While not all Christians need to learn Greek and Hebrew, knowledge of the Biblical languages has historically been viewed as necessary for students in Biblical seminaries, colleges, and institutes.  Why?

Summarizing the first five pages of the study Reasons Christians Should and Can Learn Greek and Hebrew, the Biblical Languages, the answers to this question include:

1.) Jesus Christ learned Greek and Hebrew. if the Savior learned and honored the Greek and Hebrew languages, those who follow Him can do likewise.

2.) Learning Greek and Hebrew shows reverence for God’s inspired and preserved revelation.  Belief in verbal, plenary inspiration and verbal, plenary preservation leads to the study of Hebrew and Greek as a necessary consequence.

3.) Greek and Hebrew powerfully aid the study of God’s Word.  Many conclusive examples are supplied in the larger study which this blog post is summarizing.

4.) Greek and Hebrew help one observe more accurately and thoroughly, understand more clearly, evaluate more fairly, and interpret more confidently the inspired details of the Biblical text.

5.) Accurate translations are authoritative in their substance, and so it is proper to refer to the English Authorized Version as inspired in a derivative sense.  However, there are details of God’s inspired revelation that can only be understood by those who know Greek and Hebrew.  One can affirm not only that the KJV is inspired whenever it is accurate, but even that it is perfectly accurate and has no errors in translation, and still see tremendous value in learning Greek and Hebrew.

Indeed, study of the Biblical languages is a good and necessary consequence of the fact that God has revealed Himself and His will in Hebrew and Greek words.

Please read the entirety of the first five pages here, and feel free to comment on them below.  May they prove edifying, whether or not one ever learns the Biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew.

–TDR