CLASSICAL AND BIBLICAL GREEK

Some thoughts on the connections between Classical and Biblical Greek

I am even more  firmly of the belief especially after a recent twitter discussion with a "biblical scholar" who thought my "opinions" on the possible historicity of Matthew were invalid that even if you only want to read the New Testament you should start about learning basic Classical Greek grammar

WHY ? 

ONE

The most common forms of Koine Greek used by NT writers were based on Attic and Ionic forms

TWO

Learning Classical forms first will make it easier to identify and understand Imperatives and Aorist Subjunctives and so called Irregular Verbs 

THREE

At some stage if you are doing biblical studies for whatever reason becoming a pastor or academic you're going to have to consult commentaries that discuss the difference between English and Greek
Even one semester of Greek will help with that

 
FOUR

Cultural and Historical Context
Yes there are many books that translate Greek resources including early Church Fathers into English but they may only be available in a university library or as a digitized copy of the original. Also there are certain terms that just don't translate exactly and seeing them in the original context will add your understanding.

FIVE 

Koine Greek is Classical Greek
Okay After 400 years of changes
Yes it has loan words from other languages and simpler verb forms reflecting popular speech but it was a living language when the Gospels and Epistles were written down

Reading English translations only is rather like looking at a tree and only looking up at the leaves.

  

SIX 

Duh miss out on Aristotle Plutarch Plato Greek Poetry Philosophy etc ?
You don't have to learn to read Homeric Greek or the ancient orators as ST Basil and others recommended but even a little Greek happens and context context context 

SEVEN 

Greek conditional verb forms ie Subjunctives work differently from English and don't always translate with the full impact of the original

Finally for the last 2 weeks and next month I have had and will continue to have my broken right ankle encased in a variety of straps supports aircast boot bandages thick socks etc etc but Im hobbling to work and do have a few ideas for posts

Let me know what you think about this issue !

Should learning Classical Greek come before specializing in Koine or Biblical Greek ? 

Ideally the best biblical scholars should be fluent in Latin Greek Hebrew and Aramaic but defintely Greek if you want to understand the New Testament. Yes some of the Gospels may or may not have been written in Aramaic first and then translated into Greek but a strong case can be made that most if not all of the Apostles were bilingual to varying degrees in Greek.

So Greek is important? 

Comment ?! 

Homer Koine Greek and the Verb Greegoreoo

This post is as much a #wordstudy as #biblestudy discussing how a verb used by #Homer was transformed in #KoineGreek usage.

Mark 13 32-37 features the verb Greegoreoo three times first as a Present Subjunctive and then twice as a Present Imperative with a meaning of WATCH BE ALERT AWARE AWAKE

I was looking at related forms to study its meaning and discovered its related to egeiroo and here's the odd thing. The #Koine form that split off from Egeiroo derives from Homeric Perfect usages.

Somehow over the centuries the Perfect / Pluperfect used as Present  Egreegora  e+gree+gor+a got regularized and standardized to follow the -O pattern for the present.

Some users maybe hearing Homeric forms like Egreegoraww seem to have thought Egreegora was perhaps an Aorist and dropped the E.

That these forms appear in Koine perhaps also shows that people was listening to Homeric recitations or reading Homer without an adequate commentary or a teacher to guide them?

It is also an example of the disappearance of perfect forms discussed in Browning's Medieval and Modern Greek.

So why did Mark choose to use this word ? And where did he hear or learn it used in the Koine form rather than using Egeiroo?

Frankly I can't do more than speculate but I suspect he choose it for impact ?

ROCKY GREEK

#koine #greek #greeknewtestament

Matthew 16:17 - 18 is further proof Jesus and some if not all of his disciples were bilingual in Greek and Aramaic or at least knew some Greek.

Now Simon Peter Bar Jonas had a first name that means He has heard in Hebrew and Aramaic but in the New Testament  he is also referred to as Peter / Petros and Cephas "rock". This could just be a translation of his Aramaic nickname but wait Jesus says

"and I to you say that you are ROCK and upon this rock I will build for me the assembly of people (for a religious or political purpose) and gates of underworld/death/ not they will overpower that (rock).

Note Matthew uses Petros not Cephas !

Some Koine experts think petra (feminine) meant big rock or rocky ledge.

Others think Peter was a short guy and there's a pun on peeble versus big rock but that pun only works if you know Greek!

So I'm thinking maybe both Jewish and Greek fishermen sailed on the Sea of Galilee and the reason he's Simon PETER is that he was known as "ROCK" to distinguish him from other Simons and ... oh no sh sound in Greek Greeks would have heard Shim'on or Shemayon as Simo(n) meaning flatfaced or snub nosed sometimes. Petro(s) the Rock was probably his preferred name. Maybe he just liked the sound of it?

Next week less linguistics and a bit more about the Son of man and other aspects of this section of Chapter 16.


 

The Narrow Gate Matthew 7: 13 - 14

#gospel gospelofmatthew #biblestudy

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 113 -14

First a literal translation.

Verse 13

into + enter compound verb thru the narrow gate for wide the gate and open the way away+leading compound verb into destruction and many are those who intogo thru it.

Note how Greek uses compound verbs where we might use prepositions in English. I have used OPEN to translate eurukhoora rather than easy because the word means wide open and I choose to stress the contrast between narrow and wide .

Leads the word used  in most English translations omits the sense of diversion of being diverted from the right path of the Greek verb apo+ago.

Verse 14

for narrow the gate and "pressing" the road leading into life
and few they are those who find it.

Greek uses a Perfect Passive participle tethlimmenee from the verb thliboo.

This isnt just press as if you are ironing or opening a door. Its oppressive distressing pressure!

There is legend that this is a reference to a gate at Jerusalem so narrow only one person at a time could use it so there's  humor and irony in this verse as well as a message.

Don't look for the easy path. Don't get diverted onto the wrong way.

Matthew chapter 5 verse 7 MERCY

(sorry this is late had computer problems ) 

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 7

Blessed (are) the merciful for they will receive mercy.

μακάριοι οἱ ἐλεήμονες ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται.

Read also Matthew 18: 33 and James 2:13

Quite straightforward but do note the link between showing and being shown mercy.

Ἔλεος the stem of ἐλεήμων merciful and the verb ἐλεέω be merciful show mercy is not just an attitude but an action ἐλεος is pity mercy and compassion or as James puts it faith AND works.

Read the parable in Matthew 18: 33