The Primary Purpose of Instruction in Greek

"First, I began to see that the primary purpose of instruction in Greek is service to Christ's body, the church. Training in New Testament Greek may be an exceedingly important part of the seminary curriculum, but it is primarily a servant’s heart—a love for God and for God’s people—that makes this activity worthwhile. I have found time and again that, whatever this heart of dedication to Christ and his people exists, preaching and other applications of Greek (and

Hebrew) flow naturally. An old Scottish proverb puts it beautifully: ‘Greek, Hebrew, and Latin all have their proper place. But it is not at the head of the cross, where Pilate put them, but at the foot of the cross, in humble service to Christ.’ Put less imaginatively, the success of a seminary education is to be measured, not in terms of how much grammar and theology we have managed to cram into the heads of our students, but in terms of whether we have produced mature human beings who are dedicated to serving God and others to the very best of their ability.”

David Alan Black, Using New Testament Greek in Ministry: A Practical Guide for Students and Pastors (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 21-22.