LEARNING GREEK AND STUDYING THE NEW TESTAMENT

67 Pages·2006·0.19 MB·English

LEARNING GREEK WHILE
STUDYING THE NEW
TESTAMENT

STUDENT TEXTBOOK

J. Parnell McCarter
©2006 J. Parnell McCarter. All Rights Reserved.
6408 Wrenwood
Jenison, MI 49428
[phone]

The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum
www.puritans.net

SECOND EDITION
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INTRODUCTION

After students have completed the Sabbath Bible Survey Tests and Assignments of the
Puritans’ Home School Curriculum, the Puritans’ Home School Curriculum provides the
following resources in the further pursuit of Bible education:

• LEARNING HEBREW WHILE STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT
•
LEARNING GREEK WHILE STUDYING THE NEW TESTAMENT

There are certain aspects of the Bible one can more fully appreciate by a knowledge of
the languages of the original. While these courses will not make students experts in the
Hebrew and Greek languages, they serve as a start.

But as the titles suggest, the primary goal of these courses is the study of the Old and
New Testaments of the Bible, and learning some Hebrew and Greek are only
supplemental goals. Indeed, the hope is that learning some Hebrew and Greek along the
way will help in the study of the Bible. There will be much reading of the Bible in
English as part of this course, so as to make sure the primary end of the course is not lost
as a result of a merely secondary goal.

The resources of various websites have been utilized to compile this textbook. The one
is:
http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/
We encourage you to visit this website to take full advantage of the resources they offer.
After the completion of the first 5 assignments, students thereafter will be using the
following resources:
• Basics of Biblical Greek: Grammar, by William D. Mounce (Zondervan Publishing
House: Grand Rapids, 1993).
• Basics of Biblical Greek: Workbook, by William D. Mounce (Zondervan Publishing
House: Grand Rapids, 1993).
These can be purchased used from sources such as Amazon.Com, as well as others.
In this textbook edition we incorporate a survey of Apostolic epistles, as well as many of
the other books of the New Testament. These books will be surveyed, as students are
also learning Greek. Hopefully by the end students can use their growing knowledge in
Greek even in studying these New Testament books.
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THE GREEK ALPHABET
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ASSIGNMENT # 1
1. Over the coming assignments we shall survey the book of Romans. Here is how
Easton’s Bible Dictionary introduces the book:
Romans, Epistle to the - This epistle was probably written at Corinth. Phoebe (Rom.
16:1) of Cenchrea conveyed it to Rome, and Gaius of Corinth entertained the apostle at
the time of his writing it (16:23; 1 Cor. 1:14), and Erastus was chamberlain of the city,
i.e., of Corinth (2 Tim. 4:20).
The precise time at which it was written is not mentioned in the epistle, but it was
obviously written when the apostle was about to "go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the
saints", i.e., at the close of his second visit to Greece, during the winter preceding his last
visit to that city (Rom. 15:25; comp. Acts 19:21; 20:2, 3, 16; 1 Cor. 16:1-4), early in A.D.
58.
It is highly probable that Christianity was planted in Rome by some of those who had
been at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10). At this time the Jews were very
numerous in Rome, and their synagogues were probably resorted to by Romans also, who
in this way became acquainted with the great facts regarding Jesus as these were reported
among the Jews. Thus a church composed of both Jews and Gentiles was formed at
Rome. Many of the brethren went out to meet Paul on his approach to Rome. There are
evidences that Christians were then in Rome in considerable numbers, and had probably
more than one place of meeting (Rom. 16:14, 15).
The object of the apostle in writing to this church was to explain to them the great
doctrines of the gospel. His epistle was a "word in season." Himself deeply impressed
with a sense of the value of the doctrines of salvation, he opens up in a clear and
connected form the whole system of the gospel in its relation both to Jew and Gentile.
This epistle is peculiar in this, that it is a systematic exposition of the gospel of universal
application. The subject is here treated argumentatively, and is a plea for Gentiles
addressed to Jews. In the Epistle to the Galatians, the same subject is discussed, but there
the apostle pleads his own authority, because the church in Galatia had been founded by
him.
After the introduction (1:1-15), the apostle presents in it divers aspects and relations the
doctrine of justification by faith (1:16-11:36) on the ground of the imputed righteousness
of Christ. He shows that salvation is all of grace, and only of grace. This main section of
his letter is followed by various practical exhortations (12:1-15:13), which are followed
by a conclusion containing personal explanations and salutations, which contain the
names of twenty-four Christians at Rome, a benediction, and a doxology (Rom. 15:14-ch.
16).

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2. Read this assignment’s scripture reading in English: Romans chapters 1-4.

3. Study this information about the Greek language:

You can't read anything until you know the alphabet, so if you want to read Greek, the
alphabet is a logical place to start. You can learn the Greek alphabet in an hour or two,
and if this is all you ever learn, it is enough to let you look up entries in a Greek
dictionary, pronounce Greek words, and feel a little less frightened by those strange
looking squiggles. Here are all the letters of the Greek alphabet, shown in uppercase
(first column) and lower case (second column) -

Sigma (σσσσ,,,, ςςςς):There are two forms for the letter Sigma. When written at the end of a
word, it is written like this: ς. If it occurs anywhere else, it is written like this: σ.
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Upsilon (υυυυ):In the above table, we suggest that you pronounce this letter like "u" in
"put". The preferred pronunciation is actually more like the German "ü" as in "Brücke",
or like the French "u" as in "tu". If you do not speak German or French, don't worry about
it, just pronounce it the way the table suggests.
Xi (χχχχ): This is the same sound as "ch" in "Bach", which does not sound like "ch" in
"chair". The same sound occurs in the Scottish "Loch", as in "Loch Lomond", or the
German "ach!".

3. Exercises

a. Write all the letters of the Greek alphabet in uppercase, pronouncing the letters while
writing them.

b. Write all the letters of the Greek alphabet in lowercase, pronouncing the letters while
writing them.

c. Below is Romans 1:1 in Greek:

Write Romans 1:1in Greek.

d. Write a several sentence summary of the assignment’s scripture reading in English,
and be prepared to discuss the content of the assignment’s scripture reading with your
teacher.
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ASSIGNMENT # 2

1. Read this assignment’s scripture reading in English: Romans chapters 5-8.

2. Study this information about the Greek language.

Let’s review again the Greek alphabet. In the following table, the first row shows the
capital letters of the Greek alphabet, the second shows the small letters of the Greek
alphabet, and the third shows their English equivalents:

3. Exercises

a. Practice saying the Greek letters, and be prepared to say them to your teacher:
b. Write all the letters of the Greek alphabet in lowercase twice, pronouncing the letters
while writing them.
c. Below is Romans 5:1 in Greek:

Write Romans 5:1 in Greek.
d. Write a several sentence summary of the assignment’s scripture reading in English,
and be prepared to discuss the content of the assignment’s scripture reading with your
teacher.

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ASSIGNMENT # 3

1. Read this assignment’s scripture reading in English: Romans chapters 9-12.

2. Study this information about the Greek language.

This week we again review the Greek alphabet. In the following table, the first row
shows the capital letters, the second shows the small letters, and the third shows their
English equivalents:

3. Exercises

a. Practice saying the Greek letters, and be prepared to say them to your teacher:
b. Write all the letters of the Greek alphabet in lowercase twice, pronouncing the letters
while writing them.
c. Below is Romans 9:16 in Greek:

Write Romans 9:16 in Greek.
d. Write a several sentence summary of the assignment’s scripture reading in English,
and be prepared to discuss the content of the assignment’s scripture reading with your
teacher.
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ASSIGNMENT # 4

1. Read this assignment’s scripture reading in English: Romans chapters 13-16.

2. Study this information about the Greek language.
Dipthongs When two vowels combine to make one sound, it is called a dipthong. There
are seven dipthongs in Greek:

The "eu" combination is probably the hardest to learn for most people. It may help to take
the "ow" sound and say it slowly: if you notice, there are actually two sounds in "ow" - it
starts out with "ah", then glides to an "oo" sound, "ah-oo". Try doing the same with "e"
(as in "edward") and "oo" - "e-oo". This is a little like the "e-w" in Edward, if you remove
the "d".

3. Exercises

a. Write the seven Greek dipthongs followed by their equivalent sound in English.
b. Write all the letters of the Greek alphabet in lowercase twice, pronouncing the letters
while writing them.
c. Below is Romans 13:1 in Greek:

Write Romans 13:1 in Greek yourself.
d. Write a several sentence summary of the assignment’s scripture reading in English,
and be prepared to discuss the content of the assignment’s scripture reading with your
teacher.

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