Every student of the Bible in a modern language knows that he Is reading a translation, not the original language in which the Scriptures were written. Perhaps no translation of any book in the history of the world ever has brought to bear upon it so much scholarship, piety, and hard work in the interests of producing an adequate translation of the original Hebrew and Greek in which most of the Bible was written. For the last four or five centuries one version of the Bible after another has been brought out, and versions have been multiplying more rapidly of late years than ever before. These versions are undoubtedly helpful to those who do not read the Bible in the original well enough to gather thought from its pages first hand.
After all, there is nothing to be compared in value for the Bible student with the reading of the Bible in the language in which it was written.
This is especially true of Greek, since it is from the New Testament, written in more modern times than the Hebrew, that we draw most of our doctrines which pertain to the last days and reflect most directly the teachings of Jesus and those who were closely associated with Him.
Does it pay to study Greek? I should like to answer this question first, then give some of the reasons afterward. I would say, Yes, it does pay for every young man or woman, up to the age of thirty or thirty-five, who desires to study the Bible intensively and become a teacher or preacher of its matchless content. One who has had the discipline of hard study in his younger days, especially if he has studied other languages than his mother tongue, can study Greek with profit up to forty years of age.
Every Seventh-day Adventist teacher or preacher or writer ought to aspire to be what Lincoln was called, " A man of one Book." It is difficult for me to comprehend how a man who lives with his Bible day after day, who makes it the man of his personal counsel, whose life is dedicated to the teaching of its truths, can be satisfied short of reading at least the New Testament in the very language in which it was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I am speaking now of course of the younger man who has not passed the prime of life for hard study.
But to the younger preacher who has any bent or taste for language study, I would say, By all means learn the Greek of the New Testament. In giving this advice I do not forget what is said in the spirit of prophecy about Latin and Greek, where the context makes it obvious that classical Greek and Latin were meant. The study of New Testament Greek is Bible study from beginning to finish, if it is taught right, and this is practically the only kind ,of Greek that is now taught in any of our schools. The Fireside Correspondence School has a two-year course in New Testament Greek that any average student can master by diligent study, and thereby gain a key to unlock treasures of truth in the New Testament that lie has never seen in such beauty and strength before. In my study of the New Testament, I rarely ever use any other than the King James Version, on which I was brought up. My delight and my recreation is to study my Sabbath school lesson, prepare my Bible studies, and memorize my choice passages and chapters in the original Greek. The satisfaction I get out of it is so great that it is little wonder that I am answering the question, " Shall I study Greek? " in the affirmative, with such modifications as I have thrown around it.
We are living in a time when learning is widely diffused, and every champion and teacher of the Bible should be zealous for a high standard of scholarship in his own knowledge of the Book. At some other time it may be 'profitable to give some sample gleanings from the original Greek, and the editor may throw open his question box to inquirers along this line.
W.E. Howell.
Washington, D. C.
