The Greek Leak Repair Kit: A Guide to Keep Your Greek Airtight This Summer

Transcript

1 The Greek Leak Repair Kit: A Guide to Keep Your Greek Airtight This Summer Grace Bible Institute Summer, 2015 Stephen Samec

2 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS 2 INTRODUCTION 3 Week #1: The Basics of Nouns and Pronouncing Greek Words (BBG 3-5) 4 Week #2: The Cases (BBG 6-7) 5 Week #3: Prepositions and Adjectives (BBG 8-9) 6 Week #4: The 3rd Declension and Personal Pronouns (BBG 10-11) 7 Week #5: Ἀυτός and the Demonstrative Pronouns (BBG 12-13) 8 Week #6: Relative Pronouns (BBG 14) 9 Week #7: Introduction to Verbs (BBG 15) 10 Week #8: Present Indicative (BBG 16, 18) 11 Week #9: Contract Verbs (BBG 17) 12 Week #10: Future Active/Middle Indicative (BBG 19) 13 Appendix A: Carver's Keys to the Third Declension 14 Appendix B: The Declension Charts 15 Appendix C: The Pane 16 Appendix D: Recommended Resources 17

3 2 ABBREVIATIONS BBG BDAG LXX MBG NIDNTT NT TDNT TNT Basics of Biblical Greek, William D. Mounce. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament (ca. thirdsecond centuries BC) Morphology of Biblical Greek, William D. Mounce. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Colin Brown New Testament Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, G. Friedrich and G. Kittel These Necessary Things, Robert W. Carver

4 3 INTRODUCTION I recently experienced what motorists dread most. As I hit the pavement in my truck, I heard a "tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, tink" noise. It turns out that a roofing nail decided to make friends with my rear, driver-side tire. I arrived at home to check out the damage. It appeared as though the tread prevented it from puncturing all the way through the tire. But it was time to reconcile my optimism with reality. So I pulled it out. Much to my delight, I heard no leak. On the next day, much to my chagrin, it turns out that there was a slow leak. This one was tricky because it was undetectable by ear. Without fail, the tire's condition would land me at the gas station's air compressor every other week. Language leaks. Linguistic patches and plugs are only temporary. If you're reading this, that means you probably just finished your first academic year of Koinē Greek study. Approximately 3 months separate you from reimplementation of formal study. Much of what you have labored so diligently to obtain will disappear this summer if you don't have some type of routine that keeps Greek on your radar, especially this early in the race. The primary purpose of this guide is to aid you in establishing such a routine. This guide aims to keep your Greek "airtight." It has a secondary goal of introducing you to some of the important tools for using Greek more effectively for exegesis and lesson/sermon preparation. You will find a very simple layout here. It is a 10-week guide that reviews BBG chapters Each week has 4 sections. (1) Reading/Review: this section simply has you reading 1-6 pages of TNT, reviewing respective vocabulary in BBG, and answering a simple grammar question. (2) Parsing: here you will parse about 3 words found in the translation section. (3) Translation: this section has you translating 1-2 sentences from the NT or LXX. (4) Grammatical/Exegetical Implications: I recommend that you provide written answers in this section, but what's most important is that you think through these questions. They will help you learn to use the recommended resources and cause you to think about the text beyond your provisional parsing and translation work. I also recommend that you record the amount of time you spend with Greek each week. This will help you see how much time is actually required for you to keep your Greek fresh. I predict that this guide will take no more than 30 minutes per week. In this respect, I suggest that you supplement it in other areas (bringing your Greek Testament to church, reading through 1 John, using another summer Greek resource, 1 etc.). This guide will not earn you any credits. It is strictly voluntary. You really can use it however you see fit. But I do have some suggestions for you. (1) Work in groups, or at least find one other person with whom you can meet each week. (2) Complete each week in one sitting. If that doesn't work for you, (3) pick 4 days out of the week and do 1 section each day. (4) Please feel free to submit your work to me. I would be happy to offer suggestions. I would also be happy to work with you (or y'all) in person. (5) Purchase a decent lexicon (see Appendix D). There are several unfamiliar words which I intentionally did not footnote, so that you will start making judicious use of lexicons. Enjoy! 1 E.g., Richard J. Goodrich and David Diewert, A Summer Greek Reader: A Workbook for Maintaining Your Biblical Greek (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001). I have not personally used this one. It's 112 pages. I have intentionally left The Greek Leak Repair Kit very brief 18 pages total.

5 4 Week #1: The Basics of Nouns and Pronouncing Greek Words (BBG 3-5) 1.1. Read TNT pages Review vocab in BBG pages Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation καλόν ἄνθρωπον Καὶ εἶπεν κύριος ὁ θεός, Οὐ καλὸν εἶναι 2 τὸν ἄνθρωπον μόνον (Gen 2.18 LXX) What part of speech is μόνον here? How is it functioning in this context? 4.2. There are two clauses in this verse. How is the first clause functioning? What about the second? 2 to be

6 5 Week #2: The Cases (BBG 6-7) 1.1. Read TNT pages Review vocab in BBG pages 39 and Try to write out the declension chart from memory. Use the space provided for you in Appendix B. Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation ἐξουσίαν ἁμαρτίας ἔχει ἐξουσίαν ἔχει ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀφιέναι 3 ἁμαρτίας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς (Mk 2.10) How might the α-η shift rule help you discern how ἁμαρτίας is functioning grammatically? 4.2. Is ἐξουσία used with reference to Jesus anywhere else in the four Gospels? Use a Greek concordance to find the answer. 3 to forgive

7 6 Week #3: Prepositions and Adjectives (BBG 8-9) 1.1. Read TNT pages Review vocab in BBG pages and What are the three uses of the adjective?,, Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation ἡμέραις Ἰορδάνην Καὶ ἐγένετο 4 ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἦλθεν 5 Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ ἐβαπτίσθη 6 εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου (Mk 1.9) Mark uses the preposition εἰς with the verb βαπτίζω (see also Mt ). Could you make a case for baptism by immersion without appealing to the prepositions? Matthew and Luke also contain the account of Jesus' baptism. If you were to preach a sermon on this account, where would you preach it from? Matthew, Mark, or Luke? 4 it came about. This word occurs like this frequently in narrative contexts that it's simpler to just memorize ἐγένετο as a vocab word. (It's 3S Aor Act Ind from γίνομαι.) 5 he/she/it went 6 he/she/it was baptized 7 Cf. Murray J. Harris, Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament: An Essential Resource for Exegesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 84, 230. This work was previously published in NIDNTT 3:1171ff.

8 7 Week #4: The 3rd Declension and Personal Pronouns (BBG 10-11) 1.1. Read TNT pages Review vocab in BBG pages and Look at Appendix A for a reminder of the importance of the genitive singular in 3rd declension words. Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation θελήματος πατρός ὅλῃ Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ καὶ Τιμόθεος ὁ ἀδελφὸς τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ οὔσῃ 8 ἐν Κορίνθῳ σὺν τοῖς ἁγίοις πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν 9 ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ, χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (II Cor 1.1-2) Where is the main verb in these verses? 4.2. Is ὅλος being used as an adjective or adverb here (cf. BBG pg. 165)? 4.3. Look back at the text and circle all of the personal pronouns. 8 which is 9 who are

9 8 Week #5: Ἀυτός and the Demonstrative Pronouns (BBG 12-13) 1.1. Read TNT pages Review vocab in BBG pages and Are there any differences between the noun chart, αὐτός chart, and οὕτος or ἐκεῖνος chart? Inflected Pers/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation παράκλητος ὃ πέμψει διδάξει ὁ δὲ παράκλητος, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνος ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα καὶ ὑπομνήσει 10 ὑμᾶς πάντα ἃ εἶπον 11 ὑμῖν [ἐγώ] (Jn 14.26) What does ἐκεῖνος modify? 4.2. What is the subject of the verb πέμψει? 10 he/she/it will remind 11 I said

10 9 Week #6: Relative Pronouns (BBG 14) 1.1. Read TNT page Review vocab in BBG pages How does the relative pronoun chart compare with the noun chart? Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation γράφω φαίνει Ἀγαπητοί, οὐκ ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφω ὑμῖν ἀλλʼ ἐντολὴν παλαιὰν ἣν εἴχετε 12 ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ παλαιά ἐστιν ὁ λόγος ὃν ἠκούσατε. 13 πάλιν ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφω ὑμῖν, ὅ ἐστιν ἀληθὲς ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἡ σκοτία παράγεται 14 καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἤδη φαίνει (I Jn 2.7-8) What use of the adjective does καινήν and παλαιά employ? 4.2. Look back at these verses and circle any relative pronouns Now underline all of the relative clauses If you were to preach this passage, what would the main point of your sermon be? 12 Imperfect of ἔχω, had/were having. The personal ending will give you the rest. 13 y o u heard 14 he/she/it departs

11 10 Week #7: Introduction to Verbs (BBG 15) 1.1. Read TNT page Work backwards and indicate how the inflected form λύομεν ended up the way it is. Stem Connecting Vowel Personal Ending Inflected Form λύομεν Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation πιστεύουσίν ποιήσω καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἕως τίνος παροξύνει 15 με ὁ λαὸς οὗτος καὶ ἕως τίνος οὐ πιστεύουσίν μοι ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς σημείοις, οἷς ἐποίησα 16 ἐν αὐτοῖς; πατάξω 17 αὐτοὺς θανάτῳ καὶ ἀπολῶ 18 αὐτοὺς καὶ ποιήσω σὲ καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦτο (Num LXX) ἕως is used to introduce a question in this passage. How might you translate it to reflect that particular function? 4.2. For μέγα καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ, do you remember the different degrees of adjectives? 4.3. πιστεύω is a significant word in New Testament theology. Check out a thorough study on this word and its cognates in TDNT VI: From παροξύνω, I anger; I urge. 16 I did 17 I will beat 18 I will slay

12 11 Week #8: Present Indicative (BBG 16, 18) 1.1. Read TNT pages and Review vocab in BBG pages 137 and Try to fill out the Primary Active and Passive quadrants on "The Pane" from memory (see Appendix C). Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation ἔρχεται συνέρχεται δύνασθαι Καὶ ἔρχεται εἰς οἶκον καὶ συνέρχεται πάλιν [ὁ] ὄχλος, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτοὺς μηδὲ ἄρτον φαγεῖν 19 (Mk 3.20) Do you see any flexibility in how you might translate some of these present tense forms? How would you categorize such usage(s)? 4.2. Students often memorize ἄρτος as "bread." Does it have any other lexical possibilities? 19 to eat

13 12 Week #9: Contract Verbs (BBG 17) 1.1. Read TNT pages 1.2. Review vocab in BBG pages 1.3. Contract verbs have stems that end in:,,. Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation καλῶ καλέσω Ἄκουέ 20 μου, Ιακωβ καὶ Ισραηλ ὃν ἐγὼ καλῶ, ἐγώ εἰμι πρῶτος, καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ἡ χείρ μου ἐθεμελίωσεν 21 τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἡ δεξιά μου ἐστερέωσεν 22 τὸν οὐρανόν, καλέσω αὐτούς, καὶ στήσονται 23 ἅμα (Isaiah LXX) Why does the text use χείρ and δεξιά? Is there any semantic distinction between the two? 4.2. The phrase εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα is idiomatic; "forever" is the idea. 20 Hear! 21 he/she/it founded or laid the foundation 22 he/she/it established 23 they will stand

14 13 Week #10: Future Active/Middle Indicative (BBG 19) 1.1. Read TNT pages Review vocab in BBG pages Inflected Person/Case Number Tense/Gender Voice Mood Lexical Translation ἔσται γενέσει χαρήσονται καὶ ἔσται χαρά σοι καὶ ἀγαλλίασις καὶ πολλοὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γενέσει αὐτοῦ χαρήσονται (Lk 1.14) What do you make of the morphology of χαρήσονται? What person and number is it? What is its location on The Pane? Do you see anything besides the personal ending and the stem? What's the lexical form? Check it out in Gingrich's Shorter Lexicon or BDAG Who is the speaker in this verse? To whom is he/she speaking? 4.3. For γενέσει, there are a lot of words in the lexicon that begin with γεν-. How do you know you've selected the right lexical form? 24 Cf. MBG 302 for more discussion.

15 14 Appendix A: "Carver's Keys to the Third Declension" 1. Learn the basic endings for masc. and fem. 3rd declension nouns as two words: ς /ος /ι /α ες/ων/σι/ας 2. The neuter endings will be the same as the above except for adjustments in accordance with noun rules 2 and The nominative singular form (i.e., lexical form) will indicate what the dative plural form will look like (which will end in an ι and may have a moveable ν). 4. Review the Square of Stops + σ chart. The most important step to take for mastering the 3rd declension, however, is memorizing the genitive singular with your vocabulary. Why? Removing the case ending of the genitive singular will reveal the stem of the word! Once you know the stem of the word, you can predict how it will decline in the other cases in both the singular and plural. Illustration: This is how your 3rd declension vocab cards should look. Front of card Back of card πούς, ποδός, ὁ foot

16 15 Appendix B: The Declension Charts Ns Masc. Fem. Fem. Neut. Masc/Fem Neut Gs Ds As Np Gp Dp Ap

17 Passive Active 16 Appendix C: The Pane 1 PRIMARY SECONDARY Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur

18 17 Appendix D: Recommended Resources ( = available in church library) Bauer, Walter. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature (BDAG), 3 rd ed. Edited Frederick William Danker. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, This one is definitely worth purchasing. Used copies are available on amazon.com. New copies are in stock on cbd.com. Make sure you are ordering the 3rd edition. 2nd edition. Brown, Colin ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. 3 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Burer, Michael H. and Jeffrey E. Miller, A New Reader's Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2008). Campbell, Constantine R. Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Keep Your Greek: Strategies for Busy People. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Friedrich, G. and G. Kittel, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. 10 vols. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gingrich, F. Wilbur and Frederick W. Danker. Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983). Moulton, W. F. and A. S. Geden. A Concordance to the Greek Testament (T&T Clark Publishers, 1978). Mounce, William D. Biblical Greek: A Compact Guide. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Free audio lectures online at Biblical Training ( The Morphology of Biblical Greek: A Companion to Basics of Biblical Greek and The Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Vance, Laurence M. Greek Verbs in the New Testament and Their Principle Parts (Pensacola: Vance Publications, 2006). Wigram, George V. The Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996).