Basics of Biblical Greek

Since about May, I've been studying (off and on) William Mounce's grammar, Basics of Biblical Greek, 3rd Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009). First thing you learn in this grammar is the alphabet, the building blocks of any language. Then you begin tackling nouns and their cases (cases are endings that nouns have, they essentially tell you what the role of a noun is in any given sentence). After nouns come adjectives, pronouns, and other related subjects dealing with 'nouns.' It isn't until chapter 15 that one begins diving into verbs. Verbs are 'The Thing' to know when it comes to Greek, that is why it is difficult to learn them.

But as of now (8/15/10), I'm currently on chapter 17, dealing with Contract Verbs, nothing too difficult, but I can see that this is where either people persevere in their study of Greek, or simply give up and leave it as is.

Truth is, Greek isn't for everyone, for it can be extremely time consuming given the number of hours and work it takes to learn this language, and sometimes the time we invest into the study of Greek, doesn't yield the benefits that we expected.

In my opinion, the Society has a point when they write:

A third factor is that learning a new language can be a very difficult task. Although it may at first be relatively easy to learn a few phrases in another language, it may take years of constant effort before you will be able to understand the subtle nuances of that language. In the meantime, the old adage may prove true, A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.- Do You Need to Learn Hebrew and Greek? November 1st, Watchtower (New York, Watchtower, 2009), p. 21

With all that being said, the advantages of knowing a Biblical language are plenty. Not only do you get to read God's Word in the original language in which he originally inspired it, but you open up your study by being able to use the best scholarly sources out there. While there are many good sources on the market for laypersons, the best ones need some knowledge of either Greek or Hebrew or both.

For example, the best Bible commentaries or apologetic works, usually, if not always, require some sort of translational background to fully grasp the author(s) point. So if one is in higher pursuit of knowledge, original language background is a must. That is not to say that those not skilled in such languages are not capable of acquiring 'higher knowledge,' because surely they can! But the point is that either you learn a Bible language and benefit from it or you try to learn a Bible language and become frustrated at not being able to learn it. That is why it is a good idea to do an auto-examination of ourselves before taking such an endeavor.