Can you trust Greek?

I just received this question from one of this blog’s readers. Since I’ve never been asked this before, and found it to be an interesting one, I thought I’d answer it on the blog.

Shalom,

My husband has been questioning why you have been using Greek explanations when he thought we were doing everything Hebrew.

Or can you give him an explanation as to why sometimes you use the greek meanings to words in the NT and sometimes you also give a hebrew meaning to words in the NT?

First, I’d like to address a common misconception among some folks who are new to the Hebrew roots movement. Some thing there is something wrong or evil with the Greek language. If so, then why did YHVH allow the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament) to come down to us in the Greek language? Obviously, he didn’t think it was evil.

Second, why do I use definitions to Greek words when teaching from the Testimony? Simply this, all we have is Greek. We don’t have the Testimony in Hebrew. I can’t give a definition in Hebrew when all we have is the Greek.

Some Bible teachers will go back into the Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew language Tanakh (Old Testament) translated into Greek more than a couple hundred before the birth of Yeshua to try to figure out what words in the Greek Testimony of Yeshua might be the same as the Greek words in the LXX, and then go from there back to Hebrew. The problem with this is that it’s usually a guess as to a Greek word’s potential meaning. The problem is that the LXX translators lived hundreds of years before the Testimony of Yeshua writers, and languages evolve and some word meanings change over the centuries, so one has to be careful when doing this. Colloquial expressions and figures of speech also change with time. Many times we don’t know what Hebrew word is behind the Greek word in the Testimony even with the LXX available to us.

For these reasons, I primarily stick with the Greek language and word definitions when teaching from the Testimony because that’s all I can do. I have no other choices.

I can go to the Aramaic language New Testament Peshitta, but most of us don’t know how to read Aramaic, and I’m not aware of any Aramaic lexicons or word dictionaries. So we’re still stuck with the Greek.

Having said all this, it is my belief that some if not much of the Testimony of Yeshua was written originally either in Hebrew or Aramaic. This, however, is hard to prove since we don’t have any autographs in Hebrew, and the there’s a debate raging alone scholars about the age and the origin of the Aramaic texts, so their reliability has been called into question. Nonetheless, the Testimony writers were probably all Jewish, knew Hebrew and/or Aramaic and thought and wrote using Hebraic thought patterns (as opposed to Greek) and Hebraic terms and idioms. Knowing this is essential when reading and trying to understand the Testimony.

In summary,we do our best to understand the Testimony of Yeshua from a Hebraic perspective, even though we only have the Greek language to work from. This isn’t always easy to do, and it’s sometimes easy to add two and two and get five. This is why we have to be so careful when handling the Word of Elohim, so that we don’t make it say something that it didn’t mean.

Thankfully, Yeshua sent us his Holy Spirit who he promised would guide us, convict us of sin and lead us into all truth (John 16:5–15). I believe that if a person is Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, and wants to serve and obey YHVH unconditionally, that the true meaning and intent of a scriptural passage will be revealed to the person regardless of the language it was written in.

 

5 thoughts on “Can you trust Greek?

  1. Shalom, Thought I would throw my two cents in, an old saying is that an uncomfortable truth is more desirable than a comforting lie, the Greeks have no authority to give me their version of what YHVH says, however the Aramiac is (too me) closer to the truth, Andrew Gabriel Roth has done a great work only on the New Testament, for now, and is working on the Old, He claims that it is proof that the Aramiac is much older than the Greek, and much of the Greek was taken from it, I myself test everything, while the KJV has many english words meaning the exact opposite of what the Hebrew actually says, it makes sense. I certainly do not take the Greek without study, as many of their words come right from the heart of paganism. which is from the pits of hell. It’s just my take on the subject, you of course, do not have to agree,

    • Sounds like you think that Elohim made a mistake giving us the NT in Greek. Sorry, I can’t go there!

      The Aramaic hasn’t been available to the masses until recently. Until then, all we had was the Greek.

      As far as Messianic Bible translators go, I’ve been in this game many decades and have examined many translations by self-proclaimed ancient language scholars. Sadly, I have found most if not all of them to woefully lacking in the linguistic skills necessary to properly translate the Bible from ancient languages. I personally have an academic background in linguistics with a university degree to prove it. Most of them rely on plagiarization of texts by earlier linguistic scholars/experts, and use footnotes that have also been plagiarized from others that have gone before them. So be careful when advocating a particular Bible translation to be certain that the author is not a snake oil salesman looking to make a quick buck off of unsuspecting customers.

      This is a hard word, and I hope you can receive it from my heart of concern and love.

      • Shalom, I believe that you are correct in saying that the Greek is all we have had in the past, the last chapture of Daniel says that the book is sealed until the last days, many will diligently search, and knowledge will increase, that day is today, if you believe that this is the last day, (I do). Do I rest only on Greek for my final word? The Torah written on my heart tells me to stay away from chur-h teachings that are not true, and lean more on the Tanach which was true 3500 years ago, and still true today. Andrew Gabriel Roth plagiarizing the book, don’t think so, Thank you for letting me reply, and yes, I do believe it is from your heart out of concern.

      • I never accused Andrew Roth of anything. Please don’t assume that I did. I was issuing a general warning or word of caution.

        When relying on a new translation of the Bible, I encourage everyone to check out the credentials and linguistic expertise of the purported translators. Put them to the test. There are a lot of charlatans out there. Prove all things, and only hold fast to that which is good and passes the test. The Word of Elohim isn’t something to be toyed or messed with. It’s a serious matter. It’s very important that we’re not led by our emotions and passions in these areas. They will often lead us astray.

        I do trust the New Testament as the Word of Elohim, and it in now way takes second place to the Tanakh. The words of Yeshua certainly don’t!!! At the same time, this in no invalidates the fact that Torah is the foundation of the whole Bible and everything else must agree with it.

        There are translation issues in the both NT and OT. The wise and discerning person knows where these are and can navigate these waters. The novice, ill-equiped, naive and misinformed is likely to be somewhat oblivious to these issues and will be guided more by his passions than by truth and facts.

        BTW, Andrew Roth in his NT says that the word Jesus comes from Zeus. This is a patent falsehood and shows that he knows nothing about Koine Greek 101. He needs to be confronted on this point. When someone makes such a blatantly ignorant statement, I question one’s translation/linguistic abilities. This is a mistake that even a beginning linguistic student should never make. Sorry to be so blunt, but facts are facts. Just beware and be discerning. We must base everything we say and do on the solid foundation of truth and facts.

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