Vine's Expository Dictionary
Jonathan B. Ferguson
jferguson at tabernacleministries.org
Mon May 20 14:28:57 EDT 2002
Hello,
Though I would not consider myself a learned Greek student (though I
am trying), I would agree with many others on this list. I have observed
that many people who use a Greek lexicon, Strong's Concordance, Vine's,
etc. making many false assumptions (Carson deals with many in _Exegetical
Fallacies_). Many times people assume that if a word is translated one
way in one verse, then it should be/could be translated the same way in
another. I think by people going to the Greek NT with a little knowledge
of Greek is a dangerous thing, because then they being ignorant of the
nuances of Greek grammar make many false interpretations, and then, they
turn to some weird unscriptural. I deal often with Mormon Missionaries (I
am a young missionaries to the cults) and also some Roman Catholic
apologists (self-proclaimed). I see on numerous occasions how they
support some doctrine they love by saying "the word is ____" and then they
begin to build all of their theology on that one translation which they
gladly provided. I would say that Greek is like a gun. If you use it
wisely, you can protect Bible doctrine as a gun can protect your family.
However, if Greek is used without caution, then it is like being careless
with a loaded gun. All in all, I would suggest only buying Vine's if you
use it with caution. However, I would say that best way to understand the
Koine Greek would be to inundate yourself with just reading Greek, and
then also using good grammars.
in Christ,
Jonathan B. Ferguson
2 Timothy 1:9
Kjvonly16 at aol.com
jferguson at tabernacleministries.org
confed182002 at yahoo.com
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