Towards clarity: Defining Christian "disciple-making" (το μαθητευειν) from a purely lexical-contextual perspective
Posted: August 7th, 2017, 11:24 am
More and more people are talking about "discipleship" these days, which is wonderful!
But the more I read and hear, it seems everyone has their own definition they are offering about what this action means, or involves.
Like most of the people on this site, I am a Greek nerd. (My own training is in linguistics, with a special focus on New Testament Greek exegesis, and a sub-focus/specialty in componential analysis. (I have thousands of hours logged in componential analysis in the field of Koine Greek, from my time as an exegetical assistant with Wycliffe). For those who aren't as familiar with componential analysis, it is simply the linguistic science of breaking words down into their individual components of meaning. (See Beekman & Callow's "Translating the Word of God" for an introduction to this field from those with experience in Biblical languages, or Cliff Goddard or Anna Wierzbicka's works for an introduction to this field from a universal languages perspective) Componential analysis is (should be) the main pool that lexicographers swim in, since they are primarly the ones that give us our definitions of individual words. Normally a specific word-sense can be broken down into one generic component plus one or more specificying/diagnostic components. So for instance, for the English word "peninsula", the generic component is "a body of land" and the specifying/diagnostic component is probably something like "surrounded by water on most sides." In bullet form:
Peninsula
-a body of land (generic component)
-surrounded by water on most (but not all) sides (specifying/diagnostic component)
likewise for "Island"
Island
-a body of land (generic component)
-surrounded by water on all sides (specifying/diagnostic component)
(these are my off the cuff analyses but enough to give you the idea)
Notice how they both share the same generic component? That is because they are in the same semantic class.
Hopefully that gives you a crash course introduction to the concept of componential analysis. As you can see, it primarily focuses on the lexical level, which is the most-zoomed in level in the exegetical endeavor.
Ok, let me get back on track. We were talking about discipleship and how people seem to be buzzing about it, which is awesome! Personally, I have been praying for a discipleship revival in this generation. But one of the problems is a wide array of (sometimes complicated) definitions.
I genuinely believe we Greek nerds have something we can offer to this discussion. And I believe we must!
There is only one passage in Scripture where followers of Jesus are told to "make disciples." It is in Matthew 28:19. This passage is known as "the Great Commission." He used a specific Greek word when giving that command. Followed by two elaborative/supportive participles.
I submit that any definition of "making disciples" that ignores either
-the actual components of meaning present in the actual Greek word Jesus used (μαθητευω- Mt 28:19a)
-the actions prescribed in the elaborative/supportive participles that Jesus immediately attached to this verb via its two subordinate clauses (Mt. 28:19b-20a)
is at best man-made and prone to either deficiency or clutter.
Greek nerds arise! And help bring clarity to the concept of "making-disciples" as prescribed by Jesus. From this lexical-contextual perspective I submit that we end up left with only 3 necessary and sufficient components of discipleship. Everything else is apparently completely flexible and customizeable.
I am so passionate about this particular topic that I have written a book aimed to help de-clutter and blow away fog surrounding discipleship, which turns out to be quite simple. Since I am bent on giving preeminent place to the lexical-contextual perspective, and to de-cluttering our views of discipleship, I have used effort to make the book as succinct as possible. The body comes out to around 30 pages. And the main chapter, which unpacks the only 3 necessary components that I see from the lexical-contextual perspective, is really just a handful of pages.
The book is called "Discipleship Lost" and it is available on Amazon. There is a black and white edition of the book available that is about half the price of the color version. You really don't need the color version. If this book can be of service to you, please avail yourself to it, and if this topic is of interest to you, please don't hesitate to reach out-- I am happy to send free copies out although as a pastor of a growing family my funds aren't huge. But I do believe it may be those with an appreciation of Greek that can help contribute clarity to what I hope is an increasingly widespread discipleship renaissance that I already see budding in various little nooks.
Solomon Powell
But the more I read and hear, it seems everyone has their own definition they are offering about what this action means, or involves.
Like most of the people on this site, I am a Greek nerd. (My own training is in linguistics, with a special focus on New Testament Greek exegesis, and a sub-focus/specialty in componential analysis. (I have thousands of hours logged in componential analysis in the field of Koine Greek, from my time as an exegetical assistant with Wycliffe). For those who aren't as familiar with componential analysis, it is simply the linguistic science of breaking words down into their individual components of meaning. (See Beekman & Callow's "Translating the Word of God" for an introduction to this field from those with experience in Biblical languages, or Cliff Goddard or Anna Wierzbicka's works for an introduction to this field from a universal languages perspective) Componential analysis is (should be) the main pool that lexicographers swim in, since they are primarly the ones that give us our definitions of individual words. Normally a specific word-sense can be broken down into one generic component plus one or more specificying/diagnostic components. So for instance, for the English word "peninsula", the generic component is "a body of land" and the specifying/diagnostic component is probably something like "surrounded by water on most sides." In bullet form:
Peninsula
-a body of land (generic component)
-surrounded by water on most (but not all) sides (specifying/diagnostic component)
likewise for "Island"
Island
-a body of land (generic component)
-surrounded by water on all sides (specifying/diagnostic component)
(these are my off the cuff analyses but enough to give you the idea)
Notice how they both share the same generic component? That is because they are in the same semantic class.
Hopefully that gives you a crash course introduction to the concept of componential analysis. As you can see, it primarily focuses on the lexical level, which is the most-zoomed in level in the exegetical endeavor.
Ok, let me get back on track. We were talking about discipleship and how people seem to be buzzing about it, which is awesome! Personally, I have been praying for a discipleship revival in this generation. But one of the problems is a wide array of (sometimes complicated) definitions.
I genuinely believe we Greek nerds have something we can offer to this discussion. And I believe we must!
There is only one passage in Scripture where followers of Jesus are told to "make disciples." It is in Matthew 28:19. This passage is known as "the Great Commission." He used a specific Greek word when giving that command. Followed by two elaborative/supportive participles.
I submit that any definition of "making disciples" that ignores either
-the actual components of meaning present in the actual Greek word Jesus used (μαθητευω- Mt 28:19a)
-the actions prescribed in the elaborative/supportive participles that Jesus immediately attached to this verb via its two subordinate clauses (Mt. 28:19b-20a)
is at best man-made and prone to either deficiency or clutter.
Greek nerds arise! And help bring clarity to the concept of "making-disciples" as prescribed by Jesus. From this lexical-contextual perspective I submit that we end up left with only 3 necessary and sufficient components of discipleship. Everything else is apparently completely flexible and customizeable.
I am so passionate about this particular topic that I have written a book aimed to help de-clutter and blow away fog surrounding discipleship, which turns out to be quite simple. Since I am bent on giving preeminent place to the lexical-contextual perspective, and to de-cluttering our views of discipleship, I have used effort to make the book as succinct as possible. The body comes out to around 30 pages. And the main chapter, which unpacks the only 3 necessary components that I see from the lexical-contextual perspective, is really just a handful of pages.
The book is called "Discipleship Lost" and it is available on Amazon. There is a black and white edition of the book available that is about half the price of the color version. You really don't need the color version. If this book can be of service to you, please avail yourself to it, and if this topic is of interest to you, please don't hesitate to reach out-- I am happy to send free copies out although as a pastor of a growing family my funds aren't huge. But I do believe it may be those with an appreciation of Greek that can help contribute clarity to what I hope is an increasingly widespread discipleship renaissance that I already see budding in various little nooks.
Solomon Powell