Even though I minored in Greek years ago and deeply appreciate this amazing language, I remember what my dad told me so often. “Dan, when you preach rarely use the Greek, for if you overdo it you will silently convince people that the Bible cannot be understood without being able to read the Greek.” Even though the Greek sometimes allows us to see how profoundly God has stated His truth, every man on this earth can know the vital truths of God simply by reading the Bible translated into the language he speaks. The Bible means what it says in any language.
However, in this article allow me to show you how the knowledge of how a Greek word was used in the first century can enhance the truth that is stated. Let us never forget that one does not need to know Greek at all in order to understand the Bible.
Paul told Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). What does it mean to “rightly divide the word of truth?” Obviously, it means that to be approved of God we must handle the Bible in the right way. You do not need to know Greek to understand this.
You can go deeper by seeing how the words “rightly dividing” are translated in the common language of the Greeks. The words come from one Greek word and literally mean to “cut it straight.” They used this word in their daily life in three ways. The first was when they talked about building a road from one point to another. It stressed the idea of cutting the path from one place to another in a straight line. We all need to use His words as we teach others, and we must make it simple and straight to the point. Far too many have too many “curves” as they study and teach the Bible. Read His words. Listen to what you read. It means what it says.
The second way the word was used in a secular way was to describe how one plowed a field in a straight line. Cut the furrow straight. Christians need to find His way and never lose focus that the place we keep our eyes on is His path to heaven.
The third way was to describe how masons cut stones so that they perfectly aligned with all the other stones. This is the nature of the word of God. It perfectly fits in its place when we understand that what it teaches in one place will perfectly fit with the truths of God taught in every other place. When we have to twist a verse to make it fit what we want it to say, we have not been honest in our study. Every Bible verse and every Bible word fits perfectly with every other verse or word.
You do not have to know Greek to learn these three truths. I found out all of this by reading words in English!