Courses

This course is the second half of a year-long introduction to the Greek of the New Testament (NT). It is intended for students who have taken Greek I (Introduction to Biblical Languages) under the MDC language curriculum (NT 1B03). Continuing the journey of learning Greek from a functional perspective, we will follow a usage-based pedagogical approach to teaching elementary Greek, in which grammar and vocabulary are introduced according to frequency of usage, with the most frequent items introduced first. As a result, students are reinforced in learning the grammatical inflections that appear most frequently in the NT. This course assumes that the student has an awareness of the material taught in NT 1B03 and has already learned most of the Greek grammatical categories (e.g. you know what an aorist verb is even if you cannot recognize all its various forms yet). Students will focus on mastering Greek at the word level in this course. Emphasis will be on acquiring a broad Greek vocabulary and morphology (words and their forms) for sight reading. We will explore the Greek nominal and verbal systems starting with a review of the most consistent and common forms and paradigms, and then gradually moving on to the more fluid forms. At the end of this course, students should be able to recognize a significant proportion of NT Greek words (and their forms) and hence read a portion of the New Testament in its original language with the help of a lexicon.

A Note of Encouragement: The study of any language is both challenging and rewarding. I once heard a scholar comparing learning Greek to daily gym workouts, or to learning a musical instrument. These require discipline, practice and perseverance. They involve a hefty investment of time and energy (and even money), but the goal (whether it is getting in shape or the ability to create music) is extremely rewarding. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to keep in view our goal—that is, to become responsible and competent exegetes of the Bible. To remind us, we will invite Greek scholars from the MDC community to share with us a short exegetical insight they received from learning Greek periodically. And just as there are many fitness gadgets to help people get into shape, we will utilize various digital widgets (apps, games, and other web resources) to train our brain to recall Greek words. Our goal as your instructors is to make your learning of Greek a positive, empowering, and fruitful experience. Remember, we are in this together.

Knowing

• To become familiar with the basic morphology and vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (GNT);
• To know how to translate simple Greek sentences into contemporary English;
• To know the basic concepts needed for study of the GNT and exegetical methods that aid in the interpretation of individual passages.

Being

• To appreciate the value of being able to exegete the text in its original language for use in ministry;
• To find pleasure in working with Greek in biblical studies;
• To allow the GNT to motivate, form, and transform faith and a Christian way of life.

Doing

• To demonstrate proficiency in incrementally building one’s knowledge of biblical Greek so that it becomes an effective and lasting tool for Christian ministry;
• To be able to read the Greek New Testament with the aid of a lexicon, recognizing all major syntax and vocabulary.