1. The first reason is because there are so many good English
translations. When they differ, how will you know which one most
accurately reflects the text itself? This is not simply a matter
of "majority rules," as though you could take a poll of translations.
The community in which you will serve as pastor or teacher will expect
you to be able to help them understand the text; the first step is helping
them understand which text to consider.
2. No translation is perfect; it is not possible to transfer everything
from one language into another. There are nuances in Greek that cannot
be expressed in any English translation. You need to read the texts
in Greek or in Hebrew for a more accurate knowledge of what the text says.
3. Language is an expression of culture. Learning Greek is a gateway
into further understanding the culture in which the New Testament was written.
4. You need to learn these languages to give you access to other tools:
commentaries that will help you explore the text more fully, and Bible
dictionaries that will help you understand how words and concepts function
in the Biblical text.
5. To read the texts in Greek means to wrestle with these texts and
their meanings on an intimate level. To grapple with issues of vocabulary
and grammar slows you down enough to listen to these texts more deeply
that you have probably done before, and to puzzle over the text's meaning
and purpose. To deal with the texts on this level is a part of being
a community that listens; learning Greek will help you to listen to the
texts in a new way.
6. When you graduate from LTSS as pastors and other leaders in the church,
others will trust you to help them listen to these texts in ways that are
life-giving and faith-sustaining. They will trust you to do that task with
knowledge, clarity, and skill. Such a calling deserves nothing less
than the very best of our efforts and tools, and that means expending the
time and effort it takes to study these texts in the languages in which
they were written.
7. In the words of another teacher,
"In the Christian Church all teaching must be judged. For this a knowledge
of the language is needed above all else. The preacher(s) or teacher(s)
can expound the Bible from beginning to end as [they] please, accurately
or inaccurately, if there is no one there to judge whether [they are] doing
it right or wrong. But in order to judge, one must have a knowledge of
the languages; it cannot be done in any other way. Therefore, although
faith and the gospel may indeed be proclaimed by simple preachers without
a knowledge of the languages, such preaching is flat and tame; people finally
become weary and bored with it, and it falls to the ground. But where the
preacher is versed in the languages, there is a freshness and vigor in
preaching, Scripture is treated in its entirety, and faith finds itself
constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and illustrations."
(Martin Luther, "To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany, that They
Establish and Maintain Christian Schools")
8. Finally, I believe studying Greek beckons students into deeper
contact with the New Testament texts. I believe that studying Greek may
become a part of your life-long love for these texts and their languages,
and that learning Greek may be the beginning of a lifetime of intimate
contact with these texts which will feed both personal faith and
the practice of ministry within the Christian community.