New Testament Greek Grammar Notes

Learn to Read New Testament Greek: Exhaustive Study Notes

About This Book

• Purpose: This grammar aims to be up-to-date in subject matter, linguistically informed in methodology, and emphasized contemporary models of language learning.
• Target Audience: Students preparing for practical exegesis courses and later grammar courses.
• Goal: To prepare students for reading and understanding the Greek New Testament.
• Distinguishing Features:
  • Provides independent treatment of material in light of recent research.
  • Offers simplified explanations, basic vocabularies, and abundant exercises.
  • Structured into $26$ lessons.
  • Suitable for individual or group study, review, and as a reference guide.
  • Designed for a full year of study (one lesson per week, with supplementary testing and review).

Characteristics of the Lessons

• Grammar Presentation:
  • Attempts to explain the nature of the language, especially fundamental topics like verbal aspect and the function of the article.
  • Introduces topics with simple preliminary explanations and English illustrations, anticipating student unfamiliarity with grammatical nomenclature.
  • Uses the simplest possible language and includes only linguistic concepts with clear application to beginning Greek.
• Examples and Memorization:
  • Contains numerous examples derived from the New Testament, using grammatical forms already introduced whenever possible.
  • Minimizes rote memorization of paradigms; instead, teaches recognition of basic patterns and morphological analysis.
• Visual Aids: Employs visual devices like bold type, underlining, tables, and graphs to aid understanding.
• Content Emphasis:
  • Primary principles are presented in large type; details in reduced type (without implying minor importance).
  • Gradual description of Greek tenses, with special care for verb inflection given many students' lack of prior exposure.
  • Active indicative tenses presented as: present and future (Lesson $3$), imperfect and aorist (Lesson $7$), and perfect and pluperfect (Lesson $10$).
  • Subsequent lessons cover middle and passive voices, contract and liquid verbs, participles, infinitives, and subjunctive and imperative moods, and -$\mu \iota$ conjugation verbs.
  • Places similar paradigms side by side for easier comprehension (e.g., present and future active indicative).
  • Deliberately postpones middle and passive voices until the entire active system is learned to allow for a clearer understanding of verbal aspect.
  • Preliminary Overview: Provides an overview of the Greek verb system in Lesson $2$ to acquaint learners with tenses before inflection.
  • Comprehensive Review: Includes a review of the indicative mood in Lesson $16$ to supplement the overview.
• Vocabulary:
  • Includes high-frequency words from the Greek New Testament for permanent learning.
  • Groups words of the same type together.
  • Provides extensive lists of English cognates and derivatives to demonstrate the relationship between English and Greek and facilitate vocabulary acquisition.
  • Adds Greek roots to word lists to ease vocabulary burden; instructors may require learning these forms for students continuing Greek studies.
• Exercises:
  • Greek-to-English exercises illustrate new grammatical principles and previously discussed forms/usages.
  • Repeated practice of exercises builds facility in the language.
  • Early exercises rarely use verbatim New Testament sentences but adhere to New Testament idiom.
  • Beginning with Lesson $18$, translation exercises exclusively use excerpts from the Greek New Testament.
  • This use of genuine Greek aims to provide insight into New Testament writers' language and thought and prepare students for reading the original text.
• Selection Criteria: Excerpts are chosen for inherent interest, not merely to illustrate forms and syntax.
• Omissions: Focuses on reading Greek, not composition, thus:
  • Treatment of Greek accents is relegated to an appendix.
  • Excludes English-to-Greek exercises.
  • Excludes numerals.
  • Excludes rare forms and constructions (e.g., future participle and infinitive, most of the optative, $\mu \eta$ as a conjunction).
• Emphasis on Interpretation: Subjects presented are directly relevant to interpreting the Greek New Testament, stressing the need for students to master principles to move from grammar to exegesis quickly.

Trilogy of Contributions

• This volume is the third and final work in a trilogy for New Testament Greek study:
  1. Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek: A Survey of Basic Concepts and Applications (Baker): Demonstrates the relevance of modern linguistics to New Testament interpretation.
  2. Using New Testament Greek in Ministry: A Practical Guide for Students and Pastors (Baker): Provides a comprehensive survey of New Testament exegesis's chief features in a practical form.
  3. Learn to Read New Testament Greek (present work): Completes the series by presenting the elements of New Testament Greek in a simple-yet-comprehensive manner.
• Linguistic Scope: Primarily concerned with rudiments for language acquisition, not detailed discussions of linguistics.
  • Example: Discourse analysis in Lesson $26$ is limited to basic elements.
  • Further Study: Students interested in deeper linguistic topics should consult the bibliography in the Epilogue.

Acknowledgments

• Gratitude expressed to authors listed in the Epilogue for contributions to New Testament Greek study.
• Indebtedness to colleagues and friends (Karen Jobes, Joseph Modica, Robert Smith, Stephen Veteto, John Landers, Mark Seifrid, Chris Church) who read and criticized the manuscript.
• Thanks to students for encouragement.
• Special thanks to Dr. Ed Childs of Biola University for help with the "Greek Alphabet Song" (Appendix $2$).
• Gratitude to David Dockery (formerly of Broadman Press, now dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) for the opportunity to write the grammar, hoping it enlarges readership of the Greek New Testament.
• Author's sentiment aligns with $2$ Maccabees $15:37-38$: "At this point I shall bring my work to an end. If it is found to be well written and aptly composed, that is what I myself desired; but if superficial and mediocre, it was the best I could do."

From Author to Reader

• Welcome: Invites students to the study of Greek.
• Core Goal: To help students read and understand the Greek New Testament, even without prior foreign language study.
• Practical Applications: Essential for expository sermons, accurate Sunday School lessons, proper theology in hymns, or New Testament translation.
• Focus: Concentrates on grammatical aspects where Greek offers significant contributions to New Testament understanding, often not attainable from English translations.
• Methodology: New information introduced in small, manageable units; grammar points fully explained and illustrated.
• Reading Progress:
  • After $17$ lessons, students begin reading selected passages from the Greek New Testament.
  • By the end of the course, students should be able to read much of the New Testament without constant dictionary reference.
  • Gain understanding of Greek language structure, ability to use commentaries based on Greek text, and capacity to plumb God's revelation.
• Learning Approach:
  • Minimizes rote memorization of grammatical forms.
  • Teaches recognition of recurring word patterns and interpretation through linguistic principles, equipping students to read unfamiliar passages confidently.
  • Learning basic word lists will make approximately $75\%$ of New Testament words familiar.
• Instructions for Use:
  1. Read Quickly: Read each new lesson quickly, then study section by section, pausing to assimilate content. Do not start a new lesson until the previous one is mastered. Ask questions if a concept is unclear.
  2. Complete Exercises: Do all exercises for maximum benefit, as they provide extensive practice. Avoid falling behind in exercises, as "catching up" is difficult in elementary courses.
  3. Separate Work: Never write English translations in the textbook. Use separate paper for exercises to reinforce Greek retention. Read exercises aloud until easy and quick translation is achieved.
  4. Enjoy Progress: Be patient with the pace; learning a foreign language requires time and effort. Dismiss claims of "miracle-methods." Proper instruction leads to rapid progress, enabling reading of the New Testament in original Greek by course end.
• Required Resource: Purchase an edition of the Greek New Testament as soon as possible.
  • Widely Used Editions:
    • Nestle-Aland $27^{th}$ edition (NA$27$)
    • United Bible Societies $4^{th}$ (corrected) edition (UBS$4$)
  • Comparison: UBS$4$ has the same text as NA$27$ but a different critical apparatus (fewer variants, more detailed evidence).
  • Availability: Both are available in various bindings. UBS$4$ is also bound with A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament.
  • Other Important Edition: The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform, compiled and edited by Maurice Robinson and William G. Pierpont ($2005$), which takes a "majority text" position.

Preface to Expanded Edition

• Revisions: Incorporates comments from reviewers, colleagues, and students.
• New Back Matter Helps:
  • Key to the exercises.
  • Summary of noun paradigms.
  • Table of case-number suffixes.
  • Table of person-number suffixes.
  • Summary of prepositions.
  • List of words differing in accentuation or breathing.
  • List of principal parts.
• Purpose of Additions: To enhance usefulness as a reference tool.
• Other Changes: Corrected misprints and made minor improvements.
• Basic Plan: Remains the same; first edition confirmed the need for this type of introduction.
• Acknowledgments: Thanks to students and colleagues from various theological institutions for helpfulness and suggestions.
• Gratitude: Heartfelt thanks to Trent Butler, John Landers, and Steve Bond of Broadman Press for their support.
• Call for Feedback: Invites users to report any remaining errors or omissions.

Preface to Third Edition

• Motivation: Prepared at the request of B&H Academic editors for an updated edition to accompany Learn to Read New Testament Greek Workbook: Supplemental Exercises for Greek Grammar Students.
• User Feedback: Solicited comments from users, who frequently requested to leave the book "as is," leading to conservative changes.
• Continuity: Retains the simplicity and conciseness of the first two editions.
• Specific Changes:
  • Updated bibliographies.
  • Reworded (and hopefully improved) explanations in several places.
  • Added section numbers indicating the first occurrence of each vocabulary word.
• Acknowledgments: Thanks to B&H Academic staff, especially Ray Clendenen and David Stabnow, for assistance.
• Hope: Expresses hope that this edition will be useful to seminarians, homeschoolers, and self-learners.
• Disclaimer: No claim of infallibility is made.
• Prayer: Prays that God uses the book to equip a new generation to read the New Testament in its original language and share benefits with others.

1. The Letters and Sounds of Greek

• First Step: Learning to read and write the Greek alphabet.
• Benefits:
  • Breaks down unfamiliarity with Greek.
  • Enables word lookup in a Greek-English dictionary.
  • Reveals relationships between Greek and English words.

1. The Language of the New Testament

• Significance: A significant language due to its use by God to communicate His Word (like Hebrew and Aramaic).
• Historical Context:
  • Ancient Hellenes settled in the Greek peninsula in the $13^{th}$ century B.C.
  • Spoke several dialects, with Attic (from Athens) becoming prominent.
  • A descendant of Attic Greek, known as Koine or "common" Greek, became the official language of the Greek empire after Alexander the Great's conquests.
  • Koine was the language of everyday commerce and communication.
  • Used in Rome itself as much as Latin; Paul wrote his letter to Roman Christians in Greek.
• Nature: Belongs to the living stream of Greek development from ancient Hellenes to modern Athenians.
• Suitability: Uniquely suited for the propagation of the gospel of Christ among nations.

2. The Greek Alphabet

• Ease of Learning: Not difficult; sounds are easy, and Greek is largely phonetic.
• Pronunciation Scheme:
  • A compromise between ancient pronunciation and spelling.
  • Practical advantage: assigns a sound to only one letter, aiding spelling recall from pronunciation.
• Greek Letters and English Equivalents:
  • Alpha (Α $\alpha$): a (father, long; bat, short)
  • Beta (Β $\beta$): b (ball)
  • Gamma (Γ $\gamma$): g (gift)
  • Delta (Δ $\delta$): d (dog)
  • Epsilon (Ε $\epsilon$): e (bet)
  • Zeta (Ζ $\zeta$): z (adze)
  • Eta (Η $\eta$): e $_\mu$ (obey)
  • Theta (Θ $\theta$): th (thin)
  • Iota (Ι $\iota$): i (machine, long; pit, short)
  • Kappa (Κ $\kappa$): k (kin)
  • Lambda (Λ $\lambda$): l (lamb)
  • Mu (Μ $\,\mu$): m (man)
  • Nu (Ν $\,\nu$): n (name)
  • Xi (Ξ $\,\xi$): x (wax)
  • Omicron (Ο $\,\omicron$): o (omelet)
  • Pi (Π $\,\pi$): p (pin)
  • Rho (Ρ $\,\rho$): r (rat)
  • Sigma (Σ $\,\sigma$, $\,\varsigma$): s (sing)
  • Tau (Τ $\,\tau$): t (tale)
  • Upsilon (Υ $\,\upsilon$): u (lute, long; put, short)
  • Phi (Φ $\,\phi$): ph (physics)
  • Chi (Χ $\,\chi$): ch (chemist)
  • Psi (Ψ $\,\psi$): ps (taps)
  • Omega (Ω $\,\omega$): o $_\mu$ (gold)
• Pronunciation Notes:
  • $\gamma$ (gamma) is always a hard "g" (as in gift); exception: before $\,\kappa$, $\,\chi$, or another $\,\gamma$, it's pronounced as "n" (e.g., $$ \text{\char