Part of the challenge of teaching first year Greek is to simplify, but not too much. I remember when I started second-year Greek, it felt like I had to start relearning first-year Greek all over. My teacher had oversimplified in an attempt to help us understand the basics of Greek, but had not done so with an eye to the nuances of second-year Greek.

Today's blog is more a comment on our exegetical method, how we come to a conclusion on what passage means. This morning I was reading 1 Corinthians 10 and came across the well-known verse 13. “No trial has overtaken you that is not common to mankind. And God is faithful: he will not let you be tested beyond what you can bear, but with the trial will also provide the way through, so that you will be able to endure it.”

Every once in a while we come across the verse where almost everything seems to be out of order. In these cases, it is important to think grammatically and to phrase the verse. ὁ λέγων ἐν αὐτῷ μένειν ὀφείλει, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος περιεπάτησεν, καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτως περιπατεῖν.

Because “you” can be either singular or plural, it does periodically present an interesting dilemma to the translator. Sometimes it doesn't matter if “you” is singular or if it is plural. Sometimes context makes it clear that “you” is singular or plural. But every once in a while, we come across the passage where it is absolutely essential that readers know whether “you” is singular or plural. And since Paul tells the Corinthians that “you” are God's temple, and if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person, we probably should know a little more about “you.”

In the story of the healing of the ten lepers, there is an interesting interchange of verbs. In English, we tend to use synonyms for stylistic reasons; we don’t like to repeat the same word. Greek, however, isn’t like that. Repetition was not seen poor style. So when there is variation, perhaps it signals something.

In this parable, the master gives money to three of his servants: five talents, two talents, and one talent, “talent” of course being a unit of money. The master leaves on a journey, and when he returns, he asks for an accounting. The servant who received five talents earned five more, the servant who received two talents earned two more, and the servant who received one talent buried it in the ground and earned nothing with it.

In Greek for the Rest of Us, I give the definition of ἐν as “in, by, with.” The preposition is flexible in meaning, and often translation requires significant interpretation. I have often thought it strange that prepositions were introduced into the Greek language to bring clarity to the flexible and various meetings of the cases, and eventually the prepositions suffered the same fate of having a wide variety of meaning that requires interpretation.

I wish that people who do not know Greek would stop misusing it to prove a theological position. When I was writing Greek for the Rest of Us, friends warned me about misuse, so hopefully this last email I received doesn’t refer to those using my book.

I saw an atheists’ website that listed one of their favorite “contradictions.” God says he will punish “the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (Exod 20:54; cf. Deut 5:9). However, in Ezekiel 18:4 God says, “The person who sins is the one who will die.” So which is it? Are children punished for the sins of their parents, or does the parents’ punishment end with them?