphorically: the deceptions and seductions of idolatry.
Vines’ Lexicon tells us that φαρμακεια primarily means "the use of medicine, drugs, spells; poisoning; sorcery,” and that in "sorcery, the use of drugs, whether simple or potent, was generally accompanied by incantations and appeals to occult powers, with the provision of various charms, amulets, etc., professedly designed to keep the applicant or patient from the attention and power of demons, but actually to impress the applicant with the mysterious resources and powers of the sorcerer.”
This illustration is not trying to draw a direct comparison between sorcery and modern pharmacology, but I do want to highlight the link between the sorcerer’s occultic motivation to enslave the drug-takers in the past with the motivations of those who today push stress-relieving drugs (I.e. Ritalin, Valium and Prozac) and “recreational drugs”—a link which the English translations of φαρμακεια unfortunately conceal.
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Sign Language
Miracles, signs and wonders in Greek are, respectively, δυναμις, σημειον, and τερας—three different words with three different meanings, as evidenced in Hebrews 2:4 where they each show up in the same sentence:
Obviously, as with the English words, there is some cross-over in the meanings of these three words, but they are by no means synonymous. Therefore, it would seem to me, that they’re use in the original is significant and should be translated as written.
συνεπιμαρτυρουντος του θεου σημειοις τε και τερασιν και ποικιλαις δυναμεσιν και πνευματος ἁγιου μερισμοις κατα την αὐτου θελησιν.The word τερας is always correctly translated as “wonders”, but δυναμις isn’t quite as straightforward. Literally, it means “power” or “inherent ability” and, while it does suggest a work of supernatural power, or a “miracle”, it emphasises the heroic ability the miracle-worker has to perform them. (Interestingly, the word “miracle” comes to us from Latin via French and originally meant “something amazing to see” or a “wonder”.)
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
As for σημειον (sign), it is sometimes mistranslated as “miracle”. For example, in Luke 23:8, the word σημειον is translated “miracles”, in the King James and others:
Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him.In John 2:11, the plural genitive σημειων is also mistranslated “miracles” in the KJV:
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.So, although the NKJV corrected this to “signs”, and the NIV covered both bases with “miraculous signs”, we can see that, once again, it pays to be vigilant when reading translations of the New Testament. And the best way to be vigilant is to learn Greek!
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Σωζω Much More
There are many words in the Greek New Testament that have more than one meaning. One of the more important ones from an exegetical point of view is the word σωζω, which is usually translated “I save”.
The different shades of meaning of σωζω are reflected in the four different ways in which it is translated:
1. To save, as in Matt 1:21 (Future Active Indicative):
καὶ καλεσεις το ὀνομα αὐτου Ἰησουν αὐτος γαρ σωσει τον λαον αὑτου ἀπο των ἁμαρτιων αὐτων.
And you will call his name Jesus: for he will save his people from their sins.
By far, “to save” is the most comprehensive meaning of σωζω. Except (perhaps) for the idea of “to store” or “to archive”, all the different meanings we have for “save” apply to σωζω—from physical to spiritual, Messianic to Millennial.
2. To heal, as in Matt 9:21, concerning the woman with the issue of blood (Future Passive Indicative):
ἑλεγεν γαρ ἐν ἑαυτη Ἐαν μονον ἁψωμαι του ἱματιου αὐτου σωθησομαι.
For she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made whole” (healed).
3. To make whole, as in Luke 8:36 (Aorist Passive Indicative):
ἀπηγγειλαν δε αὐτοις και οἱ ἰδοντες πως ἐσωθη ὁ δαιμονισθεις.
They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed (make whole).
These two translations are, in a sense, reversed (although the first is also translated “healed” in many versions). In the first verse, the idea is of being healed physically; in the second, it is of being made whole, healed both physically and spiritually.
4. To recover, as in John 11:12, concerning Lazarus (Future Passive Indicative):
εἰπον οὐν οἱ μαθηται αὐτου, Κυριε εἰ κεκοιμηται σωθησεται.
Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will recover."
In this verse, the idea is simply “get better”.
This final, almost mundane, usage of the word σωζω shows just how comprehensive a word it actually is, reflecting as it does one end of a very wide spectrum of meaning; a spectrum we often can’t see or, through familiarity, simply forget exists. Until, that is, we forego our complete dependence on English translations and learn New Testament Greek.
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From Above and Anew
One of the more difficult problems for translators is deciding which English word to use when the original word has more than one meaning. Ideally, the English word chosen would be able to carry all the meanings of the original. This, however, is highly unlikely. In most cases, the best translators can do is to chose the English word that will convey the primary meaning of the original word, given the context in which it is used. This is another aspect of translation which highlights the fact that it is often more art than science.
Translators of the New Testament also have to be careful that the English word they chose for a Greek word with multiple meanings doesn’t itself have multiple meanings; some of which might alter the intended meaning of the original and send the reader in a slightly skewed theological direction.
An example of this occurred with the idea of being “born again” in John 3:3. In this verse, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus and in many English translations, we get the following:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born again, he is unable to see the Kingdom of God.”In Greek we read:
ἀπεκριθη Ἰησους και εἶπεν αὐτῳ, Ἀμην ἀμην λεγω σοι, ἐαν μη τις γεννηθῃ ἀνωθεν, οὐ δυναται ἰδειν την βασιλειαν του θεου.The word translated “again” is ἀνωθεν; which has two meanings and neither of them are exactly the same as “again”. The primary meaning is “from above”; the other is “anew”. [btw, three other occurrences of ἀνωθεν in John are translated 'from above' (3:31; 19:11, 23).]
Of course, the word “again” does mean “anew”, but in a very restricted sense. It primarily signifies serial repetition, suggesting a more numerical rebirth, rather than the fresh one of a completely different character which “anew” suggests. The Koine word for “again” is παλιν, so the restricted meaning of “again” was clearly not intended by our Lord when He used ἀνωθεν.
Obviously, whilst both ideas conveyed by ἀνωθεν apply to this verse, only one could’ve been translated into English. From the context (considering Nicodemus’ response), the translators opted for the correct one, but unfortunately, in using “again”, rather than “anew”, they undersold both ideas of the original, and subtly limited the concept of spiritual regeneration in the process.
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Love, Love Me Do
Many Christians are aware that there are three different words for three different kinds of love in Greek. In general these are: ἐρος for romantic love; φιλεω for fraternal love or tender affection; and ἀγαπη for the more spiritual, godly love. Only φιλεω and ἀγαπη are mentioned in the Greek NT, however; ἐρος is never mentioned once.
In John 21:15-17 the risen Lord asks Simon Peter three times if he loves him. In English, this is straightforward enough, but when we read it in Greek something very interesting can be seen:
The Lord first asks Peter: ἀγαπᾳς με; (do you love me…?)
Peter replies: συ οἰδας ὁτι φιλω σε… (you know I love you…)
The Lord asks again: ἀγαπᾳς με;
Peter replies again: συ οἰδας ὁτι φιλω σε… (you know I love you…)
However, the third time, the Lord asks: φιλεις με;
Why does Jesus ask the first two times using “ἀγαπᾳς με”, but the third time using “φιλεις με”?
Well, there has been a great deal of speculation by scholars and exegetes about this and many good reasons have been suggested; and while I’m not sure which one is the right one, I am sure that the question itself is an important one. It’s also a relevant one to us, because it’s a question we wouldn’t even know to ask, if we hadn’t read the passage in Greek!
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A Windy Spirit
In our last Illustration, whilst we discussed the incorrect translation of χλορος as “pale” in most of the English versions of Revelation 6:8, a student mentioned that she knew of another mistranslation in the Gospel of John 3:8—here it is:
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it,Note the word wind in the first sentence and the word spirit in the second. The KJV, NKJV, the RSV, the ASV, and the NIV et al all have the same two words in their translations. Yet, in every Greek manuscript, the words from which “wind” and “spirit” are translated are the same two as in the following example:
but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is
everyone who is born of the spirit.
το πνευμα ὁπου θελει πνει, και την φωνην αὐτου ἀκουεις,In the Greek NT, πνευμα is used 385 times in 350 verses and every other time it is translated as spirit. The noun ἀνιμος means wind; it occurs 31 times in 29 verses, and is translated each time as wind. The word του πνευματος is the genitive form of το πνευμα.
ἀλλ’ οὐκ οἰδας ποθεν ἐρχεται και που ὑπαγει· οὑτως ἐστιν
πας ὁ γεγεννημενος ἐκ του πνευματος.
So, there can be no doubt that the words το πνευμα should read, as Young’s Literal Translation has it, “The Spirit”.
Now, why did so many translation committees chose the word “wind” rather than spirit in this verse? Well, that’s because Jesus was making a Semitic pun! He was clearly comparing the characteristic operation of the wind with the certain but unseen activity of the Holy Spirit.
The pun is hard to convey in English, but you can see it if you take the following into consideration: a) the Aramaic and Hebrew word ruach means both breath and spirit; b) the verb πνεω used in this verse means to breathe or to blow and, in the seven other times it is used in the NT it is always referring to the wind; c)The noun πνοη, which shares the same root as the verb πνεω, means a blowing or blast; and in one of the two times it’s used is in Acts 2:2 to describe the “noise like the rush of a mighty wind from heaven”; and, finally, that d) Jesus was engaged in a conversation with Nicodemus about being born again in spirit.
So using the word wind instead of spirit might’ve been an attempt to convey the pun to English readers—but, when all’s said and done, it’s still wrong!
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A Horse of a Different Colour
You might be surprised to hear that, from now on, as you become more and more familiar with the Greek text, you’re going to discover that there are quite a few actual translation mistakes in the English versions of the New Testament. Whether due to scribal error, translator preference or source difference, you will find that you just can’t personally support a particular reading in the English text.
One of my favourite mistranslations is in Chapter 6 of the Revelation of John (Αποκολυψις του Ἰωαννου). Here the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described, and in verse 8 we read:
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse….
However in every existing Greek text, the horse is described like this:
και εἰδον, και ἰδου, ἱππος χλορος....
The word ἱππος (hippos) is correctly translated horse, but χλορος (chloros) means green, not pale! Here is the same word and how it’s translated in other NT passages; two of which are also from the Revelation:
Mark 6:39:
…ἐπι τω χλωρω χορτῳ.
...upon the green grass.
Rev 8:7:
...και πας χορτος χλωρος κατεκαη.
...and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 9:4
...οὐδε παν χλωρον.
...neither any green thing.
I think what happened is that the Latin text was the first to carry the mistranslation and from there it made its way into the KJV. Now all the English versions I’ve seen use the word pale and even lexicons give it as a secondary meaning for χλορος—but it’s still wrong!
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Upon the Cross
When did Jesus begin to bear our sins?
This question was raised in the mind of a brother in Christ whilst he was reading the Greek New Testament and saw the following clause in 1 Peter 2:24:
ὁς τας ἁμαρτιας ἡμων αὐτος ἀνηνεγκεν ἐν τῳ σωματι αὐτου ἐπι το ξυλον...
[W]ho Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree…
What got him thinking was the prepositional phrase ἐπι το ξυλον. Now, the English translation “on the tree” isn’t particularly noteworthy, and wouldn’t cause many an eyebrow to rise, but whenever you read a Greek preposition, you learn to always take note of the case of the noun that follows it. That’s because, unlike in English, where every noun in a prepositional phrase is in the accusative case, many Greek prepositions can take different cases, where each case alters the sense of the preposition. The preposition ἐπι can take any one of three cases: accusative, dative or genitive.
In the verse above, το ξυλον is in the accusative case (dative would be τῳ ξυλῳ; genitive would be του ξυλου). The accusative case always denotes the idea of movement towards. So, with ἐπι+accusative, we get the sense of “on to” or “upon”; which suggests that Jesus took our sins with him onto, or upon, the cross—that he had already had them in his body before he was crucified. Hence the question, “When did Jesus bear our sins?”
The brother that drew my attention to this point suggested the following possible answer: In Leviticus 16, Aaron, the high priest, places the sins of the nation onto the scapegoat. Did Jesus become the sin-bearing scapegoat when the high priest Caiaphas pronounced him a blasphemer?
Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!—Mt 26:65
When do you think the Lord begin to bear our sin?
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No King but Kaiser
In Chapter 19 of the Gospel of John in Greek (Κατα Ιωαννον), we read of Pilate’s attempts to release Jesus being thwarted by the Chief Priests. In verse 15 there is this final exchange:
λεγει αὐτοις ὁ Πιλατος· Τον βασιλεα ὑμων σταυρωσω; ἀπεκριθησαν οἱ
ἀρχιερεις· Οὐκ ἐχομεν βασιλεα εἰ μη Καισαρα.
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?” The Chief Priests answered,
“We have no king but Caesar”.
Note the Greek word for Caesar is Καισαρα [Kai-sa-ra]; the hard-K sounds very different to our English “Caesar” [See-zar] with the soft-C sound. The pronunciation differences came about because our word entered Middle English from French via Latin. However, the German equivalent, Kaiser, is identical in sound to the stem of the Greek word, because they, like the Greeks, have no soft-C sound.
Many Jews in pre-Hitler Germany were very loyal to the Kaiser (Wilhelm II); even to the point of serving in his army— some 12,000 of them died in German uniforms in the First World War—something they couldn’t have done without first swearing allegiance to the German monarch. When we consider the history of the Jews in Jerusalem after the Lord’s Incarnation and in Germany after WWI, the Chief Priests’ words carry an even greater impact. And we see clearly that their blasphemous allegiance to the Caesar of the 20th century worked out as well for them as their blasphemous allegiance to the Caesar of the 1st Century did.
So, here we are in the 21st Century gaining spiritual insights into the ways of God. Simply by reading a single word in the Greek New Testament, we’re able to draw parallels between a 2,000 year-old event in the Gospels and one that happened less than a hundred years ago.
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Holy Graffito
The purpose behind these Why Learn Greek illustrations is to encourage you in what can sometimes be an uphill battle to grasp the elements of Koine Greek. Usually, I’ll give what I hope is an uplifting or enlightening example where the Greek text reveals something unobtainable from an English translation. Occasionally, as in the illustration below, it’ll be an examination of something related to the Early Church, where Koine Greek was used.
Here’s a sentence some of you might already be familiar with:
᾿Ιησους Χριστος θεου Υἱος Σωτηρ
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour
Now, this phrase can be found today carved into the catacombs underneath Rome. During the days of persecution of the early church in Rome, Christians had to meet in secret and, often, hide for their lives. The catacombs—the burial chambers beneath the city—were the perfect place to meet out of sight of the authorities.
We know that Christians met there in secret because their graffiti can still be seen today. One of the things they carved was “Jesus Christ God’s Son, Saviour”; but they didn’t write it that plainly—in fact they didn’t write it at all; they drew a picture of it.
How did they “draw” a sentence? Well, they drew a fish. Yep, the famous Jesus Fish we see on bumper stickers today is based on a cryptic symbol of Jesus used by the early church. Why a fish? Well, that’s where Greek comes in.
The Greek word for fish is ἰχθυς and this word is an acrostic—a word or phrase made up of usually the first letters of another word or phrase. The letters of the word ἰχθυς are the first letters of each word in ᾿Ιησους Χριστος θεου Υἱος Σωτηρ.
I’m sure many of you knew this already; but isn’t it nice to be able to actually read and understand the Greek, rather than just take Wikipedia’s word for it?
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Judah and Judas
Most of us are learning to read the original Greek of the New Testament in order to get deeper into the Word—to have access to the myriad insights and understandings obscured or hidden by our English translations. As I’m fond of saying, “Until we learn Greek, we’re at the mercy of translators.”
I recently came across a small but immensely gratifying insight while examining the genealogy of Jesus in the Greek Gospel of Matthew (Κατα Ματθαιον). Take a look at this sentence:
᾿Ιακωβ δε ἐγεννησε τον ᾿Ιουδαν, ᾿Ιουδας δε ἐγεννησε τον Φαρες.
And Jacob begat Judah, and Judah begat Pharez.
Notice that᾿Ιουδας is translated Judah. Now, say that Greek name out loud a few times [YOU-dass] and it should ring a bell or two.
Now let’s turn to Κατα Ματθαιον 27:3:
Τοτε ἰδων ᾿Ιουδας ὁ παραδιδοὺς αὐτον ὅτι κατεκριθη...
Then Judas who betrayed him, seeing he was condemned…
Here᾿Ιουδας is translated Judas! Clearly, the Hebrew name Judah is ᾿Ιουδας in Greek; and Judah and Judas are the same name. What happened? Why are there two different names for Judah in English?
Well, wherever the translation uses Judah, it is transliterating the Hebrew pronunciation. Where the translation uses Judas, it is transliterating the Greek one. The exact same thing happens with the names Joshua and Jesus. These are the same name in the Greek: ᾿Ιησους (and yes, the book of Joshua is entitled ᾿Ιησους in the LXX).
So, when the first Christians heard that “Judas betrayed Jesus”, they heard “Judah betrayed Joshua”. And as every good Bible-reading Christian knows, Joshua means "Jehovah saves" and his leading the Israelites into the Promised Land instead of Moses (who represented the Law) was a prefigure (a representation) of Christ. And Judah is often used as a collective name for Israel—the Jewish nation.
Isn’t it fascinating what a little Greek can reveal!
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Unworthy or Unworthily
What follows is an illustration of how having some basic knowledge of Greek can eliminate a long-standing teaching error.
I’m sure most of us have been taught to examine ourselves to see that we are worthy to take communion and many have been taught to forego the elements if they think they might be unworthy. The verse in scripture used to back up this teaching is 1 Corinthians 11:19 where the word “unworthily” hangs like a snare at the end of the first clause. But is this unworthily really referring to the person taking communion? Let’s take a look at the clause in Greek (I’ve taken out the “eats this bread” part as it is grammatically redundant):
(a)ὂς ἄν(a)...πινη το ποτηριον του Κυριου ἀναξιως,
Whoever drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily,
If ἀναξιως is meant to refer to ὂς ἄν (whoever), it is an adjective and the teaching would be correct.
If ἀναξιως is meant to refers to πινη (drinks), it is an adverb and the teaching is incorrect.
In Greek, put simply, adverbs are formed with an omega (ω). The adjectival form of ἀναξιως is ἀναξιος. So, at first glance, this is definitely an adverb.
But, hold on. What if the omega was a scribal error and should have been an omicron (ο)? Then it would be an adjective. After all, there’s only one letter difference.
Well, in Greek, while word order is more flexible than English, there are still rules of placement of words depending on their function in the sentence. An adjective is always placed either before or after the noun/pronoun (a) it modifies; ἀναξιος would never be placed as far away from ὂς ἄν as ἀναξιως has been.
Therefore, by two basic rules of Greek grammar, we can see that ἀναξιως is definitely an adverb and is referring to the act of drinking, not the nature of the one who drinks. Clearly, the teaching that we should examine ourselves is incorrect; the apostle Paul was actually telling us to examine the manner in which we eat and drink the Lord’s Supper.
