Too many pastors let their language skills go. This article is my plea to pastors to get those skills back. I’m not a language ninja. I’m just a pastor who is broadly competent in the biblical languages—not because I’m particularly gifted, but because I use Greek and Hebrew each week.
I’m a member of an online community of pastors and academics—many whom have (or nearly have) their PhD. Many of these guys playfully malign biblical studies as a discipline, and many confess they have let their language skills go. As a result they, especially the pastors among them, are often slaves to commentaries. They buy the latest volumes and can speak confidently about this or that interpretation. But, too often, their opinions are mediated through commentaries. This parable means that—and Fred Smith argues persuasively for the position in his awesome new ZECNT commentary!
Too often, the discussion never filters down to grammar and syntax … because they’ve forgotten the languages. It’s become a joke in this community that I always mention languages! Commentaries are good. Commentaries are helpful. The Holy Spirit really has spoken to other believers, in different times, about the same text you’re studying. So, of course, buy good commentaries—especially if they’re older (and likely free). John Broadus’ Matthew commentary in the old American Commentary series is a great example (this set is the father of the New American Commentary series, and the grandfather of the CSB series).
But … what happened to Greek? If you can’t evaluate the evidence yourself, then you don’t really know whether Fred Smith is out to lunch in his awesome ZECNT commentary. Sure, you can check five other commentaries and go with the law of averages, but how does that help you figure out (and preach) what, exactly, the “gift of God” is at Ephesians 2:8? You can’t settle that without knowing syntax, and you can’t do that if you’re leaning exclusively on Fred Smith and his allegedly next-level Greek analysis. Do you want to have your own informed opinion on this issue? Or do you want to bet it all on Dr. Fred Smith, and hope nobody asks detailed questions?
If you’re a seminary-trained pastor, you probably spent four or five semesters studying Koine Greek, and four semesters grinding through Hebrew. It will come back. Please get back into one verse per week from Greek or Hebrew as you do your sermon prep. Dust off or re-purchase your second-year syntax textbook (I love Richard Young’s Intermediate New Testament Greek) and figure out a few tricky turns of phrase from your sermon text. Buy the volumes in Baylor’s Handbook on the Greek Text series, or Zondervan’s Exegetical Commentary on the Greek New Testament set. It will come back.
If you begin to use your languages, the commentaries will no longer be a crutch or a filter between you and God’s word. I fear too many pastors encounter the text through a commentary. That’s too bad, because you’re missing so much. For example, I always wondered what on earth Paul meant when he wrote that we must be “diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3). What even is a “bond of peace”? Well, it’s plausible that the preposition in the phrase ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης expresses means = “by means of the bond of peace.” We can keep the unity of the spirit by remembering the bond of peace we share together in relationship with Jesus—this transcends our petty disagreements.
Here are four practical reasons why every pastor should use their Greek, from Ephesians 4:19. Paul is speaking about the way of life of unbelievers: “And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (LSB).
- What is happening with the “callousness”? Is it a temporal or perhaps attendant circumstance situation (“having become calloused”)? Or is it causal—“because they are calloused”? This matters.
- Why do so many translations render the callousness as a passive = “become calloused”? It’s in active voice with a perfect tense-form (or, if you prefer, a perfective aspect), which suggests it ought to be something like “because they are now calloused.” It’s likely they’re forced to use a passive sense because they see the participle as temporal or attendant circumstance (see no. 1, above).
- Many good translations render ἀσελγείᾳ as “licentiousness.” What does this mean, in English? Many opt to color this with a sexual tinge = “sensuality,” because Paul often speaks about sexual sins. But, this is not necessarily true. Is this section warning about sexual debauchery, or about the debauchery of unbelievers in general? In other words, what are you gonna warn the congregation about as you preach this? So, this analysis matters. You can be at the mercy of commentators, or you can also do your own research.
- What is the “every kind of impurity” after which unbelievers greedily chase? Again, many translations put a sexual spin on ἀκαθαρσίας (“uncleanness”) which doesn’t have to be there. It can simply be wild, out-of-control and sinful behavior in general. Is Paul warning against all kinds of sexual abandonment, or all kinds of sinful abandonment in general?
You can either deal with these issues through the medium of a commentator, or you can evaluate them yourself. You may not even know these issues exist if you just use your English bible + commentaries. I’ll always be grateful to my language professors at Maranatha Seminary—to Dr. Andrew Hudson for teaching me Greek, and to Dr. Andrew Goodwill who (years later!) taught me Hebrew. I received a C+ in many of my Greek classes at seminary. If a guy like me can stick with it and become (sorta!) competent over the years, so can you!
My rendering of Ephesians 4:19:
- Who (οἵτινες = ante. is the unbelievers (i.e., Gentiles)), because they are calloused (ἀπηλγηκότες = adverbial, causal; intensive perfect + active voice = no passive sense in translation), handed themselves over (ἑαυτοὺς παρέδωκαν = they act upon themselves) to sinful, out of control behavior (ἀσελγείᾳ, see Exegetical Dictionary of NT; dat. indir. obj.) in order to (εἰς = purpose, goal) greedily (ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ = the manner of this chase/practice) chase after every depravity (ἀκαθαρσίας = obj. gen.).
