Don’t shy away from marking up your physical copy (the next GNT edition is always just on the horizon), or take advantage of the notation tools in Logos. Start with Wallace or Siebenthal’s Griechische Grammatik zum Neuen Testament, using the index in the back as your guide. You can do the same thing yourself with a little bit of discipline, and a plan. I learned to read Romans fluently through that class, and began the long road of mastery of the syntax.
My Greek NT is still marked up on every line in Romans with tiny number symbols above the text, indicating the page numbers in Wallace where certain words or phrases were used as an example to demonstrate a point of syntax (see header image). The prof would then call on us at random to sight-translate an entire verse out loud, followed by identification of every nuance of syntax that Wallace had referenced in that verse (and if we misidentified any instance of indirect discourse, he would fling his ID card on the desk in front of us let those who have ears to hear…). Every Thursday, five of us nerdy language majors were required to show up to class with an entire chapter of Romans fully translated (in our heads!), as well as intimate knowledge of every reference to every verse in that chapter as found in Dan Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. My favorite and most challenging class in seminary was an exegesis course covering Romans 1–8. How much might that improve your reading ability and the quality of your exegesis, and therefore your preaching and research? Could you even exhaust 100 grammars in your lifetime? (Whether you want to is another question.) 1 Imagine if you were able to spend a few minutes a day bolstering your grasp of the syntax of the NT (and other Koine texts). Here are four reasons why you should consider going deeper into biblical Greek: Grammar is kingĪs of this posting, there are nearly 100 Greek grammars available in Logos 7. Indeed, even on this blog, we recently posted an article encouraging people to read widely throughout the corpus of Classical Greek literature.Ĭertainly there are benefits to expanding one’s knowledge of Greek outside of the NT, including an expanded vocabulary in Greek, a better grasp of syntax in general, and a familiarization with common idioms and rare turns of phrase.īut there is also a case to be made for restricting oneself, intentionally, to the limited corpus of Koine. I was inspired to expand my narrow horizons beyond the NT, to begin reading Homer, Sophocles, and Plato. Learning to read Koine (or biblical) Greek is essential, if you are training for church ministry, an academically focused career in biblical studies, or simply as a means to reading the New Testament in its original language.Įven while I was in seminary, however, there was pressure to learn to read Attic, or Classical Greek.
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