The Chaos of Beginning Greek

So last Monday I began studying Greek at Dallas Theological Seminary. It has been a challenging and exciting week and a half. A lot of studying, a lot of flashcards, a lot of paradigms, declensions, and parsing. I will admit though, in spite of all of the craziness of Greek, it has been amazing to dive head first into the language of the New Testament. Dr. Daniel Wallace, one of the professors of Greek wrote an article on the importance of the study of the ancient languages. I want to share some of what he wrote:

"The Protestant Reformation never would have gotten off the ground unless Luther had a Greek New Testament in his hands and in his heart. And the history of Protestant seminaries is such that when schools lose the languages they lose their theological underpinnings. When professors are the only ones who know the text in the original, then they can tell their students anything they want without challenge. The great battle cry of the Reformation was "ad fontes"--back to the sources! And by this they meant the Greek and Hebrew texts."

I had never thought of the languages that way. The study of Greek and Hebrew is what protects the church from the whims of the language of culture.

I feel honored to be joining the rank of men who have protected the word of God and it's original intention. I just hope that future ministers will never view the languages as irrelevant.