Lesson 10 | Vocab
On Steamboats and Scripture
Dr. Rob Plummer, the host of Daily Dose of Greek, explains the importance of learning the original languages for accessing helpful commentaries. He is talking about Greek, but the principle is the same for Hebrew:
My grandmother used to tell the grandchildren that when my father was a young boy learning to read, if he didn’t know a word or could not pronounce it, he would just say “steamboat” and keep reading. I pulled off my shelf a very helpful technical commentary on Romans by John Harvey. I wondered what it would be like to try to read it without a knowledge of Greek grammar. Perhaps it would be like replacing every Greek or grammatical term with the word “steamboat.” Consider an excerpt from his comment on Romans 3:21:
“The steamboat steamboat could be steamboat, but it is more likely steamboat, modifying steamboat steamboat. The present tense is steamboat; steamboat + steamboat indicates the steamboat of the simple steamboat. The steamboat with steamboat is steamboat; the steamboat with steamboat is steamboat. “Law and Prophets” occurs nowhere else in Paul. See Longenecker for Jewish background on the phrase. “Prophets” is a steamboat for their writings.”
A minister untrained in Greek and Hebrew is at a significant disadvantage for reading and understanding the best resources. Philip Melanchthon once said that without the biblical languages, we will be “silent persons” as theologians. We might add that without the biblical languages, we are deaf and blind theologians too, unable to benefit from the insights of the church’s best scholars and teachers.”
—Robert Plummer, “Why Learn Greek and Hebrew? The Pastoral Value of the Biblical Languages.”
Now that you’re in Lesson 10, you’re nearly halfway to completing our Hebrew courses. Don’t give up now and miss the boat!
