The Greek New Testament

A reader from Australia writes:

I am studying Latin and am interested in studying Greek also. I though you would be the one to ask for a recommendation of a good, Catholic Greek Bible. Are there any differences (e.g. Catholic/non-Catholic) in the many Greek editions of Scripture? Also, I think I remember you recommending the book on Biblical Greek by William Mounce. Is that right? Have you any other recommendations for a beginner?

The differences between Catholic and Protestant Bibles in the original languages are essentially confined to the Old Testament. There is not a dispute over the Greek text of the New Testament between the two groups. Both Catholic scholars and Protestant scholars (which is to say, leaving aside Catholic Douay-Rheims Onlyists and Protestant King James Onlyists) face the same set of options in determining the best readings for particular passages, and the discussion is not polarized along confessional lines.

For your purposes–learning to read in the Greek New Testament–more or less any edition will do. I wouldn’t even turn you away from one of the Textus Receptus editions for basic learning to read purposes (though these editions are not as accurate as contemporary ones done after the advent of New Testament textual scholarship). The standard version that most scholars, Catholic and Protestant, work from is the United Bible Societies/Nestle-Aland text.

Here is an inexpensive, leather-bound edition put out by the American Bible Society.

As far as textbooks to learn from, yes, I recommend Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek. It is the best text currently on the market, bar none. (At least until I get around to finishing mine, which is going to be some time, especially with Secret Project #1 filling up my schedule in the interim.) You also need the workbook that goes with it. If you want to get Mounce’s own lectures on tape or CD to self-study with, you can order them from his website.

Two dictionaries that I recommend are:

  • I also recommend Mounce’s Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, which is an excellent dictionary that parses each word found in the New Testament to help you figure out troublesome word forms.
  • And I highly recommend A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament by George Abbott-Smith, which is an excellent older dictionary that gives references to word usage in extra-NT sources and tries to supply the Hebrew equivalent of NT Greek terms.

For those not ready to take the plunge into learning Greek, but who would like to get a little exposure to it (enough to use Greek NT-related study tools, such as the dictionaries I just recommended), I recommend Mounce’s Greek for the Rest of Us.

Hope these do for now. I’m working on a permalink page for this site in which I’ll give a bunch more language resource recommendations. I also have a couple of articles on the subject coming out in the July-August and September issues of This Rock.

Good luck in your studies! New Testament Greek is an easy and rewarding language to learn!

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

11 thoughts on “The Greek New Testament”

  1. David Kernell, the 20-year-old son of Democratic Representative Mike Kernell of Tennessee, got busted. According to CNN “Democratic lawmaker’s son indicted in Palin hacking”, David reset the password and gained access to GOP vice presidential candidate Palin’s personal e-mail account. Supposedly, David read the content, took a screenshot of Palin’s directory, and also attained other private data. Some of the personal information that may have been accessed from Palin’s address book includes e-mail addresses, family photos, family cell phone numbers, family birthdates and more. However, despite turning himself in, David Kernell pleaded not guilty. David pled not guilty even though he had allegedly hacked Palin’s account and posted the content onto a public web site. David also posted the new password he created for Palin’s account onto the public site, which would allow others easy access to Palin’s e-mails as well. Consequently, David Kernell could face up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. At the maximum of $1,500 per loan, David’s bail would require approximately 167 individual payday loans.
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  2. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who is currently a Vice Presidential Candidate, has been getting more negative responses from the mainstream media than she has in praises. For example, last weekend she made her late-night entertainment debut on NBC’s well-liked pop culture mainstay, Saturday Night Live. Instead of praising her for being the good sport she was, she was criticized by the press for her appearance. For several weeks now, jabs left and right have been taken at Palin, attempting to knock her out on everything. They question her performance as Governor of Alaska and her possible position as the Vice President of the United States. They had even extensively utilized the story of her seventeen-year old daughter who got pregnant out of wedlock to spread a horrendous tale to further condemn the VP candidate. Some in the media, including moderate experts, have stooped so low as to insinuate that our country will fall if something should happen to Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain, forcing Palin to take over the office of Presidency. These attacks are low-blows packed with half-truth or outright lies. Conversely, a large number of people admire Palin for her hard work and efforts that brought better things to her home state of Alaska. Many come to her defense, pointing to her unwavering support for the disabled, her work in the interest of children and people with special needs. People have put their faith in Sarah Palin, considering her support for personal responsibility and financial freedom. Much of this includes her fight against the destruction of cash advances, which is a legitimate and invaluable resource that many responsible, hard-working citizens have come to rely on in times of unexpected financial situations.
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  3. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who is currently a Vice Presidential Candidate, has been getting more negative responses from the mainstream media than she has in praises. For example, last weekend she made her late-night entertainment debut on NBC’s well-liked pop culture mainstay, Saturday Night Live. Instead of praising her for being the good sport she was, she was criticized by the press for her appearance. For several weeks now, jabs left and right have been taken at Palin, attempting to knock her out on everything. They question her performance as Governor of Alaska and her possible position as the Vice President of the United States. They had even extensively utilized the story of her seventeen-year old daughter who got pregnant out of wedlock to spread a horrendous tale to further condemn the VP candidate. Some in the media, including moderate experts, have stooped so low as to insinuate that our country will fall if something should happen to Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain, forcing Palin to take over the office of Presidency. These attacks are low-blows packed with half-truth or outright lies. Conversely, a large number of people admire Palin for her hard work and efforts that brought better things to her home state of Alaska. Many come to her defense, pointing to her unwavering support for the disabled, her work in the interest of children and people with special needs. People have put their faith in Sarah Palin, considering her support for personal responsibility and financial freedom. Much of this includes her fight against the destruction of cash advances, which is a legitimate and invaluable resource that many responsible, hard-working citizens have come to rely on in times of unexpected financial situations.
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  4. I think, we must pray to God about our living here in this world. US is having financial crisis. And because of this, whole world’s economy fell down. Is America better off in 2008 than in 1932? It depends who you ask. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president, and took over during a time when the economy was nose diving into a recession. FDR introduced his “New Deal,” which drastically changed the government’s approach towards the U.S. economy. The government’s new role in the economy was much more involved than it had been previous to FDR. Roosevelt’s “deal” revitalized the economy in the short run, but some argue the negative repercussions can still be felt today. In this Wall Street Journal article, Paul Rubin writes that although the present U.S. economy is not identical to the economy of 1932, there are many parallels: the stock market is faltering, credit markets are locking down, and a popular Democratic presidential candidate – Barack Obama – is advocating for increased government regulations in the economy. If Obama becomes president and the Senate is controlled by democrats, our country will face the most liberal agenda in its history. Free market economists are concerned with Obama’s “hands-on” policies and fear they steer the American economy off-course in the long run. Proponents of capitalism will disagree that we’re better off today than in 1932. On the contrary, they would most likely tell you that America is in for more of the same – a “New, New Deal.”
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  5. Beginners might want to check out my new site: http://www.biblicalgreekaudio.com. You can read the Greek and listen to a sound file at the same time. I have it broken into short sound bites, so you don’t get lost. I started doing this for my own use, but realized it was too much work to do for myself alone, so hope to share it with lots of others.

  6. Beginners might want to check out my new site: http://www.biblicalgreekaudio.com. You can read the Greek and listen to a sound file at the same time. I have it broken into short sound bites, so you don’t get lost. I started doing this for my own use, but realized it was too much work to do for myself alone, so hope to share it with lots of others.

  7. Beginners might want to check out my new site: http://www.biblicalgreekaudio.com. You can read the Greek and listen to a sound file at the same time. I have it broken into short sound bites, so you don’t get lost. I started doing this for my own use, but realized it was too much work to do for myself alone, so hope to share it with lots of others.

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