“Speaking Of Tongues Pt. 2”

Monday, July 30, 2018

Maybe you folks could clear something up for me.  I asked a question a few weeks back about studying Scriptures in English.  The post was entitled “Speaking Of Tongues”, and I was excited and pleased with your answer.  Then I happened to read your response to a question about Peter ‘the rock’ in Matt 16:18 (“Bigger than a Boulder”).  Now you are saying you do have to have knowledge of the Greek in order to truly understand what Jesus meant to say! This is exactly what I was afraid of!  I never heard of this petros/petra play on words in the Greek that ends up changing the entire meaning of the text.  You said the verse “can be a little confusing to English-speaking folks”.  That is quite an understatement!  When you answered my question, you said, “Linguists are able to properly convey the same ideas from one language to another”.  You said, “God has no problems using translations to convey His wisdom to every culture and language”.  Obviously, this particular passage is an exception.  The English translation is not good enough, in this case, to properly understand what Jesus was really saying.  Now it seems I have to have more than my King James Bible when I study Scripture.  According to you guys, I also need a Greek dictionary.  I also seem to have to know all the different sizes of rocks and stones and cliffs and boulders that these Greek words were used for.  Plus, this was all 2,000 years ago!  You said, “The Bible was meant to be understood and studied by average folks!”  If I asked twenty average folks about Matt 16:18, would they all know about the underlying Greek meaning?  Without looking at the marginal notes of a study Bible, I doubt it.  Try it with your congregation this week at Sunday school.  How many other passages of Scripture change meaning when you take apart the Greek words?  So again, is the English Bible really enough? You seem to be saying two different things.  Thanks.

Sincerely,
It’s All Greek To Me

Dear It’s All Greek To Me,

We never intended to convey to you that knowing the Greek language doesn’t have its perks and benefits.  At times, difficult passages become easier when you can look into the original Greek – but making something clearer by going to the Greek doesn’t mean it is impossible to understand it in the English.  First of all, the English translation does translate the word ‘petra’ differently than ‘petros’.  One word is translated ‘Peter’, and the other word is translated ‘rock’… the translators did this for a reason because they are two different words.  Second of all, all the major translations typically provide a footnote, an asterisk, or some other sort of marker to note that there is something special about the words used for ‘rock’ in that passage – they do that because noting irregularities between languages is part of good translation.  And last, but most importantly, the hardest passages can always be understood by comparing them to the sum of God’s teachings (Ps 119:160).  If you run into a difficult-to -understand passage (even Peter said that some Scripture is hard to understand – 2 Pet 3:16), it takes work to dig in and compare the other verses, but you can find the truth on the subject.  Anyone can understand the Bible in their own language, but that doesn’t mean just anyone will understand the Bible because doing so takes work.  God tells us that we must hunger and thirst after righteousness if we want to be filled (Matt 5:6).  He also says that it takes a love for the truth to be saved (2 Thess 2:10).  Reading in the original Greek adds color, but you don’t have to know Greek to learn God’s will.  However, you do need to be willing to dig in, compare verses, look up definitions, etc.  Understanding the Bible is about being a student of God’s Word, and all students have to do their homework.

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