My approach

Here are some bullet points illustrating my approach to accessing the New Testament in its original Greek language.

  • Cheating is impossible

  • Don't bother with what you don't need

  • Remember why you started learning NT Greek

  • Little and often is better than too much and then none

  • Learning is meant to be fun. So have fun

Lots of people are hindered by the idea that it's 'cheating' to look things up. It's not cheating – it's checking! And if you really don't know the answer it's learning.

Older textbooks encouraged students to attempt translating English to Greek as well as Greek to English. Don't bother. All you'll achieve is a version of Greek that none of the NT writers would recognise.

Traditionally λυω was used as a 'coat hanger' for teaching the regular Greek verb with all its tenses, moods and voices. After a year or more of battling with every possible variation of λυω, how disheartening to find that this verb occurs only 42 times in the NT and many of those difficult forms don't occur at all. How much more useful to know that λεγω means 'I say'. OK, it's a very irregular verb but it occurs 2262 times and just to know that εἰπεν is from the same verb and means, 'he said,' is so much more useful. Oh yes, and there's classical Greek. Unless you have to, don't bother with that. The koine Greek of the NT is a much smaller and easier target to hit.

The whole point of learning NT Greek is to be able to read the Greek New Testament in its original language and to follow more advanced commentaries. The illustration I often use is of being able to drive a car as opposed to being a mechanic. You can drive without being a mechanic (and you can actually be a mechanic without being able to drive). Most of us just want to drive and leave the mechanical expertise to the local garage. Learning to read and understand NT Greek is the equivalent of learning to drive; mastering all the minutiae of Greek grammar is the equivalent of serving an apprenticeship as a mechanic. Most people don't need it. Thank God for the people who are skilled in that department but you want to be behind the wheel, not under the bonnet.

Little and often. Our brains are amazing fact-gatherers and data-sorters but like the rest of us they get tired and working your brain for too long will only result in confusion not retention. So even if you feel you haven't grasped what you set out to learn don't overdo it. Take a break and come back to it later. I still remember with great sadness a gifted student who studied pretty well non-stop for a fortnight before his final exams only to go completely blank when he got into the examination room. He failed, not because he hadn't worked but because he had overworked.

And yes, learning is meant to be fun. So have fun. Enjoy it and don't let it become a burden. Get satisfaction out of every new insight and expect God to bless you.