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The Peril of Pastors without the
Biblical Languages
Dennis E. Johnson, Ph.D.
First published in Presbyterian Journal, September 1986
The bottom line of Richard Watson's
Journal article, "Secularists Did Not Steal the Colleges"
(June 18), seems to be that to avoid imitating the 19th‑century
spiritual demise of American colleges, seminaries today should
seriously consider reducing requirements in Hebrew (but not
Greek?) and expanding those in practical subjects such as human
relations, personnel management, communication, and evangelism.
Granted, Dr. Watson gives us a choice about Hebrew: make it
useful or eliminate it entirely. (And I heartily concur.) But in
the paragraphs following this statement of options, the language
of "dropping" and "eliminating" courses is repeated; plainly
this is an alternative which the author wants us to take
seriously.
I would suggest that Hebrew and Greek are
practical subjects for pastors; and that, of all times in
the life of the church, this is one time when the church needs
pastors who can study God's Word in the languages in which he
gave it. I also believe that, with some creativity, we need not
find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of making
trade‑offs between exegesis in the original languages and the
other practical disciplines.
Why Hebrew is Practical
Here are some of the reasons that I believe
– on the basis of my years in the pastorate (in which, I
confess, I used both Hebrew and Greek), my knowledge of other
pastors, and my observations of the church – that Hebrew and
Greek are both practical and necessary for the pastor:
1.
The abundance of English translations of the Bible
available to our churches may appear to make knowledge of the
original languages less necessary. Actually, they make it more
essential. I have participated in home Bible studies in which we
had around the circle the Living Bible, the New American
Standard Bible, the King James Version, the New International
Version, the Revised Standard Versions, and others. At many
points, naturally we had different wording; and at certain
points our versions came up with significant variations in
meaning! What do we do? Vote? Happily, we had somebody there who
could look at the original, suggest why the versions diverged,
and tell the rest why one translation was more accurate than the
other. God's people need the confidence that their own shepherds
can guide them through the labyrinth of modem translations.
2.
Perhaps even more important is the need for pastors to be
able to respond to the bogus appeals to "the original" by false
teachers. I am thinking here not only of the pitch of the
Jehovah's Witness on your doorstep, but also of the illegitimate
use of "word‑studies," etymologies, and other linguistic
delicacies by some "media" preachers or by university religion
professors under whom our young people may study. It's OK for a
pastor to send his puzzled parishioner to the books of
evangelical and Reformed scholars, but how much better when
the pastor himself can show the Watchtower
arguments run shipwreck on Greek grammar!
3.
Related to the last point is the reality that the issue
of hermeneutics – questions of how to interpret the Bible –
stand right at the center of the struggles in the church today
over the authority of Scripture. Hermeneutical differences are
not just scholarly squabbles; they bear on such practical issues
as the ordination of women to church office. These issues of
interpretation go far beyond parsing verbs and analyzing syntax,
of course; but pastors will need a solid command of the basics
if they are to pilot their congregations, as well as
presbyteries and assemblies, through the confusion.
4.
An appealing suggestion is that pastors leave thorough
study of the Scriptures to scholars who write and teach in
colleges and theological seminaries. My own conviction is that
such a "division of labor" will, in the long run, be unhealthy
for the church. Far be it from me to suggest that we distrust
seminaries which are committed to Scripture's authority and to
Reformed theology! But if there were to be a generation or more
of pastors who have not been equipped to study the Scriptures as
God breathed them, various trends might develop. The churches
could find themselves unable to respond in an informed way to
theological trends in the seminaries that educate future
pastors. The seminaries could succumb to the temptation to
separate exegesis from application, rather than learning to
integrate the two through a dynamic interaction with pastors who
study in order to preach and counsel. The churches of the
Reformation, convinced that "all the people of God ... have
right unto, and interest in the Scriptures" (Westminster
Confession, 1, viii), will do well to keep the best resources
for Biblical study in close proximity to the people of God.
5.
A thorough grounding in the languages of Scriptures lays
the foundation for continuing freshness in the pastor's lifelong
ministry of preaching and teaching. One of our recent graduates,
a PCA pastor, has told me that the congregation – even the
children – can tell the difference between his “Tyndale
Commentary" sermons (a.k.a. "Saturday night specials") and those
on which he has done his homework. The difference shows not in
his slipping tidbits of Greek or Hebrew trivia into the message;
it's a matter of conviction! Having wrestled with the text for
himself, he knows what God says in that text, not because
Commentators X, Y, and Z have told him so, but because he's seen
it there in the Word. He can benefit from the work of the
scholars without becoming dependent on them. And there's a
freshness about his preaching that derives from his direct
contact with the Word.
6.
Hebrew and Greek, applied in the study and preaching of
the Word, may well be more practical 20 years down the road than
today's seminary course in personnel management. I am firmly
convinced that seminaries need to train students in the skills
of ministry: I am glad that the M.Div. curriculum in which I
teach is more heavily weighted in that direction than the
curriculum which I studied 16 years ago. But I am also very much
aware that trends in church and culture – issues, methods and
techniques, problems – over the lifetime of my students may well
make some of the "nuts‑and‑bolts" aspects of our practical
courses at least semi-obsolete. What will my students do then?
Cling doggedly to the techniques we taught them? I hope not! But
when they interact with new situations and adopt new methods, my
hope is that they will do so with a Biblical discernment – and
that's where their continuing interaction with the Word in the
original languages should play a very practical part.
So What's the Problem? If Hebrew is so wonderfully practical, how
can it be that Dr. Watson's small survey turned up not a single
pastor who is still using Hebrew in the study of Scripture?
Although I can cite exceptions to that rule, it is no doubt true
that fewer seminary grads use the languages than we Old
Testament and New Testament teachers would hope. Why is this? I
suspect that there are several reasons:
1. Have we made our case with our students?
Perhaps they haven't “caught" from us – at least not often
enough – the thrill of exploring the Word as God gave it, the
joy of discovering the connection between an Old Testament and a
New Testament passage, a connection which may be disguised by a
dynamic‑equivalence translation but stands out clearly in the
original languages; or of seeing one line of Hebrew poetry
amplify the meaning of another in the Psalms; or of experiencing
the crescendo of Paul's thought in an extended Greek sentence
that holds beautifully together to display the wonder of God's
grace – even though no English translation can do it justice.
2. Perhaps we haven't given Dr. Watson's
other alternative its best shot: Let's teach the languages
differently, usefully. Students need to see in the example of
their seminary teachers – and their pastors – that movement from
the original text of Scripture to the proclamation of that text
to the church and the world. They need to be encouraged to
consciously direct their study of the Hebrew and Greek
Scriptures toward the goal of application and ministry.
By integrating Biblical studies with the
practical theology curriculum – encouraging students to preach
in homiletics courses the texts they are exegeting in an Old
Testament course, for example – one school that I know has found
it possible to develop both of the practical skills at
once (and to have M.Div. students preach nine sermons, with
evaluation, in addition to those connected field education and
internship requirements). It's challenging for students and
teachers, but redoubling our efforts at creative integration
will serve the church well.
3. Have we given help to our graduates?
Could we do more to help them make the transition in to ministry
so that disciplines of study in general are not
sacrificed to the tyranny of the urgent? Have we equipped them
with the very practical skill of time management so that they
will not become frenzied slaves of other's agendas, but will
rather be able to give themselves to the priorities to which God
calls them – “prayer and the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4)?
Could we do more to help them continue to
taste the joy of discovery in their own study of Scriptures?
Could we help them maintain and even increase their facility in
the use of the languages in ministry?
4. Have we caught the vision – and are we
communicating the vision – of that integration of theology and
life, of thoughtful reflection and committed action, which is
essential to Biblical leadership? Limited in time and energy,
easily thrown off‑balance by our surroundings – either by
accommodation or by reaction – we (teachers, students, and
pastors, all Christians) may feel these two to be in constant
tension.
But a beautiful blending of theology and
life is not only a mark of effective leadership but also a goal
of that world‑and‑life view which has come to us from the
Reformation. In that perspective, now is not the time to drop a
down‑to‑earth, practical subject like Hebrew.
©2007
Westminster Seminary California All rights reserved
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