Apologia Pro Studio Linguarum Scripturarum

What's written below is an edited version of a post I once submitted to another electronic forum.

I want to defend the aims of this electronic forum in a few short paragraphs.

First, let me say that I think this forum has
continually grown and progressed. When GT was a babe,
it walked, thought and conducted itself as a little
Greek "babe." Now that it has matured (we hope!), this
forum is determined to put away the traits of a babe
and manifest the characteristics of a grown person,
figuratively speaking (1 Cor. 13:11-13).

It is true that we have concentrated on the word
(lingual sign or signifier) to the (near) exclusion of
upper-levels of discourse in the past. However, my
goal, as a progressing Greek student, has been to
slowly but gradually move from the word-level to
sentence and paragraph-level analysis of Greek
structures and probe their theological implications. I
believe that we have made such progress here and
continue to do so. Furthermore, participants in this
forum also examine the culture and context of biblical
texts and do not seem to be guilty of what Jacques
Derrida might call "logocentrism." That is, we focus
not only on the word (logos) but we also give due
attention to sentences, paragraphs, and cultural
contexts of first-century denizens. One must also
consider the theological context of the Bible
as well. Nevertheless I primarily speak for myself and
for those who have manifested such tendencies as they
participate in this electronic conference: not all
members may agree with my sentiments.

Luther adamantly and boldly proclaims: "Languages are
the sheath which hides the Sword of the Spirit . . .
so although the faith of the gospel may be proclaimed
by a preacher without the knowledge of the languages,
the preaching will be feeble and ineffective."

On the other hand, "where the [biblical] languages are
studied, the proclamation will be fresh and powerful,
the Scriptures will be searched, and a faith will be
constantly rediscovered through ever new words and
deeds."

Luther declares that the original languages of the
Bible in effect conceal "the Sword of the Spirit."
Consequently, a man may preach without knowing Greek
or Hebrew-Aramaic but his message will not have the
dynamic force of a messenger who knows biblical
languages. To be sure, I believe that Luther is
generalizing here and speaking from his own
experience. But there is a certain measure of truth, I
believe, in what he is saying.

While a knowledge of Greek (whether much or little)
can be abused, I would much rather possess it than be
without it. Those who do not study the languages of
Scripture at all are helplessly beholden to clergymen,
exegetes, expositors, translators and commentators.
How can they really adjudicate the grammatical claims or
the truth claims of scholars who have
devoted themselves to the study of Scripture and
biblical languages on the academic level? How would
they know the range of possible meanings for ARXH in
Rev. 3:14? How could they possibly determine what type
of instrument on which Jesus might have died in 33 CE? Was
it a cross or an upright pole? A study of Biblical
languages will probably shed light on this question.

Luther claims that where the biblical languages are
studied, the Gospel message will be fresh and
puissant. Christians will be motivated to search
the Bible and their faith will be fortified or
strengthened so as to accomplish God's Will in word
and deed. Luther is partly right but he is obviously
being somewhat idealistic here. Let it be known that I
nonetheless share his enthusiasm for the study of
Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek and Latin!

To conclude, while I think that Christians are not
obligated to study Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic/Latin--one
will be greatly benefited by doing so. In short, we
are not wasting our time on GT. Studying biblical
Greek or Hebrew can enhance one's ministry and love
for God and Christ. It can also assist each one of us
to present a fine defense for the Christian faith when
we are asked to give a reason for the godly conviction
within our hearts (1 Pet. 3:15). But I realize that not
everyone will or has the circumstances to study biblical languages.