By Prof. Charles Gieschen, Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Exegetical Theology

Such an “evil” thought has entered the mind of many a man considering seminary! Men who are excited about coming to prepare for the pastoral office often have their enthusiasm tempered by the reality that the first class they must take before formally beginning their seminary studies is New Testament Greek. They fear that they may not do very well because they do not like foreign languages or—even more frightening—they may fail the class and end their seminary studies before they have really begun.

As one of the professors who teaches Greek, I want to assure you that almost all of our students pass Greek and many do quite well. Moreover, most of our students find studying Holy Scripture in the original languages to be an exciting and rewarding experience, opening up a deeper and richer understanding of God’s Word. They come to realize why Martin Luther valued the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible and urged the faithful use of these languages: “In proportion as we value the gospel let us hold to the languages. We will not long preserve the gospel without the languages. They are the sheath in which this sword of the Spirit is contained; they are the casket in which this jewel is enshrined.”

Luther’s words remind us of a very strong motivating factor that has helped many students of Greek. We do not learn Greek for the sake of having another language on our resumé. We learn this language because it is the particular language used to reveal the very salvific words and deeds of our Lord Jesus, especially his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection for all sinners of all time. As we read the New Testament in Greek, we are reading the Spirit-inspired words of men who were eyewitnesses of Jesus. These life-giving words are the foundation of the faithful preaching and teaching done by pastors.

There is a familiar saying in education: “Repetition is the mother of all learning.” This is especially true of learning a language. It is not purely IQ that dictates how well students learn Greek, but how disciplined one is in repeating vocabulary, verb paradigms, and noun declensions. A very important element in taking an intensive course like our ten-week Greek class is that you simplify your life so that you can devote your time to learning the language. In fact, once Greek is over, you will probably no longer want to avoid Greek, but will be anxious to take an exegetical class and put your knowledge to work!

So, the bottom line to the question posted above is: no, but who would want to pass up this opportunity?

From Volume 2, Issue 3, May/June 1998

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, announces that its popular online pre-seminary Greek course will now be offered in a more flexible way so that students can study at their own pace and according to their own schedule.  The seminary began to make pre-seminary Biblical Greek available online in September 2008.  Previously the students registered for the three quarter program of studies according to the schedule of classes on campus, Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.  Now students can begin their studies at any time by simply registering for the course.  They then have up to 120 days to complete each level of the course. Upon successful completion of the three levels, the students will have met the Biblical Greek requirements for entry into the seminary.

“Allowing students to begin their course of studies at any time will make it even more accessible for a greater number of people interested in learning to read the New Testament in the original Greek, especially if they are interested in coming to the seminary eventually,” said Dr. Douglas Rutt, dean for distance learning.

The Biblical Greek course is taught by Dr. John Nordling, eminently qualified as a professor of Greek.  Besides his seminary training, he has achieved a Master of Arts from Washington University, St. Louis, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  Dr. Nordling taught in the Department of Foreign Languages at Valparaiso University and the Department of Classics at Baylor University before coming to Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, in 2006. Rev. Mark Braden, former Greek instructor at the seminary, is the course tutor, who personally assists each student with questions, further explanation, grades quizzes and tests, and monitors progress through e-mail, the Internet and the phone.

“The response has been really incredible,”  commented Rev. William Johnson, who was responsible for preparing the course for online teaching.  “We’ve seen students who have invested the time in the course consistently doing well on the same benchmarks we use for our residential Greek students.”

Dr. Lawrence Rast, academic dean at the Fort Wayne seminary, observed: “Our purpose at Concordia Theological Seminary is to support the church by forming servants in Jesus Christ.  We are developing new approaches to accomplish that mission.  We hope that offering Biblical Greek online in this flexible way will make it possible for more people to identify and make use of their talents and gifts for serving in God’s kingdom as pastors and missionaries.”

The course is open to anyone, men and women, who have adequate academic preparation to do the course work and are planning on or considering church work, or who simply want to learn the read the New Testament in its original language.

An online demonstration is available at www.ctsfw.edu/greekdemo.  For more information contact Rev. William Johnson at (260) 452-3202 or william.johnson@ctsfw.edu.  To inquire about registering for the course contact Mrs. Barbara Wegman at (260) 452-2153 or registrar@ctsfw.edu.

Now that the Christmas season has come and gone, we turn our focus to the next season in our church year, which is the season of Epiphany. Epiphany means a revealing or an opening (as in the opening of one’s eyes). In the season of Epiphany, the Biblical texts in our LCMS lectionary that we examine will reveal God to us and make God known to the world. Of course, God revealed Himself to us in the person of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our season of Epiphany is when God lets us know exactly who this Jesus is.

This is a very important question for us to ponder. In fact, Jesus asked this all important question to Peter in Matthew 16:15, when, after discussing what everyone was saying about Jesus, He asked Peter: “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered by confessing: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus was not merely a wise teacher. He wasn’t just a future telling prophet. He wasn’t just an example to us of how God wants us to live our lives. True, He was indeed all of these things, but He was much more than these. He was our sin sacrifice. He is our atoning Savior, paving the way to heaven for us by shedding His blood on the cross. He was God in flesh.

God wants us to know this truth, and so He reveals it to us in His Word. This is why Jesus performed all of the miracles and healings. Not to call attention to Himself or to randomly provide thrills and entertainment, but to show the world that He was indeed God in flesh. God sent Jesus to reveal the Kingdom of God to the world, as it is written in Luke 4:43, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, because that is why I was sent.” God loves us! Our sins are forgiven in Christ! Jesus is Lord! This is the reality of truth that God reveals to us in Epiphany, and this is what He wants us to know. See John 20:30-31 – “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.” Thanks be to God for revealing this truth to us in His Son!

According to Dr. Craig Hazen of Biola University, Bill Maher’s new film, Religulous, most of which is devoted to mocking Christianity, is built upon shaky intellectual foundations.  You can read Hazen’s full review here.  I haven’t seen the film yet myself.

Dr. Hazen, the head of the Christian Apologetics program at Biola, points out that Maher never bothers to consult any serious scholars for the defense of Christianity, choosing instead to display fringe expressions as if they were representative.  His approach is lazy.  Of course, out of the billions of religious people in the world, you can highlight examples from kitsch to extremism to make your case the religion is useless at best, dangerous at worst.  Isn’t this the basic “straw man” fallacy where you caraciturize your opponent, making it easy to knock him down while avoiding a real confrontation of serious ideas?

Hazen notes that one of Bill Maher’s favorite attacks is that boring old canard that the Bible is unreliable as a historical document because the Gospels were all written generations after the death of Jesus.  One of my favorite refutations of that proposition comes from this article in Skeptic Magazine.  Non-Christian historian, Robert Sheaffer dismantles the more ludicrous claims of The Da Vinci Code, including the idea that the Gospels are late documents.

- Reprinted from The Burr in the Burgh

I won’t lie to you: Greek is difficult, and it will take everything you’ve got to learn it well. However, we work hard at CTS to make sure that Greek in its initial stages is quite fun, so nearly all my students come away from the class thinking that Greek is “the best class” they’ve ever had! How is this possible? Well, Greek is kind of like Karate, and as one can expect to get “beat up” every day by submitting oneself to the wholesome rigors of Karate, so Greek also will take its toll with memorization, composition exercises, and frequent quizzing. Just as one loses one’s fear of getting “beat up” every day in Karate, so one catches on to Greek over time, and then is thrilled to see that it is possible to read hoary Greek texts, translate English sentences into Greek correctly, and even sing Greek songs with one’s chums! Greek is an amazing experience, and most students are never the same after learning the language well. How long will this take? About 10 weeks of constant, daily work. Then it will be possible to enter the New Testament exegetical course sequence at CTS: Gospels I (Matthew), Gospels II (Luke, Mark), Pauline Epistles (Galatians, Romans), NT Greek readings, etc—all on the basis of the Greek texts. Is it worth it? Nearly all my students say, “Yes! I’ve never been able to read the Word of God like this! Greek is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” Greek could be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

Dr. John G. Nordling

Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology
Concordia Theological Seminary
Ft. Wayne, IN 46825

For more on learning Greek (and Latin) in its initial stages, see John G. Nordling, “Why Should I Learn Latin When Everything has been Translated into English?” Logia: a Journal of Lutheran Theology 11.2 (2002) 27-33.