Growth New Testament Greek for free

[OzSpen]

Good evening posters,

A couple of months ago, one of the moderators asked if I was oped to teach an introductory NT Greek for CFnet. Sadly, my time commitments prevented my doing that.

I have discovered there is a course, Learn New Testament Greek online (free) at your own pace through Morling College. This is the Baptist Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

All you pay for this course is the text book, which is the one I used for teaching NT Greek, Elements of New Testament Greek (3rd edition). The current edition is by Jeremy Duff. I used the previous one by J W Wenham.

I highly recommend any NT Greek course offered if it is based on this text.

Blessings in Christ,
Oz

 

[OzSpen]

Good evening posters,

A couple of months ago, one of the moderators asked if I was oped to teach an introductory NT Greek for CFnet. Sadly, my time commitments prevented my doing that.

I have discovered there is a course, Learn New Testament Greek online (free) at your own pace through Morling College. This is the Baptist Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

All you pay for this course is the text book, which is the one I used for teaching NT Greek, Elements of New Testament Greek (3rd edition). The current edition is by Jeremy Duff. I used the previous one by J W Wenham.

I highly recommend any NT Greek course offered if it is based on this text.

Blessings in Christ,
Oz

Sorry for the typo: 'if I was oped to teach an introductory NT Greek for CFnet' should have read 'if I was open to teach an introductory NT Greek course for CFnet'.

 

[GodsGrace]

Hi Oz,

Keeping in mind that I speak more than one language fluently, I'd like to ask you the following:

Is it really necessary to study Greek in order to be able to understand the bible for purposes of our salvation and our knowledge of God?

IOW, I understand that at the scholarly level it is necessary to understand Greek because of the nuances in any language...however, it is NECESSARY FOR US to know Greek?

I have never though so.
What do you think?

 

[Truthfrees]

Good evening posters,

A couple of months ago, one of the moderators asked if I was oped to teach an introductory NT Greek for CFnet. Sadly, my time commitments prevented my doing that.

I have discovered there is a course, Learn New Testament Greek online (free) at your own pace through Morling College. This is the Baptist Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

All you pay for this course is the text book, which is the one I used for teaching NT Greek, Elements of New Testament Greek (3rd edition). The current edition is by Jeremy Duff. I used the previous one by J W Wenham.

I highly recommend any NT Greek course offered if it is based on this text.

Blessings in Christ,
Oz

thanks for this

 

[Truthfrees]

Hi Oz,

Keeping in mind that I speak more than one language fluently, I'd like to ask you the following:

Is it really necessary to study Greek in order to be able to understand the bible for purposes of our salvation and our knowledge of God?

IOW, I understand that at the scholarly level it is necessary to understand Greek because of the nuances in any language...however, it is NECESSARY FOR US to know Greek?

I have never though so.
What do you think?

reading the bible in hebrew and greek makes it very vibrant for me

english translators usually did not have a vibrant relationship with God so the words they used reflect a dry dullness that misses the power of God's salvation work and the passion our God has for us - hebrew and greek are both very pictorial and passionate languages imo unlike english

 

[GodsGrace]

reading the bible in hebrew and greek makes it very vibrant for me

english translators usually did not have a vibrant relationship with God so the words they used reflect a dry dullness that misses the power of God's salvation work and the passion our God has for us - hebrew and greek are both very pictorial and passionate languages imo unlike english

Oh, I agree!
But it's not easy to learn a foreign language and I just wonder if it's worth all the work. And it does take work...no matter how easy it may sound.

Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrrew for religious studies, and probably knew some Greek because Nazareth was very close to a trading route and many spoke that language; it was like English is today.

I wish I knew Greek (Koine) but I doubt it'll be happening.

I DO encourage others that feel they'd like to and have the ability to still learn. I think one must be young enough. I know 3 languages and a little of a 4th, but doubt I could learn a new one now.

 

[Truthfrees]

Oh, I agree!
But it's not easy to learn a foreign language and I just wonder if it's worth all the work. And it does take work...no matter how easy it may sound.

Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew for religious studies, and probably knew some Greek because Nazareth was very close to a trading route and many spoke that language; it was like English is today.

I wish I knew Greek (Koine) but I doubt it'll be happening.

I DO encourage others that feel they'd like to and have the ability to still learn. I think one must be young enough. I know 3 languages and a little of a 4th, but doubt I could learn a new one now.

true - it's not for everyone - imo if God wants someone to do it they will be inspired by God to do it - otherwise it's better to stick to what God wants each person to do - there are so many good things to do with our day and imo God equips and inspires us to do the things He wants when He wants us to do it

 

[GodsGrace]

true - it's not for everyone - imo if God wants someone to do it they will be inspired by God to do it - otherwise it's better to stick to what God wants each person to do - there are so many good things to do with our day and imo God equips and inspires us to do the things He wants when He wants us to do it

How true.

"God does not call the equipped....
He equips the called..."

 

[OzSpen]

Hi Oz,

Keeping in mind that I speak more than one language fluently, I'd like to ask you the following:

Is it really necessary to study Greek in order to be able to understand the bible for purposes of our salvation and our knowledge of God?

IOW, I understand that at the scholarly level it is necessary to understand Greek because of the nuances in any language...however, it is NECESSARY FOR US to know Greek?

I have never though so.
What do you think?

wondering,

You are speaking to a biased person. One of the greatest regrets of my life in studying biblical languages is that I didn't take courses in Hebrew. Now when I need to know grammar and syntax of Hebrew I ask my son who took Hebrew.

There are a few issues in understanding NT Greek and they relate to the kind of action of the verb vs the time of action.

Then, how do you know the differences among propitiation, expiation, atonement and justification? What are the functions of the various prepositions? There are so many nuances that a knowledge of grammar is needed.

Compare any NT verse in a formal equivalence translation such as the NASB and a dynamic equivalence like the NLT. Why has the NLT given the meaning it has?

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

wondering,

I know there are many Christians who run away from learning a foreign language. I experienced this recently when I tried to discuss the differences between the two Greek words for rhema and logos. See my article: The Rhema Barb and Its Poison: The Rhema vs. Logos Controversy

For those who don't enjoy learning new languages, I think a reasonable idea of the meaning can be obtained by comparing various translations, especially formal equivalence (NKJV, ESV, ASV, NASB, NET and NRSV) with the dynamic equivalence of ERV, CEV, NIRV, NIV, NLT and WEB). I use the ESV in the Bible study which I lead and I sometimes find it hard to follow someone quoting the NLT.

Oz

 

[GodsGrace]

wondering,

You are speaking to a biased person. One of the greatest regrets of my life in studying biblical languages is that I didn't take courses in Hebrew. Now when I need to know grammar and syntax of Hebrew I ask my son who took Hebrew.

There are a few issues in understanding NT Greek and they relate to the kind of action of the verb vs the time of action.

Then, how do you know the differences among propitiation, expiation, atonement and justification? What are the functions of the various prepositions? There are so many nuances that a knowledge of grammar is needed.

Compare any NT verse in a formal equivalence translation such as the NASB and a dynamic equivalence like the NLT. Why has the NLT given the meaning it has?

Oz

Interesting topic....

What will those 2,000 years from now think "I get you" means?
I understand you
I agree with you
? Quite a difference.

Is the NLT The Living Bible?
I have several, including the NASB (which is my favorite) and also the Living Bible.

The NASB is a more literal translation and the Living Bible translates the idea instead of the words...although the NASB translates the thought too.

So the Living Bible's translation will depend more on WHO is doing the translating and how that person(s) understand any one verse to state.

What say you?

 

[jasonc]

Italian,not interested in,that language but Hebrew as taught uses the tanakh .Greek isn't beyond me either just gotta one day learn.

 

[OzSpen]

Interesting topic....

What will those 2,000 years from now think "I get you" means?
I understand you
I agree with you
? Quite a difference.

Is the NLT The Living Bible?
I have several, including the NASB (which is my favorite) and also the Living Bible.

The NASB is a more literal translation and the Living Bible translates the idea instead of the words...although the NASB translates the thought too.

So the Living Bible's translation will depend more on WHO is doing the translating and how that person(s) understand any one verse to state.

What say you?

wondering,

It is good to remember that The Living Bible (TLB) was a one-man paraphrase (by Kenneth Taylor) for his children. His children weren't understanding the old-fashioned language and he wanted them to be established in biblical truth.

With the NLT, it's a brand new translation by 90 evangelical scholars.

It started out as an attempt to revise TLB but soon became a brand new translation, using the Hebrew and Greek texts. It first appeared in 1996 but there have been 2 revisions since then.

One of the advantages of a peer-reviewed translation like the NLT, NIV and NASB is the scholars have other scholars who review their translations.

The NLT is a dynamic equivalence translation where the translators take the 'meaning' in the OT and NT and translate that 'meaning' into, say, English. It's a meaning-for-meaning translation instead of word-for-word as with the NASB, ESV and NRSV.

In recent months I've found the Easy-to-Read Version (ERV), another dynamic equivalence translation, that was originally translated for the deaf whose first language was sign language. It is published by the International Bible League.

The deaf found English difficult so this new translation uses simplified language and shorter sentences. For my personal devotions, I'm using the ERV this year. There are some sections where I'd quibble over the translation but I'm really enjoying the refreshing, basic language and know why it was translated that way.

Oz

 

[GodsGrace]

wondering,

It is good to remember that The Living Bible (TLB) was a one-man paraphrase (by Kenneth Taylor) for his children. His children weren't understanding the old-fashioned language and he wanted them to be established in biblical truth.

With the NLT, it's a brand new translation by 90 evangelical scholars.

It started out as an attempt to revise TLB but soon became a brand new translation, using the Hebrew and Greek texts. It first appeared in 1996 but there have been 2 revisions since then.

One of the advantages of a peer-reviewed translation like the NLT, NIV and NASB is the scholars have other scholars who review their translations.

The NLT is a dynamic equivalence translation where the translators take the 'meaning' in the OT and NT and translate that 'meaning' into, say, English. It's a meaning-for-meaning translation instead of word-for-word as with the NASB, ESV and NRSV.

In recent months I've found the Easy-to-Read Version (ERV), another dynamic equivalence translation, that was originally translated for the deaf whose first language was sign language. It is published by the International Bible League.

The deaf found English difficult so this new translation uses simplified language and shorter sentences. For my personal devotions, I'm using the ERV this year. There are some sections where I'd quibble over the translation but I'm really enjoying the refreshing, basic language and know why it was translated that way.

Oz

Hi Oz,
Thanks for all the info, which I never would have known because I moved here in 2000 and am really out of the loop.

I'll have to get those two versions you mentioned...both the NLT and the ERV. The ERV sounds like something very new. I also have about 3 versions of the Italian Catholic bible, but I don't retain Italian very well since English is my mother tongue. Funny about that....

 

[OzSpen]

Hi Oz,
Thanks for all the info, which I never would have known because I moved here in 2000 and am really out of the loop.

I'll have to get those two versions you mentioned...both the NLT and the ERV. The ERV sounds like something very new. I also have about 3 versions of the Italian Catholic bible, but I don't retain Italian very well since English is my mother tongue. Funny about that....

wondering,

It depends on what you want to use these translations for. Do you really need a hard copy of the NLT and ERV? I have a hard copy of the NLT but not the ERV. I have access to the Internet on my mobile, so am able to access both NLT and ERV from Bible Gateway online:

NLT: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1:1-2&version=NLT

ERV: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1:1-2&version=ERV

There is another simplified, dynamic equivalence version out of the NIV stable. It's called the ...

NIRV (New International Readers' Version) which is for people with a lower literacy level: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1:1-2&version=NIRV

Because we live in a multicultural world with people learning English as a second language, these translations for a lower literacy level are necessary to communicate God's unchanging truth.

There is the added issue here in Australia that English grammar, syntax and other English language issues have not been clearly taught in the classroom from primary to high school. So, we have Aussies who are increasingly becoming illiterate or with a diminished English understanding.

I learned German when in high school and should have learned further - but I didn't. My Nana on Mum's side spoke lower German.

In addition to English and Italian, which languages do you speak fluently?

Oz

 

[GodsGrace]

wondering,

It depends on what you want to use these translations for. Do you really need a hard copy of the NLT and ERV? I have a hard copy of the NLT but not the ERV. I have access to the Internet on my mobile, so am able to access both NLT and ERV from Bible Gateway online:

NLT: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1:1-2&version=NLT

ERV: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1:1-2&version=ERV

There is another simplified, dynamic equivalence version out of the NIV stable. It's called the ...

NIRV (New International Readers' Version) which is for people with a lower literacy level: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1:1-2&version=NIRV

Because we live in a multicultural world with people learning English as a second language, these translations for a lower literacy level are necessary to communicate God's unchanging truth.

There is the added issue here in Australia that English grammar, syntax and other English language issues have not been clearly taught in the classroom from primary to high school. So, we have Aussies who are increasingly becoming illiterate or with a diminished English understanding.

I learned German when in high school and should have learned further - but I didn't. My Nana on Mum's side spoke lower German.

In addition to English and Italian, which languages do you speak fluently?

Oz

No ... I don't need the hard copy.
The bible I use (NASB) is leather bound, and yet it's still beginning to be very worn..the paper is also very high quality.

The others I use for reference. For instance, if I don't understand a verse, or if someone understands it differently, here on the forum, the first thing I do is to read it in different versions and that will do it for me. Very rarely do I need to go to a commentary and whenI do, I read different commentaries,not just one.

I also read YOUR web page and found it very helpful and informative. It's a very good site.

 

[Anto9us2]

This is good news, Oz!!
Now I am wondering if I can take this Greek course from Australia!
I took four semesters of undergraduate Koine Greek at Baylor University, still have an autographed copy of my Professor's text...

But that was in mid-seventies.
Anyway, thanks for the news!

 

[OzSpen]

No ... I don't need the hard copy.
The bible I use (NASB) is leather bound, and yet it's still beginning to be very worn..the paper is also very high quality.

The others I use for reference. For instance, if I don't understand a verse, or if someone understands it differently, here on the forum, the first thing I do is to read it in different versions and that will do it for me. Very rarely do I need to go to a commentary and whenI do, I read different commentaries,not just one.

I also read YOUR web page and found it very helpful and informative. It's a very good site.

wondering,

Are you aware of the online commentaries available at Bible Hub? See: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_peter/3.htm

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

This is good news, Oz!!
Now I am wondering if I can take this Greek course from Australia!
I took four semesters of undergraduate Koine Greek at Baylor University, still have an autographed copy of my Professor's text...

But that was in mid-seventies.
Anyway, thanks for the news!

Anto,

Be aware that this text used for the Aussie online free class uses a slightly different consecutive articulation for the nouns and verbals.

The nouns for Jeremy Duff's text have this order for cases:
N - nominative
V - vocative
A - accusative
G - genitive
D - dative


The principal parts for verbs, the conjugations for the present, active, indicative are:

luw - I loose (first person singular)
lueis - You loose (2nd person singular)
luei - He/she/it looses (3rd person singular)
luomen - We loose (1st person plural)
luete - You loose (2nd person plural)
luousin - They loose (3rd person plural)

When I studied Greek in the USA some of the texts (e.g. Machen's text) used a different arrangement for learning these parts of speech.

Daniel Wallace uses this learning framework for cases of nouns:
Nominative
Vocative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative

I took my first Greek course under Dr Larry Hurtado at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada in 1976 and then moved to the USA to finish my bachelor's with a minor in NT Greek. When I returned to Australia, I taught Greek at the College level.

Blessings,
Oz

 

[OzSpen]

No ... I don't need the hard copy.
The bible I use (NASB) is leather bound, and yet it's still beginning to be very worn..the paper is also very high quality.

The others I use for reference. For instance, if I don't understand a verse, or if someone understands it differently, here on the forum, the first thing I do is to read it in different versions and that will do it for me. Very rarely do I need to go to a commentary and whenI do, I read different commentaries,not just one.

I also read YOUR web page and found it very helpful and informative. It's a very good site.

wondering,

Thank you for your encouragement re my homepage, Truth Challenge.

I use commentaries because I regard commentators as God's teachers. However, all of them must have their teaching strained through Acts 17:11 sieve.

I think what you do in comparing translations is an excellent way to gain a better understanding of words and context. We had an interesting discussion around the phrase, 'spirits in prison', 1 Peter 3:19 in the Bible study I lead this morning. Comparing various translations was helpful but not definitive in reaching a conclusion.

I'll be developing this material into an article for the homepage when I get the time.

Oz