Learning Greek and Hebrew

The question of whether or not a student should learn the biblical languages is sometimes posed in the seminary setting. In fact, this is a rather common decision that faces seminary students—how much time and energy should I invest in learning biblical Greek and Hebrew? Given the modern phenomenon of multiple, faithful translations of the Scriptures in the English language, why should we spend the large amount of time necessary to learn entire languages?

I think that these are good questions to ask and to consider but I would argue that every student of theology should strive to become as proficient as possible in both Greek and Hebrew, with one caveat. The caveat is that this study must not endanger other key ministry, functions, or roles in your life. Learning these languages takes consistent time that not everyone can afford at every phase of their life. Learning Greek and Hebrew does not automatically make you godlier or wiser, so compromising other aspects of your Christian walk for the sake of the languages would be foolish.

That being said, why should we labor to learn the languages? What is the benefit we can derive from a comprehensive knowledge of Greek and Hebrew? Why does every seminary worth it’s salt expect students to take at least several semesters of Greek and Hebrew?

There at least four reasons.

First, knowing Greek and Hebrew gives you access to the academic literature that will help you understand the Bible better. Even a basic knowledge of the grammar will help you decipher academic essays and books, but in this case more knowledge is better. While academic research is not necessary for Christian study, it is extremely helpful and anyone who eschews it is casting aside a helpful tool. Academicians have spent countess hours examining texts and distilling patterns but unless you can understand them, they will do you no good.

Second, and related to the issue above, knowing Greek and Hebrew will help you understand important issues like textual variants and textual criticism. Having access to the original languages will allow you to use textual commentaries and lexicons that contain a treasure trove of information about the Bible. If you know Greek and Hebrew, these issues will seem much less intimidating and will not absorb as great a portion of time. Ironically, initial time spent studying Greek and Hebrew can save you much more time later. Additionally, you will not have to rely on the work of others to help you explain these things.

Third, knowing Greek and Hebrew will enhance your exegesis of a text. For the Bible student or the preacher, this is invaluable. A thorough understanding of the original languages will remove several huge obstacles to exposition. If you know the languages well enough, you may not need to constantly consult language resources, but you can spend your time in meditation, prayer, and other preparation. If you have to look up every other work in a lexicon, reading is going to be very difficult and very slow, and your exegesis will most likely suffer for it.

Finally, the ultimate goal of learning the original languages is to read the Bible easily in Greek and Hebrew. If this is accomplished, your knowledge of the Word of God will grow and one major layer of interpretation between you and the Bible will be removed. Unfortunately, as good as any translation can be, it still involves linguistic decisions on the part of the translators that interpret the meaning of the text. The bias of the translators will show through, however subtle it may be. If you can read the text in the original on your own, that shell of interpretation will be peeled back, and you can know the meaning without having to rely on the interpretation of another.

For these four reasons, I believe it is worthwhile to achieve some understanding of Biblical Greek and Hebrew. This requires a significant time commitment and a great amount of diligence, but the rewards cannot be measured by any earthly standard. May God grant us all the grace to know Him better through knowing His Word better!

--Dean of Admissions