Article November 23, 1998 Issue

It's Greek to me

How I plumb the riches of the Scriptures

By Douglas N. Keith

Although the original language of the New Testament is, in fact, Greek, that's probably not what people are referring to when, in the midst of reading the Scriptures, they throw up their hands and utter "It's Greek to me." More likely, they've run into a verse or chapter that seems confusing, even self-contradictory.

Why would it be that the Bible, a book people have turned to for help and healing for centuries now, can seem so obscure at times? Mary Baker Eddy, a lifelong student of the Bible, might respond that it's not the Bible so much as one's reading of it that obscures its deeper meaning. In her Miscellaneous Writings she points out how important it is to approach the Bible from a spiritual perspective. She explains: "The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them nothing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and peace and hope for all" (p. 169).

"Health and peace and hope for all"—how do we begin to see this promise fulfilled? In addition to my study of Science and Health, including its Glossary of spiritual meanings of Biblical terms, one thing that has been helpful to me is to dig into the original language of the Scriptures—Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New. A useful reference book in this regard is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. It includes Hebrew and Greek dictionaries that provide original meanings and derivations of the words in the King James Version. Through the use of such dictionaries, we can discover important shades of meaning that are sometimes not readily apparent in the English translation.

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