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Alumni Publications & Opportunities with Dr. Fredrick J. Long

Published Date: January 26, 2016

bookDr. David L. McKenna’s latest book is The Succession Principle: How Leaders Make Leaders (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015). Succession is the hot topic in leadership development, but the subject has rarely been addressed in Christian literature. As a college, university, and seminary president who experienced three successions in leadership, Dr. McKenna is eminently qualified to speak on the subject. He served as president of Asbury Seminary from 1982-1994.


fred_long“The Opportunity, the Struggle, and the Joy of Working with the Greek New Testament in Preaching, Teaching, and Life-Long Learning”

by Dr. Fredrick J. Long

Professor of New Testament and Director of Greek Instruction

Do you remember learning Greek at Asbury or elsewhere? Is it a distant memory, a frustrating one, or one that is life-giving? To Learn Greek is a great opportunity, a chance to encounter the text of the New Testament as it was first conceived and first received by the earliest followers of Christ. But it is also a struggle, as is attested in the recent NY Times piece by James Romm, “Beginning Greek, Again and Again” (at http://goo.gl/UuVL9p). See especially the artwork created by Sophy Hollington (notice the ΕΛΠΙΣ “hope” on the top of the stack of papers). Is Greek worth it? Absolutely, but having the right textbook and good instruction can help make the difference. Let me recommend my recently published Koine Greek Grammar: A Beginning-Intermediate Exegetical and Pragmatic Handbook and its accompanying Workbook and Answer Key that I began writing two decades ago when I was a Teaching Fellow at the seminary (1993-1995). The two books are dedicated to my first instructors of Greek, Dr. Richard Boone, Dr. Joseph Wang, and Dr. Robert Lyon (in fond memory).unnamed

But Greek isn’t just for Greek’s sake: Its for our own corporate good. As I teach New Testament Introduction, the students soon see me accessing and explaining the underlying Greek text. Naturally, they begin asking me all sorts of questions about the meaning of difficult passages. Many of these students are diving into the NT for the very first time––they are really lay persons beginning a journey with sacred Scripture. What can learning Greek teach them? Quite frankly “Many things” and perhaps the most important thing is simply this: Scripture comes to us as a foreigner, speaking a different language, assuming different customs, and reflecting different cultures. We must respect Scripture as different than us and show the same love, empathy, and understanding as we would (or should) towards a neighbor who is different in language, looks, and worldview than us.

Specifically, accessing the Greek can help resolve serious interpretive questions that many people have, especially those diligently seeking to understand God’s Word. In one class, a student urgently asked me about Hebrews 6:4-6, whether it is possible to ever restore back to repentance an apostate person. In verse 6, every recent translation that I checked says something like:  “it is impossible to restore them again to repentance, since/because they crucify again the Son of God….” (NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NIV84, ESV, NASB, NET). The conjunctions “since” or “because” make the repentance seemingly impossible ever to occur! This is troubling! The NIV2011 puts the nail in the coffin for such a possibility ever happening by cutting verse 6 into two sentences: “It is impossible for those… to be brought back to repentance. To their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again….” This is completely unacceptable, because as a look at the underlying Greek reveals, there is no conjunction that should be translated as “since” or “because” nor are there two sentences here. Rather, we simply have a present tense adverbial/circumstantial participle: “crucifying….”  Our translations translate too much here; they specify too much. A. T. Robertson, whose authority I follow on this matter, said very emphatically that circumstantial participles are “unmarked” for adverbial meanings like cause, condition, concession, etc.––such senses must come from the broader context. In Hebrews 6:6 no such context exists; instead, the better more neutral translation would be  “it is impossible to restore them again to repentance, while they are crucifying again…” which would imply not that a person can’t ever repent again, but only that “it is impossible to restore them to repentance while they are crucifying again and rejecting Christ.”

The NT is full of wonderful surprises as one looks at the underlying Greek text. To give but one more example, Stephen Levinsohn (Discourse Features of New Testament Greek [Dallas: SIL, 2000], 231-35) maintains that the verb ἀποκρίνομαι I answer is used to show taking back control of a conversation or controlling it by making an important statement. This is true; I taught this to an adult Sunday School class and as I taught through Luke’s Gospel we saw this again and again, and sometimes with great implications. In one instance in Acts 8:18-24, Peter urges Simon Magus to repent because he wants to purchase the ability to bestow the Holy Spirit (!): “May you perish with your silver!” However, Simon “answers back” (ἀποκριθείς) entreating Peter instead to pray that nothing would befall him as Peter indicated. So, we should ask here, is Simon unnamed (1)repenting or taking control and still thinking like a magician by appealing to Peter who spoke the judgment upon him? The use of the verb would suggest the latter. Oh, how hard it is to repent from our old ways of thinking!

Let me also suggest the following ways to Jump-Start your Greek, in addition to picking up your Greek NT:

  1. Dust off your Beginning Greek Grammar. In this regard, I would encourage you to consider my Koine Greek Grammar that has plenty of examples, illustrations, and case-studies from the NT itself; the Workbook also has an answer key.
  2. Audit Greek I (NT 501) or Greek II (NT 502) in ExL. The Moodle classroom has been upgraded to include video lectures, automatic quizzes, and other content within an Asbury caring community of co-learning.
  3. Join a class in Conversational Koine Institute (http://www.conversationalkoine.com/). Dr. Michael Halcomb, Ph.D. from Asbury, is an energetic teacher and will have you pronouncing and conversing in Greek quickly with others in the class. This is suitable for beginners or those wanting a refresher.
  4. Subscribe to my YouTube channel “Greek Matters” that shares devotions and notes based on the Greek NT. In the course of these videos (7-15 mins), you will get an overview of aspects of Greek grammar as well as see an application to a particular passage like John 3:16, 2 Tim 3:16-17, Matt 7:12, etc. I welcome any suggestions for verses you might suggest.
  5. Purchase a Greek reader that will supply lower frequency vocabulary and notes on grammar and translation. I recommend the following:
  • Harrison, J. Klay, and Chad M. Foster, eds. 1-3 John: A General Reader. Accessible Greek Resources and Online Studies. Wilmore, Ky.: GlossaHouse, 2013.
  • Jeal, Roy R. Colossians-Philemon: A Beginning-Intermediate Greek Reader. Accessible Greek Resources and Online Studies. Wilmore, KY: GlossaHouse, 2015.
  1. Finally, if you and your church would want to host a weekend event (Friday night and Saturday) on “How to Study the New Testament,” I would be glad to talk to you about coming with a team of qualified (doctoral) students and hold sessions on how to Study the New Testament, New Testament Canon formation, Textual Transmission, the basics of NT Greek, Doing Greek Word Studies, using Bible Software, IBS, and/or related topics. It may be that continued education credits can be attached to such a weekend event.

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One response to “Alumni Publications & Opportunities with Dr. Fredrick J. Long”

  1. Thanks a million for this encouraging article. I would like to suggest you visit my friend’s website http://www.jesusspokegreek.com for wonderful & detailed info on accurate pronunciation of Greek. Also, an outstanding book regarding Christ’s use of Greek (proven) “Greek: the Language of Christ and His Apostles,” (available through Google.com). Not much “real” scholarship like that available nowadays.

    God bless you & thanks for encouraging ministers to consult the text!

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