A Serious Call to Students and Pastors to Get and Keep the Biblical Languages

Posted by John Reuther on November 23, 2010

One of the greatest joys of my Bible College and Seminary training was the study of Hebrew and Greek. I have fond memories of some fantastic, effective, and excited professors. Well do I remember the 8 AM wake-up calls of our Hebrew Drill-Sergeant! (Oh, here he comes……it’s too early for this…..ugh). These professors instilled in me a love of the biblical languages and the realization that all the real gold is found in our knowledge and use of the languages. As a pastor, it is a constant challenge to keep up the rudiments of Greek and Hebrew because of the press of pastoral labors. But my training and their faithful teaching keeps me pressing on.

I want to urge all RBS students, as well as all theological students and aspirants to the Christian ministry, to delve into the languages. You have a great interest in theological studies and this is good. But do not neglect the devoted pursuit of the languages. I encourage my fellow pastors to do the same if you have not taken any courses in Greek and/or Hebrew yet. And if you are, like me, one much in need of devoting some time each week to sharpening these language tools, I urge you to do it. For all of us, this exhortation of Martin Luther says it all.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): On the Importance of the Biblical Languages.

“And let us be sure of this, we will not long preserve the gospel without the languages. The languages are the sheath in which this sword of the Spirit is contained; they are the casket in which this jewel is enshrined; they are the vessel in which this wine is held; they are the larder in which this food is stored; and, as the gospel itself points out, they are the baskets in which are kept these loaves and fishes and fragments. If through our neglect we let the languages go (which God forbid!), we shall……. lose the gospel….

Experience too has proved this and still gives evidence of it. For as soon as the languages declined to the vanishing point, after the apostolic age, the gospel and faith and Christianity itself declined more and more…… On the other hand, now that the languages have been revived, they are bringing with them so bright a light and accomplishing such great things that the whole world stands amazed and has to acknowledge that we have the gospel just as pure and undefiled as the apostles had it, that it has been wholly restored to its original purity, far beyond what it was in the days of St. Jerome and St. Augustine…….

Yes, you may say, but many of the fathers were saved and even became teachers without the languages. That is true. But how do you account for the fact that they so often erred in the Scriptures?….. Even St. Augustine himself is obliged to confess…… that a Christian teacher who is to expound the Scriptures must know Greek and Hebrew in addition to Latin. Otherwise, it is impossible to avoid constant stumbling; indeed, there are plenty of problems to work out even when one is well-versed in the languages.

There is a vast difference therefore between a simple preacher of the faith and a person who expounds the Scripture, or, as St. Paul puts it, a prophet. A simple preacher (it is true) has so many clear passages and texts available through translations that he can know and teach Christ, lead a holy life, and preach to others. But when it comes to interpreting Scripture, and working with it on your own, and disputing with those who cite it incorrectly, he is unequal to the task; that cannot be done without languages. Now there must always be such prophets in the Christian church who can dig into Scripture, expound it, and carry on disputations. A saintly life and right doctrine are not enough. Hence the languages are absolutely and altogether necessary in the Christian church, as are the prophets or interpreters; although it is not necessary that every Christian or every preacher be such a prophet, as St. Paul points out 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4……

Since it becomes Christians then to make good use of the Holy Scriptures as their one and only book and it is a sin and a shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God, it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book. Oh how happy the dear fathers would have been if they had had our opportunity to study the languages and come thus prepared to the Holy Scriptures! What great toil and effort it cost them to gather up a few crumbs, while we with half the labor – yes, almost without any labor at all – can acquire the whole loaf! Oh how their effort puts our indolence to shame! Yes, how sternly God will judge our lethargy and ingratitude!

Here belongs also what St. Paul calls for in 1 Corinthians 14, namely, that in the Christian church all teachings must be judged. For this a knowledge of the language is needful above all else. The preacher or teacher can expound the Bible from beginning to end as he pleases, accurately or inaccurately, if there is no one there to judge whether he is doing it right or wrong. But in order to judge one must have a knowledge of the languages; it cannot be done in any other way. Therefore, although faith and the gospel may indeed be proclaimed by simple creatures without a knowledge of languages, such preaching is flat and tame; people finally become weary and bored with it, and it falls to the ground. But where the preacher is versed in the languages, there is a freshness and vigor in his preaching, Scripture is treated in its entirety, and faith finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and illustrations. Hence, Psalm 129 likens such Scriptural studies to a hunt, saying to the deer God opens the dense forests; and Psalm 1 likens them to a tree with a plentiful supply of water, whose leaves are always green.”

Martin Luther, “To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools,” in Luther’s Works, ed, W. Brandt and H. Lehman (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1962) 357-366.

Cited in Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001) 118-120.

Pastor John Reuther – Lumberton, New Jersey