How to Study the Bible: Language
The language of the Bible is complex and deep. There is a reason that people who have studied it day in and day out for decades still find something new in its pages. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Words of God in written form to be shared, studied, and passed down to His people.
As men who believe in Jesus and His salvation, we are a part of God’s people. The word of God is for us. It is for you. God inspired the words of Scripture to communicate to you. Think about that for a moment and let it really sink in. The all-powerful God that we call Lord wants to talk to you. More than this, He made sure to put His words down for us to read and study.
So how do you study the Bible. Like the introduction to this series says, there are many parts of a good Bible study. Language is one of those key parts. It is something that adds great value and understanding to anyone who chooses to give it attention. But studying any language is challenging and appears daunting at first.
So let's make it easy.
If you have studied a language other than your native tongue, you will know that there are many odd parts of grammar and vocabulary that don’t exactly line up with the words you use each day. The same is true with Biblical languages. But where do you start?
Translations
Many words in the Bible are translated a specific way by specific translators. This is why we have so many versions of the Bible. You have the NIV (New International Version), ESV (English Standard Version), NASB (New American Standard Bible), NLT (New Living Translation), KJV (King James Version), and many many more.
Most translations have a specific purpose behind their translation that guides them. Some translations, like the NIV and NLT, try to make he language more accessible to readers. This means that the way sentences are translated and individual words used is designed to make it easier to read. Some others, like the ESV and NASB, look for a more literal translation of the original text.
There is not necessarily a right or a wrong when picking a translation (though there is much understandable debate). They all present the Word of God. (It gets a little murkier when we look at books that are paraphrasing the Bible. The Message is an easy example of this. It is not technically a translation of the Bible, but it does seek to present the major themes and ideas of Scripture as it goes through the New Testament.)
As someone who likes to look at languages, I tend to use the ESV or NASB when I study the Bible because they are closer to the original manuscripts (the earliest recordings of Scripture). They try to get the meaning of the words as close to the original language as possible, ignoring some of the places where it sounds a little confusing or out of place. But nothing quite compares to going to the original language itself, which leads us to meaning.
The Meaning of Words
Many words in other languages have more than one meaning in our own language. Let’s use John 3:16 as an example.
Click on the verse above to follow along on Blue Letter Bible (a great website for getting into language easily) while we go through this.
The word “in” in this verse is the Greek word “eis.” Using Blue Letter Bible as an easy tool to finding the original language of the verse, we can click on the verse and then see all of the Greek words used. Easy, right? Then you can look down through the words and find this word, “eis,” which has been translated as “in.”
You might be noticing the weird number that is attached to this word – “G1519.” This is the concordance number. If you were studying this without the internet, you would own a Greek dictionary (since John 3:16 is in the New Testament and the New Testament was written in Greek) and what is called a concordance. The concordance is a book that has all of the words from the Bible and gives each of them a number. You could then use this number to find all of the places that word is used in the Bible. You could also use this number to find the Greek word you would look up in the Greek dictionary so you could get the definition.
Thankfully for us, all of this is online (and free)! If you click on the number “G1519,” you will be taken to the dictionary page for that word. You will see the definition as well as how the word is translated throughout the Bible. For “eis,” we see that it has more than one meaning. It can mean “in,” “into,” “to,” “towards,” “unto,” “for,” or “among.” The translators chose “in” for John 3:16. But by looking at this word, one that is very simple, you can understand the depth to the language. You can see the ways, and the reasons, the translators have chosen certain words at different points in Scripture. You can understand a little more of the depth of each word.
This becomes more clear when you are looking at a more meaningful word like “love.” In the New Testament, there are two main words that are translated as “love.” Agape and phileo are two separate words. More than this, they have different meanings. As you study the words, you will learn that agape tends to be more of a general word, whereas phileo implies more affection. (If you want a good exercise with these two words, do a study on the way love is used in John 21:15 - where both words are used). When reading in English, you would only read "love." Using the original language as you go, you can see the added meaning and depth to what the author was writing.
The point in all of this language study is simple. We get to know the message of God more clearly, or at least more deeply. God speaks to us in many ways. One of the greatest ways is through Scripture. Understanding the language the authors used to write Scripture is one giant step forward toward hearing God’s message and understanding what it means for you.