Free resources from Bill Mounce to learn biblical Greek

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Bill is the founder and President of BiblicalTraining.org, serves on the Committee for Bible Translation (which is responsible for the NIV translation of the Bible), and has written the best-selling biblical Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other Greek resources. He speaks and blogs regularly on issues relating to trusting the Bible, the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus), Greek and issues of spiritual growth.

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Literal Translations and Paraphrases

People often say there are two forms of translation, "formal" and "functional." One is more "word-for-word" and the other is more "thought-for-thought." This is not accurate. There are actually five, and a truly "literal" Bible is not really a biblical translation at all.

Was Timothy Paul's Legitimate or Spiritual Son? (1 Tim 1:2)

Since a word in one language does not line up exactly with a word in another language, translation is often a matter of choosing one meaning or the other, which generally means some information is lost. It also means all translations are interpretive. Words have what is called a "semantic range," a breadth of meaning. They don't have one "literal" meaning. In this passage, is Paul saying Timothy is his legitimate child or genuine child? Is Paul talking about Timothy's legal status or character?

ὅταν

ὅταν

ὅταν means “whenever” (particle).

“ὅταν you pray, go into your room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt 6:6).

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