Biblical Greek Is Sweet

Two weeks ago during convocation, our BCS Greek teachers offered some brief remarks to our students concerning the importance and preciousness of reading the Greek New Testament. What follows is a summary of my remarks:

I did not enjoy Greek when I first started. It was difficult. At times when I am teaching Greek, you can see the same sentiment on my students’ faces. It feels like plowing a field or digging a hole at times. While I used to feel that way, Biblical Greek has now become sweet to the taste. How did that happen?

Original Inspired Language 

Some time ago, I took the advice of J. Gresham Machen, to read the Greek New Testament out loud every day for at least ten minutes. Learning to read Greek can be difficult, but reading the Greek New Testament is wonderful. It has been said before that Christ can be seen even more clearly in the words of the New Testament than if He were standing before you in the flesh. That is true, and that is what makes reading sweet. Seeing and savoring Christ there in the pages of the New Testament, in the language in which the Holy Spirit saw fit to inspire the text, makes all the toil worth it.

Let me give you one example. First Peter 5:6-7 reads, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (NKJV). The apostle first gives a command: “...humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…” What is not very clear in our English translations of this text is that the apostle not only gives the command but gives the means by which obedience to the command is carried out.

The Means of Obedience

How does one humble himself under the mighty hand of God? The participle translated “casting” is likely a participle of means. The text would then be translated “...humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…by casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” To attempt to handle our cares ourselves then is an act of pride. We humble ourselves by means of handing over our cares to God who providentially orders them for our good and His glory.

In a very short time, our students will be adults in the real world. There are any number of hardships that could be awaiting them. Now, imagine if they’ve kept up their Greek. Worn with very real anxieties, they open to today’s Greek New Testament reading. It’s 1 Peter 5. They read verses five and six and find their hearts warmed. Why? Because ἐπιρρίψαντες (epiripsantes) is a participle of means. In all the cares they might have, they see there in the Greek text that it would be an act of pride to keep them and that they must humble themselves by means of casting their cares upon a sovereign and loving God. Participles once made their brains feel like mush, and now this one moves them to see God as glorious in their worries.

Feast on Christ

As I teach our students Biblical Greek, it is all looking forward to the day we feast on Christ in reading the Greek New Testament. May our students, through reading the Greek New Testament experience Christ as sweet to the taste. For now, may they labor diligently toward that end, knowing that they must dig before they drink, plow before they eat, and perhaps be stung a few times before they taste the honey.