Can an elder be divorced?

Bill Mounce looks at 1 Timothy 3:2 and the Greek behind it:

Paul urges Timothy to insist that an elder is above approach. What this means is laid out in the following verses, and one of the requirements is that he is “a man of one woman,” or, “a husband of one wife,” mias gunaikos andra. What does this mean?

Read more at Can an elder be divorced?.

Book Review: Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek

Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek
by Constantine R. Campbell.
Zondervan, 159 pages.
ISBN 031029083X

Verbal aspect is one of the more difficult concepts of Biblical Greek to grasp. It is only fairly recently in the history of Biblical Greek studies that this area has been given intensive analysis. Still, it remains elusive even for seasoned scholars and commentators.

To meet this challenge, Constantine R. Campbell has put together this short but thorough text.

The book is divided into two sections. The first section, comprising 1/3 of the book, is titled “Verbal Aspect Theory.” Here Campbell presents a history of the development of grammatical analysis of verbal aspect in Greek, along with a basic overview the subject. The focus is on answering the question of “so what” – why study verbal aspect? And the question is answered effectively, as verbal aspect presents the Greek scholar, New Testament commentator, and pastor with one of the most challenging (and potentially dangerous) aspects (pun intended) of interpreting the Biblical text.

The second section, “Verbal Aspect and New Testament Text,” comprises the bulk of the book. The author presents various scenarios and shows how the combination of various elements of grammar and context combine to determine the meaning of a verb. This part of the book will be most useful for the student not only while studying verbal aspect, but also for future reference. Various combinations are shown and explained from the New Testament text, and exercises are presented to ensure that the reader grasps the concepts.

As a newer student of Greek, I have not delved very deeply into verbal aspect in my own studies as yet. But this volume will make a useful addition alongside Zondervan’s other Greek resources, from basic texts like Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek Grammer to intermediate references like Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. It explains enough to be useful for the advanced beginner, and is thorough enoug has a reference for the seasoned exegete.

Full disclosure: I received a review copy of this book gratis from Zondervan.

Studying with My Daughter

Last night, McKaylyn was practicing handwriting while I worked on the workbook exercises for my study of Greek. I just thought I’d share this little snippet of conversation…

Me: ??? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ?? ???????? ????. Do you know what that means?

Her: Nope.

Me: It means, “I baptized you by water, but He will baptize you by the Holy Spirit.”

Her: That’s John talking.

Me: Which John? John the Apostle?

Her: No, John the Baptist.

Me: Very good! Who was he talking about?

Her: Jesus.

I sure do love my little girl!