Bethany Lutheran Church Greek Lessons To Begin

Greek lessons began early in the parsonage,
but not quite this early. That is a Greek New Testament.

First Greek lesson here.

Saved video of the first Greek lesson, John 1:1-4.


Saved video for the second lesson. John 1:1-14

Greek text to go with the second lesson.


Third Greek lesson.


Third saved video for the third lesson.


Facebook Page for all the lessons and video links.


Fourth Saved Video – Lesson on the Greek article.


Blog Post for the Fourth Video Lesson.


Fifth Saved Lesson


Fifth Saved Video


Sixth Saved Lesson


Sixth Saved Video

Seventh Lesson

Seventh Video

Eighth Lesson


Eighth Video

Ninth Lesson


Tenth Lesson – Finishing John 2 – Cleansing the Temple.

Eleventh Lesson – John 3. Nick at Night.


Eleventh Lesson Video.


Twelfth Lesson Video. End of Chapter 3.


Thirteenth Lesson Video – John 4


Maundy Thursday Video – John 13

Four Seven are interested in New Testament Greek – so far. First a lawyer, then an engineer, next a blogger, after that someone with language training, and now a regular reader and service participant – people are lining up for Greek New Testament lessons.

I am gathering resources for this class. Some items and ideas I can simply post on this blog and link on the left side.

I will outline the approach on Ustream.

A crucial part will be setting up conference meetings where students can translate while learning some good habits – live – with the possibility of saving the sessions.

Basic Approach – NOT the Synodical Way
My teaching approach is based on Roland Bainton’s method of learning a new language. He got out his Greek New Testament and a New Testament in the unknown language. He used the Gospel of John, as I recall, and eventually knew 20 languages. He expected his doctoral students to do the same, to learn the language needed for the documents.

I did this with French and passed the French test at Notre Dame, one of the surprise portions coming from…the Gospel of John.

I originally called this the Bonehead Method because anyone can learn Greek this way. The advantage is that people with language skills can get very good in Greek, quickly. LI was well past the struggling part of a new language when he took Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at WELS schools.

The synodical approach is to hire someone who was able to learn Greek the old way – lists of verbs, lists of nouns, long grammatical drills and tests – and yet catch on because of inherent skills. That same person continues the next generation of torturing Greek students with that failed method.

C. S. Lewis was expected to memorize and translate 100 lines of Homer in Greek for each lesson. He said, “I learned a lot of Greek that way.”

The military uses immersion, one language only, until the brain switches over and no longer translates but just reads as if it is the native language.

I was utterly smitten with classical culture when I went to college, so I took Greek, Latin, and German, a great time to learn languages. Later I took Hebrew in seminary, Greek and Hebrew exegesis at Yale. Starting on the Latin-Greek track was good preparation for Biblical studies.

LI went through the Gospel of John in Latin with me. He translated the entire Gospel. We repeated the process in Greek. The first four chapters were done slowly. Then we started over at 1:1 and went faster. That is why he was asked to tutor Greek students at Northwestern College, because they were failing with the old synodical grunt methods. Earlier he helped the football team at Michigan Lutheran Seminary with Latin.

Little Ichabod is reaching for Augustine’s City of God,
which I studied in college – in Latin.

Bainton-Jackson Method
This is why I do not teach Greek in any synod – because I know how. Calling it the Bonehead Method is a bit rough, so I call it Bainton-Jackson now.

Here are the basic rules:

1. Read the verse aloud.
2. Translate the known words.
3. Guess the rest.
4. Never write the English words above the text. Never use an inter-linear. Never leave the Bible open to that text.
5. Learn by expanding this process.
6. De-emphasize grammar.
7. Use Lenski and the Keys (Schluessel) for the fine points.

Having the English nearby is a horrible habit. I would use Lenski with LI for a tricky portion from time to time. If the English can be glanced at, then the lazy eyes will go to it and real learning will not take place. That is why a cheat in language is called a jimmie – for King James – and sometimes a pony – for a free ride.

My Latin professor at Augustana, who had several master’s degrees in classical languages, said, “No matter who you are or what you know, the eyes will go to the English when it is available on the page or the page opposite.”

Those who want to participate in this class should write to greg.jackson.edlp@gmailcom

Anyone who begins to study John’s Gospel in Greek will remember the experience with advantages:

• Greek is the foundation of the English language and all Western civilization.
• Our nation was begun with men – and women – who were trained in Latin, Greek, and ancient history. That was considered the very meaning of the word – education.
• The Gospel of John is the doctrinal Gospel, which addresses many of the problems that would erupt in the church later.

There is no charge for the classes. Contributions can be sent via PayPal – the link is here.

More information will be available soon.

Here we are, considering iota subscripts
and the optatives in the New Testament.