Do I have to know Greek to truly understand the New Testament?
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- "Do I have to know Greek to truly understand the NT? What does the Greek text of the NT reveal that I can't see in the English?"
Dr. Robert Plummer answers in Honest Answers | Episode 45
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The daily dose of Greek site is very helpful. I want to thank everyone who is involved with the lessons posted there.
I am a new student of Greek (in seminary) and find the daily dose videos immensely helpful. I finished Hebrew study last year and wholeheartedly agree that it is a blessing to learn the original languages. May God bless the folks at Daily Dose!
"I am a new student of Greek (in seminary).... it is a blessing to learn the original languages"
The NT was originally in Aramaic, not Greek. Are you learning Aramaic?
Do speak in Original Greek or modern Greek if you speak in Original Greek then you can explain the Bible to me in Originally in which the apostle Paul spoke Once in his life Time" But if you speak modern Greek from now days in that case I'm not interested in modern Greek no Offence just wanted to make sure that's all I'm asking of you
@@donovanclause121 I don't speak any Greek of any sort at all. "if you speak in Original Greek then you can explain the Bible to me in Originally in which the apostle Paul spoke" The NT was originally written in not Greek, but rather Aramaic. The best way to understand what Paul wrote is to ask God what a puzzling passage means-- even if you're reading the passage in English.
The Australian Mark Holloway has written extensively about conversing with God in 2-way conversations.
Mark Holloway, _Cry the Wounded Land: Conversations with God about Maori, Pakeha and the Land_ (2017), 298pp.
Mark Holloway, facebook.com/thefreedomassignment/, www.thefreedomassignment.com/marks-blog-space, holloway270.rssing.com/chan-26172398/all_p2.html
Mark Holloway, _The Freedom Diaries: God Speaks Back_ (2013), 287pp.
From
holloway270.rssing.com/chan-26172398/all_p1.html
What are the steps to a written conversation with me?
Well, I write down a question to You.
....So you write a question about your own stuff? ....
I'll write the obvious beginning for the sentence hoping that you're going to speak into my mind as I come to the end of what I'm writing. For instance, I'll write 'What I'm saying about the written conversation, Mark, is.... (and then I'll write whatever comes into my mind and heart - which just now was 'it's changed your life, Mark. That's what I'm saying about it.')
Tips For Those Who Want Their Own Back And Forth Conversation With God Like This - based on a 1 Jan 2019 Mark Holloway Facebook post
1. Try it in writing. Writing your conversation allows you to hear God at a speed you can cope with.
2. First write your question to God and then write the answer without waiting for it to come. The biggest problem when we try to hear God's voice is waiting to hear something - often when it comes we miss it. Whereas writing the answer, without waiting for it to come, trusting him to supply the words as you write, seems to make it flow.
3. No matter how unbelievable, write down what comes. Don't stifle the flow with disbelief.
4. Now ask and keep on asking to test whether what you wrote down was really him. This is how you do it -- make your next question a challenge, e.g. "Was that really you God?" And then write down what comes.
5. Do that again and again until you're sure, sort of, that what you heard is him.
6. Remember that this will be difficult. Hearing him in church is comparatively easy. You hear a message spoken, or a word given and you don't suffer from disbelief. Why would you, what you heard is normally generic, able to be interpreted in many ways, safe. Whereas hearing specific conversation from God is just that, specific, less generic. It brings the possibility of great blessing, or dashed hope.
7. Stick with it. How much effort does it take to hear God? As much as it takes. If you're serious about a real conversation with him you'll stick with it.
@@davidford15 All the evidence we have tells us that the gospels were first written in Koine Greek, with the exception of the "Gospel of Matthew to the Hebrews" which was uniquely written in Hebrew. The reason the gospels were not written in Aramaic is obvious - they were not intended to be read by a select and limited audience of only Aramaic or Hebrew speaking people! The intention of the gospel writers was to provide these writings in the most widely known language of that time and region, so that all could read it it and understand it as the 'evangelion' or good news to all men and all creatures (see the end of Matthew's gospel)....and this language was Greek, known and spoken right across from North Africa to Persia and southern Europe. The gospel writers knew perfectly well that to write the gospels in Aramaic, would mean that the world would not be able to read or understand what they had written! This would have been contrary to their intentions to give the gospel to every nation and every person in the world!
For students of the Biblical languages, Aramaic is a good language to add to their Greek and Hebrew, but only secondarily. The prime languages are Hebrew and Greek.
@@peaceinjesus5221 "All the evidence we have tells us that the gospels were first written in Koine Greek"
2 pieces of that evidence?
What evidence is there that Revelation was originally in Greek?
"The reason the gospels were not written in Aramaic is obvious - they were not intended to be read by a select and limited audience of only Aramaic or Hebrew speaking people"
Was the Old Testament originally written almost-entirely in Hebrew?
Dr. Plummer has done so much to help regular people to learn biblical Greek!
If you don’t know what the original language of a text was written in, then you are 100% dependent on someone telling you what the source language says. Every translation is going to be wrong somewhere. I know this because I used to be an interpreter for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. It’s not possible to fully convey every word and concept from one language to another.
@@brianbachinger6357 I’ve heard countless times the same thing. Someone claimed that the Holy Spirit was guiding them…telling them what something said or meant. And every time they could be proven wrong. The vast majority of the time it was pointing them to the source language which proved them wrong. Christianity claims that God shows them something or reveals the true meaning. And yet it has the most translations, the most denominations, the most divisions than any other religion in the world.
@Christo Chaney You are 100 percent. It is better to learn the original language it gives you more understanding and makes you less dependent on translations and other peoples interpretations. The Holy Spirit guides us as well as learning and studying.
@@jermainejenkins9246 every translation is wrong somewhere…including mine!
As a fellow Sign Language Interpreter, this was what led me to want to start learning biblical Greek and Hebrew. The more I learned about interpretation and the process, the more I knew I wanted to understand the source.
@@themrsnolan I used to be an ASL interpreter also. It actually helped me realized that the King James Only cult I was in was completely wrong!
It’s not just reading Greek that is necessary. It’s knowing the ancient idioms and figures of speech and culture. No one can ever know those things from reading English. The Greek and Hebrew Idioms are vital in understanding the Bible.
"Do I have to know Greek to truly understand the New Testament?"
This is a great question, yet it does assume that a fleshly human being can comprehend the spiritual Word of God. I myself cannot recall any place in scripture where it says or even imply that any human being, past present or future can possess the Word of God by way of material literature, human effort or human intelligence.
Consider this, after 2,000 years of theology there is still no common understanding or agreement among Greek Scholars as to the most rudimentary words of scripture.
Point being, the scriptures ARE the living Word of God and thus resists human efforts to possess it. Read the scriptures at face value in any language and the Word of God will yield up the fruits of the Spirit that is pleasing to the Father. The Word does the work, the Word does the interpreting.
God bless you.
JOHN DOE as a Christian who has the Holy Spirit work and walk with them, I can 20000% agree! The word is a spirit word... in the beginning was the word... the word was with God... and the word was God.
You pray to God in truth and in Spirit and without that then it’s all theological
Yes you have to.As a native Greek speaker English translations have nothing to do with the real meaning of New Testament.
Yes brother you right We have to understand the Bible in Greek and in Hebrew it's important to understand Bible English as too many variations yahushua spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Paul spoke and wrote the Epistles in Greek Don't listen to this man study it Ourselves don't let the Devil 😈 to stop you damn right we have to know bout the Bible in Original
@@donovanclause121 Well my English are not very good but when i read the Bible in English i can see that the translation sometimes changes the meaning in comparison with the Greek NT.
For example its starts with(I the beginning it was the Word)Which is absolutely nonsense because its says Logos from Logick meaning the Devine Logick.
@@Arkoudeides. yes that's true Brother I'm an full Blooded Aborigine from Australia and I taking my life seriously when it comes to Jesus Christ and Bible and My English is very good but comparison is difficulty to understand Bible in English I want to learn Greek to understand it probably Cause I don't trust anyone to interpret it for me l'd rather learn the Bible myself to see It for myself what it actually means my suggestions are how can we Know Jesus Christ deeply in our lives if don't know what was written Originally in Greek to fully understand what apostle Paul wrote in Greek was he was Greek) and I still speaking my Native tongue here in Australia All I want to make sure those words were translated In correct order cause there many many pastor, preacher, teachers, are misleading and misunderstanding about the Bible and decieveing people
The good doctor's example from Philemon demonstrates that, at some point in the chain of a Christian's discipleship, his Bible teacher definitely needs to know Greek to truly understand the NT.
"at some point in the chain of a Christian's discipleship, his Bible teacher definitely needs to know Greek to truly understand the NT" The NT was originally in Aramaic, not Greek. Do you think knowing the Aramaic is needed "to truly understand the NT"?
No, the NT was originally in Greek.
@@davidford15 not true the language the new testament was written is Greek
@@deinhaus9925 written is Greek
Evidence?
@@davidford15 I don't understand you're comment
We are not questioning the competence of translators, but everything hangs on the Old Testament which was originally written without vowels, which leaves huge scope for interpretation and error, we must read with caution and humility, and always bear in mind that God is love, and stop ignoring what the Jews have to say about their own book.
Dios los bendiga grandemente saludo desde MEXICO. (GRACIAS)
Wonderful this is what I was taught at shepherd Training College (STC )
Yes.
YES! Then we won't get into useless arguments over the English translation we are using at the time!
There is a difference between dogma and the living word or Rhema. Even if a perfect translation drops from heaven you still need the Holy Spirit to interpret the scriptures for you so the Word is not the problem because it's freely available it is our lack of understanding
Why would you need the holy spirit to understand the bible? Its a book it works like a ordinary book you dont need gods magical powers to understand it, like you dont need the holy spirit to understand any other book. Why do you think god chose letters and language to hold his words? Because it was technology that we were already familiar with. If the holy spirit should give us the word of god, why should we have a book in the first place?
@@simonpedersen9703 You are partially right, but only partially and that it is this latter which is the most significant!
Yes, you can understand a great deal from intelligent and academic assessment of the text. And as we should all know there has been an abundance of academics who have applied their skills to the text, to bring understanding of it, as evidenced in multitudes of books about it. However, there is a message which transcends the overt language of the text itself, which will not be received by the reader without the aid of the Holy Spirit! With the best will in the world, an intelligent and academic person studying this text, will still fail to grasp the message of the Bible to him personally, if there is no intervention of the Holy Spirit to help them!
One way to test yourself, as to whether you are grasping the meaning and significance of the Bible, is to ask yourself whether in reading it, you recognise your own personal sin and need to repent of your sins? Does it bring in you a humility before Almighty God, to submit yourself to Jesus the Messiah, who gave his blood for your pardon? If the answer to these two questions is that you don't think it applies to you, then clearly, you are not receiving the transcendent message of the Holy Spirit to you, as this message is given to all men without exception. What this means is that you have a blockage, which the Bible calls spiritual blindness and spiritual deafness, preventing you from receiving what God is speaking to you. This can be a simple as a pride in your own ability, rather than a willingness to humble yourself to the God who will one day decide on your destiny after death.
God bles you Mexico saludos
This example is the exact thing I nearly got tripped up on when reading philemon verse 5
La Balada De Los Bandidos Papamichail Fragment in yuoutube of Matcus Gospel chaptre 15 in original greek idioma
Koinonia is basically your community, and in this case is the Greek community. The Orthodox Church was created by Greeks FOR Greeks, and we are not interested in proselytizing.
I cannot see the chiasm that he says Philemon 5 has, but John 1.1 definitely has. No modern English version brings it out, although I believe that Wycliffe or Coverdale did in his first translation of John. Anyway, I believe that if translators did bring out the chiasm in John 1.1, it would strengthen the case for the deity of Jesus.
I do not see it either in Philemon v5. It is crystal clear in John chapter 1 "In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with GOD, and GOD was the WORD..."In him was LIFE, and the LIFE was the LIGHT of men.
It just clicked for me today (after watching this video a week ago) that it's "hearing of your LOVE and FAITH which you have toward the LORD JESUS and toward ALL THE SAINTS" ... i.e. that love is toward the saints, and faith is in the Lord Jesus.
Can you elaborate on the chiasm in John 1:1? I must confess I'm not seeing it.
My brief answer: Yes!
Why?
I can't understand you can you say that in Greek so I can interpret what you said?
Could you please list those "wonderful, reliable translations"? Please include online and books. I would love to know so that I can understand the Bible better. I know of Strong and Vines, but Vines is incomplete.
Hey :) NIV, ESV, NASB translations are my go to. God Bless you, I hope and pray you may taste and see how wonderful God is through these translations :)
The King James Bible.
Wheres the Original writing of the New testament then is the viticans have them or is in the collection in museum's somewhere Or
"Wheres the Original writing of the New testament then is the viticans have them" All we have today are copies of copies of copies for the Aramaic copies transmitted by the Assyrian Church of the East. In the case of Greek manuscripts, all we have are copies of copies of copies of a translation from the original Aramaic.
The Assyrian Church of the East has been faithfully transmitting the Aramaic NT since the earliest days of Christianity, when they received the books from those who wrote them (exception: the 'Western Five'-- II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation; they closed their canon before receiving those).
I posted some arguments for Aramaic being the original within the thread
tentmaker.org/forum/judgement-and-punishment/gehenna-and-sheol-in-the-aramaic-nt/
Older versions of many of the posts appeared earlier here, which has additional things I didn't post on the Tentmaker forum:
groups.google.com/d/msg/aus.religion.islam/bzdQCJTVhyk/SdGP_f82uUoJ
The Khabouris Codex is a medieval manuscript of the Aramaic. It can be examined at dukhrana.com/khabouris/
and info about it is at therefinersfire.org/khabouris_codex.htm
Tatian, who died in A.D. 180, composed the Diatesseron (a consolidation of the 4 Gospels) using the Aramaic. That was translated into Arabic, which we have today: sepehr.mohamadi.name/?p=84
The Greek manuscripts have many variants. In many instances, the Aramaic and the Diatesseron agree as to what the original renditions of various Gospel passages were:
groups.google.com/d/msg/aus.religion.islam/bzdQCJTVhyk/iI-uGFZ9CjwJ
@@davidford15 It was written in greek not aramaic, the aramaic translations came later
@@davidford15 The Diatessaron (Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܡܚܠܛܐ, romanized: Ewangeliyôn Damhalltê; c. 160-175 AD)
@@sleeexs "written in greek not aramaic, the aramaic translations came later"
Evidence?
@@davidford15 Are you blind? The diatesseron is dated 160-175 AD
Of cause you should be able thecread the bible for youself without depending on other people (translations) if you want to preach the bible you must know the bible. As a pastor you should rise over the level of an ordinary Christian. Be the first among equals.
The textus receptus comes from the original text get the app
Dan Wallace has challenged that presumption
You didn't have to go from the 1984 NIV to the 2011 NIV to get that. You could've just stuck to the Bible protestants used for like 300 years the KJV.
Philemon 1:6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
And if that still wasn't strong enough for you you still didn't have to go the Greek. You could've got partnership from the Strong's concordance.
1984 to 2011 is 27 years. So you had to wait 27 years to see that correct reading in the NIV. When the English KJV already had it right for hundreds of years.
He said it isn’t necessary to know the Greek, and then he pointed to a place in the Bible that was necessary to know the Greek
Go figure
They want to revive the holy Roman empire that's why they preach greek
@@davedave2472 Lol
@@aletheia8054 since America English is the language I find reading the Bible quite simple and why on earth do I need Greek language to understand a simple meaning when all it does is make me slap my forehead and laugh because it's the exact same meaning lol
@@davedave2472 Because you can’t know the idioms and figures of speech or the morphemes, and the roots and culture by reading the English.
That’s why you need to study the Greek.
@@aletheia8054 haha professing to be wise you become fools lol
You know, I don't question the ability of translators, but I do question their intentions.
you just gave an illustration of a poor translation..
Christianity has a historical problem: there is neither holy language nor sacred law in Christianity. That produced several phenomena that explain the decay of Occidente: like secularization.
Well according to the words of Jesus, his commands are the Law of "CHRISTianity". Hence why we see the Ante Nicene Fathers speak this way for the first 300 years of the "church".
Now thats a weird statement,,, and just what would a sacred law even look like.
Chapter Mathew if understood correctly, you will understand conspiracy against Jesus in the name of his teachings written in his name to pray in the name of father,son and holy spirit which Jesus never did himself nor taught his disciples in chapter Mathew.
When he prayed to God to be saved from crucification he never once said in the name of holy spirit.
Many things are opposite to his true teaching to great extent found in chapter Mathew.
Everything after 0:25 walks back his answer. Typical.
He didn't contradict himself. He's saying the Greek language allows you to understand the New Testament in greater depth. But he didn't say you can't understand the New Testament with knowing the Greek language. He was consistent with everything stated before 0:25.
Horrible advice
No don’t go back to the original way it was intended or meant?
DUH
This is hell Schofield what about changing the church single-handedly by his version of the Hollywood pre-tribulation rapture
For example
after studying the Scriptures and not bending and twisting them we come to the conclusion PREWRATH
Matthew chapter 24:29-31
Here is me explaining why I am an atheist in Latin: ruclips.net/video/vtPkRUp7ZIM/видео.html
The Bible doesn't make any more sense if you are reading it in ancient languages. That video is my tribute to making that lie die.
God is a God of absolutes. You're trying to understand God according to the relative standards of your brain. The Bible says that 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Is. 55:9)
It's like an amoeba setting the standards for what is right or wrong in the world. His ultimate purpose is far beyond the issues we face, which most of are of our own making. It's a fallen world.
@@Exegeticus You saying there is a just God but who has reasons we don't comprehend doesn't make it so. The simplest explanation by far is that there is no God.
Do you know Koine Greek fluently to say that? As far as I have my small share of knowledge it makes a huuuuuge difference for me personally. So your opinion is just as subjective and not true for me as it may be for many people.
the lost talk lost...
No, zero. All you have to do is get saved, and read the King James Bible.
Wait, are you claiming the KJV is sufficient or superior to the Greek text?
@@andyb619
It's not superior, but it is the same. You don't need the greek to know the Bible, we have a perfect translation in the English, the King James Bible.
If people know Greek that's great, but no english speaker needs to know Greek or Hebrew to understand the Bible, because we already have the perfect, preserved word of God in English in the King James Bible.
@@christianewing1113 how do we know the KJV is perfect without cross referencing the Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew?
@@andyb619
Glad you asked, watch these
@@christianewing1113 I'm sorry I'd find it much easier to discuss this with you if you explained it, rather than me going off to links.
Why learn Greek if Jesus was a Hebrew and spoke Aramaic? Hebrew does not even have the same syntax. Its like asking a Vietnamese to explain to you in Spanish the difference between Bavarian & Swiss German. Greek is a paganistic mystic language
You might have a point there, however, as far as I'm concerned, Hebrew was the language of the religious elite and ordinary people didn't know it, just as you wrote, it was Aramaic. So there's no sense of comparing Hebrew to Greek. What is more, Greek was the original language of the NT so I guess that might be a good reason for learning it (if you want to know the deeper meaning of the words).The target audience mostly spoke Greek. I've read that the authors were well-versed in Greek e.g. Apostle Paul who was a well-educated man. Therefore, they could easily transfer the meaning. Greek, just as Latin, are complex in their vocabulary which makes them proper to express many issues e.g. the term "love" has 6 different words, which all mean something completely different. Comparing random modern languages like Vietnamese to Spanish is nonsensical because 1. as I said, ancient languages were much more complex in their terminology 2. Greek was the lingua franca just as Latin was. So I could ask you, the mother tongue of the medieval writers had been different from Latin, does that mean they didn't know how to express their thoughts and the meaning when they were writing in this language?
Greek language is not a paganistic language. Greek language is the most analytical language and God chose Greek to give with the best possible way all the deep meanings that the gospel would require
God chose Greek? Did He tell u that? Were u there? Greece was the occupier before the Romans.
@@skylerxiomara Bible is the God's Word duh John's Greek Gospel including. You can figure out the rest.
God chose the Greek language not the Greeks. Also it is obvious with so many problems that we see with the translations when someone tryes to fulfill the will of God. Of course it is helpful to know the Greek language also the Hebrew.
Protestants need to learn Greek, Trad Catholics not.