I confess this is an odd post and something that may sound strange to come from the pen (keyboard) of one who loves education immensely. But I believe it will be helpful to some who may have been subjected to the "if you only knew Hebrew and Greek like I do you would understand this to be true or that to be true" argumentation.
Sometimes people due to pride get "educated." They go through our schools, our seminaries, or they fall in "love" with the idea of knowledge and they begin to use knowledge in an improper way.
One of the greatst sins of the Roman Catholic Church was that they kept the word of God locked up in languages that the people could not speak. They made people feel ignorant, stupid, and kept them in prison to darkness because the people could not read the language their Bible was written in.
Yet some Protestants do the same thing. Some toot their horn and play the same game with the Hebrew and Greek languages. They try and make the average person feel unable to truly understand who God is unless they aquire a special skill of being able to read the biblical languages.
They Hebrew root you and Greek stem you to death. You walk away feeling as if you have been in more of a foreign language class than in a session designed for your edification in Christ.
Often hypocrisy is behind the real motive. What these Protestants really are wanting to do is to make others feel subservient, then they go study the languages, or have the training in the languages and they use their knowledge to make others feel like without them they, the average non-trained person, cannot truly read and understand the teachings of the Bible.
In essence they are doing the same thing the Roman Catholic Church leaders did. Can a knowledge of Hebrew and Greek help? Certainly it does. But one must ask for what purpose is one learning the languages.
Unless one is going to translate the Bible for a ethnic group that has no native translation one does not need to be or have an advanced knowledge of Hebrew or Greek to be able to work with the languages of English and Hebrew and Greek behind the English to rightfully understand his or her Bible.
Some might think why would I say that when I've had so much training in seminary myself in the original languages. Is that not counter productive to the claim we need to be educated?
No not really. God has raised up some very fine scholars who have produced some very honorable, faithful, and overall good Bible translations. A person who neither reads Greek nor Hebrew, but who can properly read English and use research tools, can discover the meaning of Scripture and arrive at faithful conclusions about what the text means.
Listen to what one Greek scholar says about this. His words expose the bad idea of people trying to learn Hebrew or Greek in order to discover some hidden meaning that supposedly no one but the elite and well trained can find, a reason in which some use as to why only they can truly understand the Bible. He says:
"Perhaps the most common danger comes from those who approach the Greek with unrealistic expectations. Most references to the original Greek in sermons and articles refer to the meaning of certain Greek words as if the Greek unlocks a deeper and more accurate meaning disguised by English translations. So many people then go on to learn Greek intending to unearth some previously ignored word meaning that will have a significant effect in their Bible study. I believe this estimation of the purpose of original language study is unrealistic and does not do justice to the value and work of translators. The first job of translators is to render the meaning of the Greek in English. they have many tools at their disposal to accomplish their task and to render their understanding of the Greek in English accurately. So when a dabbler discovers something in the Greek that isn't represented in translations, instead of thinking he has unerathed a golden nugget of meaning he should rather take it as a warning that he may have done something wrong. After a time of study, students sometimes say that the work involved in acquiring Greek skills isn't worth the effort because they rarely see anything that substantially differs from their English translation. Their disappointment is the result of an unrealistic expectation of the purpose of Greek study. Beginners should not expect to correct translators who have years of experience. Rather, they should be encouraged that they are doing something right by coming to the same conclusions as those who are more advanced. Yet, this is not to say that we shouldn't expect Greek study to affect our understanding of the Scriptures in ways not available to those who are completely dependent on English translations. It is just that the fruit of our labors will normally be in areas other than word meaning" (John Schwandt, Classical Languages Scholar at St. Andrews College where he teaches Greek, Latin, and Hebrew).
There are some places in the Bible where word meanings are disputed but in these cases it is fairly obvious because multiple English translations will show the various opinions of scholars. Or even some basic critical commentaries will show the disputes over a word or phrase.
Outside of these areas there is very little that an English reader can not glean from using their English Bible along with some other helpful study tools by the more advanced scholars.
Now of course what I have just said will not be taken very well by those who want to pad their colleges and seminaries with more students who pay the tuition prices which pay for their salaries. I understand this position is not advantageous for marketing the need for advanced language study in the school contexts.
I am not saying that one should not study the languages if he or she has such an interest and calling in their life. I have been deeply blessed and enriched by my studies in both Hebrew and Greek in undergrad, grad, and post grad schools.
But, overall generally speaking, the main, essential, and most important doctrines of the Bible can be understood and embraced even by the English only saint. And with a little bit of of training with some word study tools where there are some differences among translations a saint can use the aid of other scholars enough to do rather well at arriving at a safe conclusion if one will remain humble and pliable to good research tools.
So, be aware of those who make too much of the Hebrew and Greek. At times it is important when there is a doctrinal dispute as it can bring to light some things. But some people who claim to be Protestant are still doing what Rome did to their disciples. They speak and teach as if you cannot truly know what God means unless you have years of training in the original languages. In many cases this is only a prideful ploy to their own self-exaltation so they can make you feel as if you cannot understand the main truths of the Bible.
Scholarship is indeed important but a true scholar can take what they have learned and articulate it in such a way that even an English only person can understand and grasp it. And I'm speaking as one who has logged an enormous amount of time in rigorous academic study in various disciplines and subjects. We who are educated are sometimes prone to use our education the wrong way and if we are not careful we'll fall back into the same trap as did Rome by making our disciples feel as if they cannot glean truth from their English Bible because they do not know Hebrew or Greek.
Sometimes people due to pride get "educated." They go through our schools, our seminaries, or they fall in "love" with the idea of knowledge and they begin to use knowledge in an improper way.
One of the greatst sins of the Roman Catholic Church was that they kept the word of God locked up in languages that the people could not speak. They made people feel ignorant, stupid, and kept them in prison to darkness because the people could not read the language their Bible was written in.
Yet some Protestants do the same thing. Some toot their horn and play the same game with the Hebrew and Greek languages. They try and make the average person feel unable to truly understand who God is unless they aquire a special skill of being able to read the biblical languages.
They Hebrew root you and Greek stem you to death. You walk away feeling as if you have been in more of a foreign language class than in a session designed for your edification in Christ.
Often hypocrisy is behind the real motive. What these Protestants really are wanting to do is to make others feel subservient, then they go study the languages, or have the training in the languages and they use their knowledge to make others feel like without them they, the average non-trained person, cannot truly read and understand the teachings of the Bible.
In essence they are doing the same thing the Roman Catholic Church leaders did. Can a knowledge of Hebrew and Greek help? Certainly it does. But one must ask for what purpose is one learning the languages.
Unless one is going to translate the Bible for a ethnic group that has no native translation one does not need to be or have an advanced knowledge of Hebrew or Greek to be able to work with the languages of English and Hebrew and Greek behind the English to rightfully understand his or her Bible.
Some might think why would I say that when I've had so much training in seminary myself in the original languages. Is that not counter productive to the claim we need to be educated?
No not really. God has raised up some very fine scholars who have produced some very honorable, faithful, and overall good Bible translations. A person who neither reads Greek nor Hebrew, but who can properly read English and use research tools, can discover the meaning of Scripture and arrive at faithful conclusions about what the text means.
Listen to what one Greek scholar says about this. His words expose the bad idea of people trying to learn Hebrew or Greek in order to discover some hidden meaning that supposedly no one but the elite and well trained can find, a reason in which some use as to why only they can truly understand the Bible. He says:
"Perhaps the most common danger comes from those who approach the Greek with unrealistic expectations. Most references to the original Greek in sermons and articles refer to the meaning of certain Greek words as if the Greek unlocks a deeper and more accurate meaning disguised by English translations. So many people then go on to learn Greek intending to unearth some previously ignored word meaning that will have a significant effect in their Bible study. I believe this estimation of the purpose of original language study is unrealistic and does not do justice to the value and work of translators. The first job of translators is to render the meaning of the Greek in English. they have many tools at their disposal to accomplish their task and to render their understanding of the Greek in English accurately. So when a dabbler discovers something in the Greek that isn't represented in translations, instead of thinking he has unerathed a golden nugget of meaning he should rather take it as a warning that he may have done something wrong. After a time of study, students sometimes say that the work involved in acquiring Greek skills isn't worth the effort because they rarely see anything that substantially differs from their English translation. Their disappointment is the result of an unrealistic expectation of the purpose of Greek study. Beginners should not expect to correct translators who have years of experience. Rather, they should be encouraged that they are doing something right by coming to the same conclusions as those who are more advanced. Yet, this is not to say that we shouldn't expect Greek study to affect our understanding of the Scriptures in ways not available to those who are completely dependent on English translations. It is just that the fruit of our labors will normally be in areas other than word meaning" (John Schwandt, Classical Languages Scholar at St. Andrews College where he teaches Greek, Latin, and Hebrew).
There are some places in the Bible where word meanings are disputed but in these cases it is fairly obvious because multiple English translations will show the various opinions of scholars. Or even some basic critical commentaries will show the disputes over a word or phrase.
Outside of these areas there is very little that an English reader can not glean from using their English Bible along with some other helpful study tools by the more advanced scholars.
Now of course what I have just said will not be taken very well by those who want to pad their colleges and seminaries with more students who pay the tuition prices which pay for their salaries. I understand this position is not advantageous for marketing the need for advanced language study in the school contexts.
I am not saying that one should not study the languages if he or she has such an interest and calling in their life. I have been deeply blessed and enriched by my studies in both Hebrew and Greek in undergrad, grad, and post grad schools.
But, overall generally speaking, the main, essential, and most important doctrines of the Bible can be understood and embraced even by the English only saint. And with a little bit of of training with some word study tools where there are some differences among translations a saint can use the aid of other scholars enough to do rather well at arriving at a safe conclusion if one will remain humble and pliable to good research tools.
So, be aware of those who make too much of the Hebrew and Greek. At times it is important when there is a doctrinal dispute as it can bring to light some things. But some people who claim to be Protestant are still doing what Rome did to their disciples. They speak and teach as if you cannot truly know what God means unless you have years of training in the original languages. In many cases this is only a prideful ploy to their own self-exaltation so they can make you feel as if you cannot understand the main truths of the Bible.
Scholarship is indeed important but a true scholar can take what they have learned and articulate it in such a way that even an English only person can understand and grasp it. And I'm speaking as one who has logged an enormous amount of time in rigorous academic study in various disciplines and subjects. We who are educated are sometimes prone to use our education the wrong way and if we are not careful we'll fall back into the same trap as did Rome by making our disciples feel as if they cannot glean truth from their English Bible because they do not know Hebrew or Greek.
