IDLEWILD CHURCH ACTIVITIES

 ADVICE ON SELF HELP WITH NEW TESTAMENT GREEK

The main thing is “erkesthe” = "keep going" (pres. impv. 2 pl.); take advantage of your momentum, set aside an hour per week andcontinue building on what you have learned.

Specific next steps: . .

1. Make continued use of Dobsobn's book for a while, if only onselected lessons or as a ready reference on particular problems:(a) study.ãt least lessons,.14-17, doing the translations in16.6 and 17.5, then lessons 19-21, and 29-31, when you can.(b) use Dobson 's; handy summaries, e g., pp 216-23, 285-98, aswell as the index, page 299 ff.

 2. Making use of a Greek New Testament and a good lexic0n (see Dobson's recommendations at pages 273-74) try the following readings:

(a) 1 John 2: 7~17 .

(b) 1 John 3:11-18

(c) 1 John 4: 7-11 (and other parts as you see fit).

(d) Gospel of John3:1-1i (familiarity with this story mighthelp you, but don't let it keep you from looking up the words that are new to you).

(e) John 6: 25 - 40 .

(f) John 15:1-10.

(g) selections from Matt. 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount)

(h) Luke 10: 25-37

(i) Paul to Philemon

(j) i Corinthians 12:27--13:13.

3. Along with the lexicon you might use a good concordance, suchas Clintofi Morrison's Analytical Concordance to the RevisedStandard Version, giving an alphabetical listing of English wordswith the Greek terms which they translate. This often helps you tosee the main options you have in making your translation.

4. Consult commentaries to see what other (!) scholars say abouta given Greek term or passage, perhaps to confirm your own opinionor correct it. Church libraries (or often our Public Library) willhave a variety of commentaries; sample some to see whether they deal with the Greek, and not merely with the translation. One of rthe more scholarly sets is The Anchor Bible, covering books of both the old and New Testaments.

 5. Keep me posted on your progress or problems.

MPB

Forms with Tenses: THE 2nd AORIST. In the preceding Table of Tense Identifiers the terms 1st Aorist and 2nd Aorist are used. These are not different tenses. Rather, they are alternate ways of forming the Aorist Tense. And only observation can determine which one of these two forms a given verb will take. Some verbs formthe Aorist by the addition of a prefix and a suffix-these formsbeing called 1st Aorist. There are other verbs which form theAorist by the prefix and a modification of the stem-theseforms being called 2nd Aorist. This is comparable to what happens in the English language. Many verbs form their pasttense by adding H -ed" to the present, for example, "kill,""kiled." But there are others which do it by an internalchange, for example, "see," "saw." The 2nd Aorist formsused in the Reader can be .found either in the Bauerl lexiconor in the List of Identified Verb Forms.

COMPOUND VERBS. Often a verb will be encountered inthe Reader which seems to have one of the Greek prepositionsas the initial part of its verb stem. This Compound Verbwould require no special mention were it not that the regularprefixes which indicate tense differences are placed between this preposition and the remaining part of the verb stem. This means the student must recognize the Greek prepositions if he would readily identify tense forms for compound verbs. On page 50 and following, all prepositions used in this course are discussed (except ává which occurs in the Reader only in compound verbs). However, the only ones used in compound verbs for the beginning sections of the Reader are: êró, Eis, ÈK,TIPÓS, and oiv. Careful note should also be made of possiblespelling changes for prepositions.

VERB IDENTIFICATION. The basic problem for the beginner when he encounters an unknown verb is how to find 1t in the lexicon-how to move from the form of the verb hei Here as elsewhere in this grammar, we refer to the Bauer lexicon as translated and edited by Wiliam F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich.

       DELPHI: The Theatre, The oracle of Apollo, and the gorge filled with olive trees, and running down to the Gulf of Corinth