Quote:
Originally Posted by A_PoMo
Shouldn't use Strong's unless you know the Greek? Really?
I'm sorry this has been so difficult for you.
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Personally I think you should know something about the greek.
I already gave this example but the word ONE in greek has masc, fem and neut genders...not only that words in greek also have case and number. All of these can affect the meaning or use of the word.
In the case of the number 1 I remember hearing Oneness preachers going to
John 10:30 and declaring the greek word there is Heis and Heis means one in number only...because Strongs says so
Well I discovered that actually Strongs does not give a separate definition for Hen and Mia....what he does is give Heis and then lumps the other two under it but does not get into their definitions or how they can or are used. It can be very confusing but the greek word in
John 10:30 is NOT Heis but Hen.
There are other tools to use besides Strongs and I would suggest everyone check them out. You won't have to shell out 400 for an expensive program or lexicon either.
Another old greek dictionary/lexicon is Joseph Thayers...his was actually a lexicon but they have a free dictionary version on the net you can use. Then you can look up words in something like International Standard Bible Encyclopedia which will also give the greek and hebrew and then there is Vines. Vines elaborates on where Strongs does not. Also neither one will help with pronouns and conjunctions and verbs like "is" or articles like "the"
I use Esword and for it I have all free stuff except for a paid version of the NETbible which comes with commentary and Zodhaites Greek Lexicon which is not the best but better than just using Strongs. I never paid more than 20 for either.
I have strongs, thayers, vines. I also have on it Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, which you will find a lot of others refer to.
http://books.google.com/books?id=V94...mbnail#PPP1,M1
I also have a NT greek concordance of actual greek words, not english. SO I can look at a specific word, not merely a grouping, and see where else it is used in the NT and see HOW it is used.
Here knowing a little greek or at least cheating by looking at the endings to see what the case is can help in comparisons.
For example the word LOGOS in greek is Word, thought, Idea, faculty of reasoning. Pros in greek is with but can also mean pertaining to.
Pros in
Jn 1 is in the accusative I believe. Well in other examples like that it has been translated pertaining too. If you can look at the greek you can compare it to the lexicon of the accusative form and see other verses where it is also in the accusative. So some OPs have claimed in
Jn 1 it should be "THe Logos was pertaining to God", rather than the Trinitarian favorite "The Logos was WITH God"..
In another case I have personally highlighted a pharisee is seen praying withIN himself (Pros) and is in the same form. And even if translated with, you still have one person not two. Pros then does not necessarily connect two persons together.
All this though is probably not necessary for personal devotion unless you are a very highly intellectual type person...not trying to put them down or those that are not that intellectual.
For me though I had to study this stuff for apologetics. In fact I am still thinking of taking extended greek classes. I don't want to spend a lot of money though since having a degree in greek isn't going to do me much lol