There's this false notion among Christians that knowing the Greek language will give you special knowledge of the Bible and therefore special knowledge to God -- as if it's the key that unlocks all secrets.  This is actually not true.  I have loved learning Greek in this past year, because it is fun reading God's Word as it was written by the original authors and catching the subtle implications of verb tense, voice and moods that might not come through in English translations.  But the best part has been having the cloud of 'mystery' lifted from the idea of Greek.  You know how pastors do it, they say, "This is what it really says in the Greek", and you can only accept what she or he has to say because you don't know any Greek.  My professor says that there really is no reason to be so condescending when you preach.  What it says in your Bible in English is what that particular Greek word means.  That is why those scholars translated it that way. 

Here are some examples of Greek words that pastors have over-exegeted:

Some pastors want to "give you greater insight" (or maybe they're just misinformed) by telling you that the word used to describe the Holy Spirit "parakletos" comes from two words: "para" which means "alongside" and "kaleo" which means "called", so they say that the word parakletos means "one who is called alongside", i.e. the Holy Spirit is one who is called to come alongside us.  And while this 'insight' sounds clever, this is not exactly true.  "Parakletos" is a word that means "helper, encourager."

In the English language, we don't usually break down a word to give us more insight into its meaning.  We don't take a word like "understand" and break it down by its parts.  Otherwise, we'd think understand means to stand under.  So why do we do this with the Greek?

The second example has to do with John 21 when Jesus reinstates Peter.  I used to teach this in my Bible studies incorrectly too.  The incredible Greek "insight" goes like this:  The first two times Jesus says to Peter, "Agapas me?"  Peter responds, "Sure, philo you."  (instead of, "Agapo you.")  So on the third time, Jesus changes his question to, "Phileis me?"  And Peter again responds, "Yes, philo you."  In explaining this passage, many define agape as unconditional, divine love, and phileo means brotherly, human love (i.e. it's a lesser love), and therefore, Peter is responding with a lesser love and in the end, Jesus goes down to his level and asks him if he brotherly-loves him.  What's the point of this?  I have no idea.  Why is it such great insight that Jesus goes from asking Simon if he unconditionally loves him to only brotherly loving him?

Actually, the Greek verb agapao doesn't just mean unconditional love.  It can also just mean regular old, plain "love".  For example, in 1 John 2:15 when it talks about the love for the world, the word that is used is also "agapao".   It doesn't really make sense to interpret that verse as divine, unconditional love for the world, does it?  So "agapao" doesn't just mean unconditional love.  There are also other places in the New Testament where the word "phileo" is used to describe God's love.  Words have more than one meaning, and to draw an exegetical insight based on one definition of a word across the board can be dangerous and just plain irresponsibile scholarship.  When we write an essay in English and have to repeat the same idea, we switch back and forth between words, using synonyms, just "because".  In the same way, Jesus is just using a synonym when He does the switcheroo.  There's no deeper meaning.  If you check commentaries, you will find that nine out of ten scholars will tell you this. 

Okay, last one.  The word in Greek that means "power" is dunamis.  Some people say that dunamis is related to dynamite, so therefore "dunamis" means "explosive".  But it really doesn't mean that.  Dynamites hadn't even been invented during New Testament times.  This is called semantic anachronism.  Preachers sometimes quote Romans 1:16 as, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the dynamite of God..." "as if something profound or even esoteric has been uttered.  To mention dynamite as a kind of analogy is singularly inappropriate. Dynamite blows things up, tears things down, rips out rock, gouges holes, destroys things. The power of God concerning which Paul speaks...its goal is to save...(and its aim is) for the wholeness and perfection implicit in the consummation of our salvation."  (p. 34 D.A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies).

Amen to that.  So the moral of the story?  God's word, as it has been translated in our English Bibles by Christian scholars, is God's word to us.  You don't have to know Greek to know God's word and His heart.  It's fun and great and certainly adds to things -- but it's not essential!

Am reminded today of my great need for humility.  As Gordon Fee puts it,

"The ultimate aim of exegesis...is to produce in our lives and the lives of others true spirituality, in which God's people live in faithful fellowship both with one another and with the eternal living God and thus in keeping with God's own purposes in the world.  In order to do this effectively...true "spirituality" must precede exegesis as well as be the final result of it.  We must begin as we would conclude, standing under the text, not over it, with all of our scholarly arrogance intact."

'Standing under it' -- as in humility.  There will never be a time and place where I will master the Word of God -- know it all.  The goal is not mastery or expertise, it is true spirituality.  The goal of seminary is not a degree, it is true spirituality.  And it is to know better how I might approach His Word, how better to understand, how better to divide the Word of Truth correctly to reveal His heart and His meaning the way He intended -- without distortion.

Looking back to the past, I feel embarrassed and ashamed - and sorry - for the ways I have mishandled His Word.  How appalling to realize that I had not properly considered the literary and historical context of the Scripture and therefore misinterpreted His Word - thinking that every word was written to me - not understanding that it's not written to me but for me -- and therefore resorting to inconsistencies in how I handled the Scriptures as I ignored some parts that made no sense to my plain-text-reading method while inappropriately embracing other texts at face value because it seemed to work in our culture... and then taught and proclaimed it to others.  I am humbled by my lack of understanding.

And how I pray that this day forward, I could be a better student of the Word -- hearkening to historical, literary and cultural context and to the Holy Spirit's guidance, as I bow before the Lord in my approach to Scripture, with all humility, as one who knows that she knows nothing.  Lord, I long for true spirituality.  Forgive me for my arrogance.

I arrived at the seminary early last night and checked my mailbox.  I found my first Greek exam in the box.  Just what I was looking for.  At the top of the page, I found a 1 followed by two 0s.  Apparently, I had only missed half a point and I got a 100%!  Can you believe that? 

After that, I wandered into the prayer room.  There's a clipboard in the prayer room with lines in which you could put prayer requests.  I flipped to the back where the old requests through the years had been placed.  I scanned the pages of names, page after page, and then I found it.  There was the entry:

"Mary Ann ---, 11/11/98, If God wants me to go to seminary, then He would open the doors (to Bethel)."

I just sat back and smiled with wonder.  

It's been 9 years!

I remember back then how badly I wanted to go to seminary.  I had only been a Christian for two years and felt certain that God had called me into the ministry --and I wanted to grow and learn as much as possible to be as useful a vessel for Him as possible.  But as badly as I wanted to learn in seminary, there were so many obstacles.  So I prayed and prayed and prayed. 

Fast forward 9 years later, and there I was sitting in the same prayer room waiting for my Greek class to start.  Amazing.  Sometimes God puts desires in our hearts. Sometimes He calls us to pray for them.  And sometimes it takes 9 years before He answers.  And now 11/9/07, I see why it was so perfect that He waited 9 years to make dreams into reality.  Now is the perfect timing.  Perfect, just perfect.  With God --how could I ever doubt it? 

You know how when you are trying to gather all the laundry into your arms to make it from the dryer to your bedroom, and you have way more than an armful of clothes, and what ends up happening is that a sock falls down here and a sock falls down there, so you bend over to pick up the socks that fell, and as you do that, some other socks end up falling, and you keep repeating this fun ritual until you drop more than you can pick up, and you never quite make it to the bed?  It's inevitable that you'll lose something -- if not everything all together!  This is exactly how I feel in my Biblical (Koine) Greek studies right now.  I am stuffing so much into my head -- and I keep feeling like with every new stuff that I stuff into my head, I lose some of the old stuff, and I'm just leaving behind a trail of forgotten vocab words and irregular case endings -- oh, how does that word decline, what does that preposition mean with that case, oh man, what word is that???  It's so hard!  I have been studying nonstop since last week and I am still behind.  My head hurts and I want to give up... but every time I begin to think, "I can't keep going anymore", I am urged on by this unnameable voice that I must keep going.  Pick up those socks, Mary Ann, the rewards will be endless... 

So we've had two classes of Hermeneutics with about 150 pages of reading already, and I've learned that when we approach the Bible, we need to ask what the author's original intent was in writing to his original reader.  We need to remember that the Bible was NOT written to us, it was written to a certain reader during the author's time.  To ask the question, "What does this passage say to me?" is the wrong way to approach it.  The Bible wasn't written to you, but it's written for you.   We need to ask:  What did the author mean to say to his original readers? -- and then, How is that significant for me today?

Sam and I didn't worship at church today.  We were about to leave but I started feeling so nauseous from the vicodin I've been taking for my wisdom teeth extraction that we ended up staying home.  We held worship service in our home - worship on the guitar, followed by a good hermeneutical study of the book of Haggai.  In context.

This reminded me that it wasn't too long ago that we were doing Bible study poorly.  Didn't we have everyone sit in a circle and say what they think the passage means and approve everyone's interpretation as valid?  Ugh, that was bad.

Mary Ann:  Man, this means I've been leading Bible studies poorly for the last ten years.  How come nobody told me?
Sam:  Because Navigators don't go to seminary.
Mary Ann:  OH.  Tru dat.

I can't wait to lead Bible studies better than I've ever done before. 

Last weekend, Sam and I spent most of our time finishing up our Bethel application.  Everything else had already been long ago submitted, but it was the personal statement that was the hardest part. 

Here is a portion of what I finally submitted:

Describe yourunderstanding of the task of ministry, previous ministry experiences, and yourown sense of call.
         About ayear after I became a Christian, as I was driving one of the youth home afterfellowship, I shared with her that I could see myself doing this (encouraging,exhorting and teaching other believers) for the rest of my life.  It was in expressing the words out loud thatthe already growing sense of calling began to be affirmed in me.  The following day as I thought about thiscalling, I began to realize that while I had ‘surrendered my life’ to Jesus, Ihad not given Him Lordship over everyarea of my life.  The question of myfuture career still belonged to me in my mind, and He was asking very simply ifI would give Him all of me, all of my life and plans to do as He would wish.  After much wrestling, I relinquished mypersonal ambitions for His eternal ones. Although I knew the road would not be without its trials, the Lord gaveme James 1:12 that day as His promise and encouragement to me for this journey.
            In subsequent years, the Lordtook me a step further by challenging me with Isaiah’s unforgettable,enthusiastic and voluntary surrender to be a messenger (Is 6:8).  Would I too be willing to go anywhere for God– even to the ends of the earth to bring His good news?  It was not an easy question for God to beasking a comfortable suburbanite like myself, but how do I say no to the LivingGod who called me from the ends of the earth?
            After Igraduated college, I went on staff with the Navigators part-time and discipledcollege students.  Being involved inthose lives affirmed God’s teaching and shepherding gifts to me.  During that time, I took the Perspectives onthe World Christian Movement course, which further confirmed the urgency totake God’s Word to places where people have no chance of hearing the name ofJesus.
            Soon after,I sensed God calling me to take actual steps in the direction of missions.  An opportunity arose to become a coordinatorof the summer missions program for a missions agency located in the bay area.  I took the position and was able tocoordinate, lead and participate in three trips to East Asia.
            From allthese ministry experiences that God has brought me through, I have come tounderstand two essentials for the task of ministry.  The first one is reproducibility.  This principle is best explained in DawsonTrotman’s booklet “Born to Reproduce.”  ....  I am discipling futuredisciplers, not simply ‘disciples’.  Ratherthan teach someone solely how to be a disciple, I need to equip them also to bea disciple-maker.  This is the only waywe will reach the entire world for Christ. The second essential has to do with impact.  I need to be impacted by something in orderto impart it to others in a way that will impact them for life-change.  Only if they are impacted will they impart itto others.  In other words, I need to beimpacted by the power of the Gospel to change my life, to set me free from thebondage of sin, to help me in the daily challenges of ordinary living if I wantto impart this reality to the prisoners of darkness in a way that will impactthem.

This weekend, we received our letters from Bethel.  Sam got one just like mine.

"August 2, 2007

Dear Mary Ann,
It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been admitted into the Master of Divinity degree program at Bethel Seminary...."

And so... a new journey begins!