Introduction to the Greek Articles

One of the most daunting aspects of learning Greek is vocabulary. As I mentioned in discussing some vocabulary resources last post, there are 1,000 words that occur in the New Testament ten or more times. The total word count for the New Testament is 138,162. One thing that might bring a little comfort is that significant portions of these words are articles:

• ὁ - masculine
• ἡ - feminine
• τό – neuter

English has articles (like the definite article “the,” and the indefinite articles “a” and “an”), but these articles are not gender-specific. But similarly to Greek, the Romantic languages include gender-specific articles (like Spanish: “el/los” for masculine/neuter words, and “la/las” for feminine words). If you learn the three main articles above you’ve learned the vocabulary behind 19,870 of 138,162 word uses in the New Testament.

Learning Greek Vocabulary

Now that we've got a better handle on how to read words the next step is to immerse yourself in Greek vocabulary. I suggest two main tools for this:

Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Cards

• This collection is keyed to Bill's book, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar. There are 1,000 vocabulary cards and the first 320 are the words used 50 or more times in the New Testament. The front includes the Greek word and—if a noun—its corresponding article (which indicates the gender of the word; to be further explained later) and genetive form (to be explained later). The back includes the English translation(s), the corresponding lesson from Bill's book, the number of times the word is used in the New Testament, and—if a verb—its principle parts (to be explained later). You can even go through Bill's book and write out your own vocabulary flash cards (which will take quite a while, but may help in your learning).

Jonathan Pennington's New Testament Greek Vocabulary

• This is an audio collection of two CDs with Jonathan Pennington speaking the words of the Greek New Testament by descending order of their frequency. It also comes with a corresponding 48-page booklet listing the words and their definitions. The words are spoken very clearly and slowly, with a pause between the word and its English translation so that you can take a stab at translating it. The words are grouped into different tracks so you can work on them track by track. It is a great tool to use while driving. Nouns are given in their nominative form (but also followed by their genetive form and their corresponding article), adjectives are given with their masculine, feminine, and neuter forms, and verbs/all other words are in their lexical (dictionary) form.

Both of these collections include all words that are used 10 or more times in the New Testament.

More Basics: Accents & Pronunciation

Very briefly, in order to read the Greek alphabet as words, it is important to know the various Greek accent/breathing marks. We don’t generally make use of accent marks in how we read these Greek words today (though they did affect the original pronunciation of the Koine Greek language), but their presence and absence determine what word we are actually reading.

If we look at the Greek word τις (or τι), is roughly defined as “someone” or “something.” If we see acute accent marks (´), τίς (or τί) is roughly defined as “who?” “what?” “which?” and “why?” The most important accent marks to be aware of are the acute accent (´), the grave accent (`), the circumflex (῀). The iota subscript (ͺ) is also an important mark as it influences translation by identifying the presence of an improper diphthong. Two marks that do affect pronunciation are the diaeresis (¨) and the rough breathing mark (῾). The smooth breathing mark (᾿) is a necessary mark to know, but it does not affect pronunciation. The diaeresis signifies that a diphthong (a grouping of two vowels that form a singular sound) is pronounced as two separate vowel sounds. To read more about diphthongs see this great Greek blog.

A rough breathing mark (῾) is at the beginning of a word it creates an "h" sound: ἕξ (which means "six") is pronounced "hex". The breathing marks appear at the beginning of words beginning with vowels (α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω, or diphthongs) and rhos (ρ). When a gamma (γ) is followed by another γ, or a κ, χ, or ξ, it becomes nasal and takes on an “n” sound:

• ἄγγελος is pronounced “angelos”

Practice identifying these marks and how to use them with several words below (to see the answer highlight to the right of the "|" with your cursor) like so:

• Greek word (English translation[s]) | marks
  

ᾅδης (Hades) | "hedes," rough breathing, acute accent, iota subscript
ὁδός (way) | "hodos," rough breathing, acute accent
ὕδωρ (water) | "hudor," rough breathing, acute accent
ἀλήθεια (truth) | "alethia," smooth breathing, acute accent
ἔργον (work, deed, action) | "ergon," smooth breathing, acute accent
οἶκος (house, home) | "oikos," smooth breathing, circumflex
εὐαγγέλιον (Gospel) | "euangelion," smooth breathing, gamma nasal, acute accent

The Koine Greek Alphabet

Before working into some of the more interesting aspects of daily Koine Greek study and mediation I want to review some very basic principles regarding how one sees/reads Greek. We must move from letters to words, words to sentences, sentences to paragraphs, (and eventually) paragraphs to pericopes, pericopes to books, and books to the entire New Testament. These will be exercises for the novice—whom I would consider myself among—but will prove absolutely essential before moving into our next step.

One especially helpful thing about an English-speaker learning Koine Greek is the similarity between the Greek and English alphabets—the English word “alphabet” itself derives from the first two Greek letters, alpha (α) and beta (β). When comparing the English and Greek alphabets we notice many similarities (and from our perspective, a few odd differences).

The first (left) portion of each row has an English letter (if any), the second portion has the corresponding Greek letter (if any), and the third portion has the name of each Greek letter with phonetic aids for pronunciation (some of which are debatable) like so:

• English letter (if any) | Greek letter (if any) | Gk letter name (phonetic aid)

A a | Α α | Alpha ("al-fuh")
B b | Β β | Beta ("bay-tuh")
C c | - | -
- | Γ γ | Gamma (like "ham," but "gam-uh")
D d | Δ δ | Delta ("dell-tuh")
E e | Ε ε | Epsilon (like "rep," but "ep-suh-lawn")
F f | - | -
G g | - | -
- | Ζ ζ | Zeta ("zate-uh")
H h | Η η | Eta ("ate-uh")
- | Θ θ | Theta ("thay-tuh")
I i | Ι ι | Iota ("ee-yo-tuh")
J j | - | -
K k | Κ κ | Kappa (like "cap" with an added "-uh")
L l | Λ λ | Lambda ("lam-duh")
M m | Μ μ | Mu ("moo")
N n | Ν ν | Nu ("new")
- | Ξ ξ | Xi ("ek-see")
O o | Ο ο | Omicron ("ah-meh-kron")
P p | Π π | Pi ("pea")
Q q | - | -
R r | Ρ ρ | Rho ("row")
S s | Σ σ ς | Sigma (begins like "cigar," but is instead "cig-muh")
T t | Τ τ | Tau (like "how," but with a t instead of an h)
U u | Υ υ | Upsilon ("oops-sill-on")
V v | - | -
W w | - | -
- | Φ φ | Phi ("fee")
X x | Χ χ | Chi ("key" with a hard k)
Y y | - | -
Z z | - | -
- | Ψ ψ | Psi (begins like "psst," but is instead "ps-ee")
- | Ω ω | Omega ("owe-may-guh")

Notice the sigma (Σ σ ς) above. The Σ is the capital sigma, the σ is the sigma when it appears at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and the ς is the sigma only when it appears at the end of a word as seen below:

• Σίμων - "Simon," meaning the obvious.
• σάρξ - "sarx" meaning "flesh"
• καθώς - "kathos" meaning "as" and/or "even as"

With the Greek alphabet at your disposal the first and—for obvious reasons—an absolutely necessary step in Greek study is to take some time to learn these letters, for which I once again point you to Ken Berding's Sing and Learn New Testament Greek, a very valuable resource for learning much of the most difficult material studied in beginning Greek in an easy-to-learn, musical format.

Here is a very helpful online resource for learning the Greek alphabet:
See & Hear the New Testament Greek Alphabet

A Brief Introduction to Studying Koine Greek

Brief Historical Background
If we follow the Old Testament/Apocryphal narrative we see that prior to the coming of Christ there were a number of important events in Israel/the Ancient Near East’s history. We know that after the reign of King David Israel split into two kingdoms: Israel & Judah (see 1 Ki. 11-14). In 722 BCE the Assyrian Empire conquered the northern kingdom, Israel.(1) The Assyrian Empire was eventually conquered by the Babylonian Empire, which conquered Judah in 586 BCE.(2) During this period—the Exile—the residents of Judah were taken from their land, an absolute travesty in the context of the Old Testament narrative.

The Babylonians were eventually conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire the Persians allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. The Temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed during the Babylonian conquest, was rebuilt upon the Jews’ return from the Exile. This “Second Temple Period” in Israel’s history, sometimes referred to as the “Intertestamental Period” by Protestants, sets the stage for the New Testament. As we can read in 1 Maccabees 1, the Persians were eventually conquered by Alexander the Great. In 332 BCE the “inhabitants of Judea voluntarily switched allegiance from Persia to Alexander.”(3)

Alexander’s successors pushed to spread Greek culture in the lands Alexander had conquered. This movement is referred to a “Hellenization,”(4) and with it came a number of Greek staples including (but not limited to): the building of theaters, temples, gymnasiums, stadiums, and hippodromes, Greek education, Greek religion, and most importantly for this study, the Greek language.(5) There is a great deal of useful discussion concerning those who succeeded Alexander in power, as well as Jewish responses to these rulers, but for our purposes we will stop at the introduction of the Greek language to the regions where the New Testament was written.

What is Koine Greek?
Koine (κοινὴ) is simply the Greek word for “common,” thus “Koine Greek” was the common Greek spoken and read throughout Hellenized regions during the time of the New Testament and the centuries leading up to it. The Greek emphasis on education and a common, unified language made it possible for early Christianity to spread and for all of the New Testament to be written in Koine Greek. It helps humble us Koine Greek students to know that while studying Koine is seldom a walk in the park, it is one of the more basic (if not the most basic) forms of the Greek language throughout its history.(6) In his introductory chapter to Basics of Biblical Greek, Bill Mounce points out two important lessons concerning the usage of Koine Greek in the New Testament:

“As Paul says, “In the fullness of time God sent his son” (Gal 4:4), and part of that fullness was a universal language. No matter where Paul traveled he could be understood.

But there is another lesson here that is perhaps a little closer to the pastor’s heart. God used the common language to communicate the gospel. The gospel does not belong to the erudite alone; it belongs to all people. It now becomes our task to learn this marvelous language to help us make the grace of God known to all people.”(7)

Why is it important to study Koine Greek?
There are a number of different reasons for studying Koine Greek. I will suggest that a bad reason for studying Greek is anything fueled by pride or solely attaining academic prowess. Koine Greek is a difficult thing to nail down and your mind will be more agile having studied it, but I believe that as we learn Koine Greek in a biblical context our ultimate goal ought to be in line with God’s calling on the lives of his human creatures: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and will all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(8)

As Christians we believe that God has given us an invaluable tool in living in relationship with him and our fellow humans: his Scripture. God’s written Word has been composed by his Spirit and transmitted throughout the existence of the Church to us. By God’s grace we have access to a large number of very reliable documents that compose the canon of Scripture.(9) With this tool (The Greek New Testament) at our fingertips, and while instructed by the Holy Spirit, the historical context of the New Testament, the work of our Christian forefathers, and our labors in Koine Greek, our aim is to better understand the will and personality of God so that we might be moved to action and humble obedience in communicating his Word and his Gospel. It is a great privilege and opportunity to experience God’s Word on another level and to gain a greater sense of God’s love and grace.

A Prayer

God, our Father, please guide us as we seek to understand the Koine Greek language. Please empower us by your Holy Spirit that we might better understand the story that you’ve told through the Scripture, namely the New Testament. We ask that you would give us a greater appreciation for what you’ve done through our savior Jesus Christ and through the advent of the Church. Encourage us when studying Koine Greek becomes discouraging. Humble us when we believe that we are cleverer than we actually are. Let us be salt and light to the world, and not arrogant, lofty, bitterness. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to participate in your kingdom through the live, death, and resurrection of your Son. Help our participation in the kingdom and our devotion to you become more passionate as we study your Word in Koine Greek. Thank you for preserving the documents that compose your Word. Be glorified in this pursuit. Thank you for hearing our prayers. We lift up this study and this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

-----
(1) _____J. Julius Scott Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995).
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid, 79.
(4) _____Craig A. Evans & Stanley E. Porter, eds., Dictionary of New Testament Background (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVaristy Press, 2000). See "Hellenism" by G.R. Stanton, 464-473, for a great discussion on Hellenism.
(5) Scott, 112-120.
(6) Evans, 426-430.
(7) _____William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2003), 2.
(8) Matthew 22:37, 29. New Revised Standard Version, © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church in Christ in the U.S.A.
(9) A discussion on the reliability of the New Testament documents will take place at a later point in our study.

Welcome to Elijah Wade's Koine Greek Adventures!

My aim with this blog is to keep up with my Koine Greek studies while digesting these studies with readers. I am well aware of the geekiness of this blog, but I am also convinced that it will be a helpful tool (at least for me). In personal study I suggest one makes use of a number of books, especially:

Kurt Aland's The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition
(C. H. Beck, Nördlingen, © 2001 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, D-Stuttgart)
Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Second Edition
(Zondervan, © 2003 by William D. Mounce)
Daniel Wallace's Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics
(Zondervan, © 1996 by Daniel B. Wallace)
Metzger & Ehrman's The Text of the New Testament, Fourth Edition
(Oxford, © 2005 by Oxford University Press, Inc.)
Gordon Fee's New Testament Exegesis, Third Edition
(Westminster John Knox Press, © 2002 Gordon D. Fee)
Rahlfs & Hanhart's Septuaginta
(C. H. Beck, Nördlingen, © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft)

We may also make use of these tools:
Ken Berding's Sing and Learn New Testament Greek
(Zondervan, © 2008 by Kenneth A. Berding)
L.C.L. Brenton's The Septuagint with Apocypha: Greek and English
(Zondervan, originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, London, © 1851)
Goodrich & Lukaszewski's A Reader's Greek New Testament
(Zondervan, © 2003 by Richard J. Goodrich and Albert L. Lukaszewski)
Bill Mounce's Interlinear for the Rest of Us
(Zondervan, © 2006 by William D. Mounce)

More tools might be added to our study along the way. When dealing with English translations we will look at several versions.

It is my desire to update this blog as often as possible, primarily following the format of Mounce & Wallace's Greek grammar books (the main texts that I used as an undergraduate). I am also hoping to regularly explore Koine Greek as to employ exegesis and demonstrate the relevance of our Greek studies in the lives of disciples of Jesus Christ. It must be noted that this blog itself is not meant to be a definitive study of the Koine Greek language (for a more definitive study, purchase and make use of the resources above).

Thank you for reading and I hope that this blog regularly proves to be an educational and insightful read.