The study of Greek or any language equips a Pastor with linguistic skills and sharpens his understanding to know how the English language works. Although many students in U.S. Schools go through an intensive study of English grammar in the 7th and 8th grade, they soon forget because usually we learn language by practicing it, not dicing it up into their detailed functions. So the detailed functions like syntax, sentence structure, grammatical rules, or more simply how and why words relate to one another in a sentence are crucially important for a pastor to communicate truth in its most clear sense. If there would be any area a man is ignorant in the field of language, it is grammar. Rarely do you see people prefer reading grammar books as they would romance novels or the 2nd century’s best seller Harry Potter Series. In order to convey and even learn the argument of a particular passage, one needs to identify the various parts and functions of a sentence. How verbs relate to other parts of speech. Note that there are eight parts of speech in the English language: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions. How is a pastor expected to be faithful to his exegesis when he can’t identify the definition of all eight parts of speech in his own tongue? J. Gresham Machen, a notable Biblical Language scholar once commented,
“…it might possibly be contended that an acquaintance with Greek and Latin is really necessary to acquaintance with the mother tongue, which is obviously so important for getting on in the world.”
Therefore, Biblical languages are valuable because they widen our capacity to be articulate in our very own tongue. The Church, the body of Christ, the bride deserves it. We shall commit to serving her in every way, even in the exhaustive hours of learning the rules of grammar and language. In so doing may we say “not to us, not to us, but to Your name be the glory” so that some may be saved and sanctified!
No comments:
Post a Comment