Finding the right definition of a word in the Greek

I have made notes on four verses in 1 Corinthians 1, not spending much time in doing so, and I may have written down some inaccurate interpretations of some or all of those verses. This is because I don't know the right definition to choose in the Strong's concordance. Based on some previous knowledge of mine, or just by guessing, I chose the definitions that made the most sense, and tried to phrase my notes reflecting my interpretation. The definition is often just one or two words in English. In the case of the words I chose "ambassador of the gospel" I did not get that from the concordance, I don't think, but simply wrote them down because I heard them used with respect to this passage before.

These are my notes so far, two of which I posted in another thread already, (which may have been corrected by others,)) I will just leave out the Bible verses themselves as I don't really feel like typing so much.

Notes on 1 Corinthians 1:1-4

1:1 The letter is from Paul and Sosthenes. God chose Paul to be an ambassador of the gospel, one belonging to Jesus Christ.

1:2 The letter is to the church of God at Corinth. The people in that church, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere, were made holy in the body of Christ and were invited to be saints. Christ is the Lord of all who call on His name everywhere, and the Lord of all in the church at Corinth, and the Lord of Paul, and of Sosthenes.

1:3 In this verse, Paul expressed his desire or prayer (I don't know which) that his intended audience would receive kindness and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:4 In this verse, Paul said that he always thanked his God, (the God whose Son is Jesus Christ, who is also God), because of those to whom he was writing, because of the loving-kindness of God given to them by means of Jesus Christ.

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Please help me to understand how to choose the right Greek word definitions for words, so that I can study the Bible and interpret it with accuracy. Thank you.

No one responded. Does that mean that people here think I blasphemed the Holy Spirit?

Guido said:

No one responded. Does that mean that people here think I blasphemed the Holy Spirit?

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No of course not. Get the Englishmans Greek/English Concordance . You can look at all the instances how the King James Version translated a Greek word. Has strong numbers as well.

Guido said:

No one responded. Does that mean that people here think I blasphemed the Holy Spirit?

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No, Guido. You have not blasphemed at all. Please do not worry.

Could you give an example from Strongs where choosing a definition doesn't make sense to you?

Strong’s Concordance lists the ways a Greek word is used in the KJV.

Strong’s doesn’t work well with other Bible versions because it lists how the translators of the KJV render the Greek word. Other versions may translate the same Greek word differently.

Strong’s IS.NOT a lexicon. A LEXICON is a dictionary of a language listing a word’s various meanings.

Strong’s is used incorrectly if one picks from the passages a meaning they think fits better.

Unless you plan to spend some significant time studying a biblical language, rely on the experts that translated your version and don’t worry too much about how a word might be translated in the original language.

Look for big picture applications of a text rather than small nuggets of mostly useless information.

Rob

Okay. Thank you all for the advice.

Scarlett O. said:

No, Guido. You have not blasphemed at all. Please do not worry.

Could you give an example from Strongs where choosing a definition doesn't make sense to you?

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I thought the phrase "on [someone's] behalf" meant "in [their] place", or "as [their] representative" but I did not find those definitions in the concordance at all. Instead, I found numerous definitions which don't even make sense with the sentence, except for, "because of". So that is the definition I chose. That is not the only example; there are better ones.

Guido said:

I have made notes on four verses in 1 Corinthians 1, not spending much time in doing so, and I may have written down some inaccurate interpretations of some or all of those verses. This is because I don't know the right definition to choose in the Strong's concordance. Based on some previous knowledge of mine, or just by guessing, I chose the definitions that made the most sense, and tried to phrase my notes reflecting my interpretation. The definition is often just one or two words in English. In the case of the words I chose "ambassador of the gospel" I did not get that from the concordance, I don't think, but simply wrote them down because I heard them used with respect to this passage before.

These are my notes so far, two of which I posted in another thread already, (which may have been corrected by others,)) I will just leave out the Bible verses themselves as I don't really feel like typing so much.



Please help me to understand how to choose the right Greek word definitions for words, so that I can study the Bible and interpret it with accuracy. Thank you.

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Download e-sword for free at: e-Sword: Free Bible Study for the PC. It has good (though quite old) lexicons, easily accessible, for the Hebrew OT (BDB lexicon) and the Greek NT (Thayer's). Look at the passage for the context, then choose the meaning in the lexicon that best fits the meaning in the context of the passage.

Do not depend on Strong's. It only gives glosses (1 or 2 word equivalents), not proper definitions.

I always train my Greek 101 students to yell out "CONTEXT" when I pause for effect and put my hand by my ear. The correct meaning must depend on the context.

John of Japan said:

I always train my Greek 101 to yell out "CONTEXT" when I pause for effect and put my hand by my ear. The correct meaning must depend on the context.

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@Guido. This is the best advice you will hear on this board.
The English word 'will' can mean the future tense, a document bequeathing one's worldly goods or one's desire or determination to do something.
When we see the word in a sentence we always know which one of these is meant. How? Context!

John of Japan said:

Download e-sword for free at: e-Sword: Free Bible Study for the PC. It has good (though quite old) lexicons, easily accessible, for the Hebrew OT (BDB lexicon) and the Greek NT (Thayer's). Look at the passage for the context, then choose the meaning in the lexicon that best fits the meaning in the context of the passage.

Do not depend on Strong's. It only gives glosses (1 or 2 word equivalents), not proper definitions.

I always train my Greek 101 students to yell out "CONTEXT" when I pause for effect and put my hand by my ear. The correct meaning must depend on the context.

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That is why translation would be so tedious a work, as iys much more involved then just looking up the Greek word used and just find a comparable English word to match

Martin Marprelate said:

@Guido. This is the best advice you will hear on this board.
The English word 'will' can mean the future tense, a document bequeathing one's worldly goods or one's desire or determination to do something.
When we see the word in a sentence we always know which one of these is meant. How? Context!

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Works great for translations also, as must look at context and genre involved

JesusFan said:

That is why translation would be so tedious a work, as iys much more involved then just looking up the Greek word used and just find a comparable English word to match

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I love doing it, and never think of it as tedious. It does take time and thought, though. And it is a gift of God, so that not anyone can do it. Wannabes are not welcome.

In one of his early books, Eugene Nida told the story of a man who wrote the United Bible Society and said, "If you would just send me a dictionary and grammar book of one of those unreached tribes, I would like to translate the Bible for them!" If only it were that easy!

I once had an American guy call me in Japan to offer his help in our Lifeline Japanese Bible translation effort. I asked if he knew Japanese. Nope. I asked if he knew Greek. Nope. Well, then, could he support the work financially? If so, please send the funds to my mission boards. Nope. He believed all funds must go through a local church. Just another wannabe.

Guido said:

Okay. Thank you all for the advice.

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What @Deacon says about Strong's Concordance is true. And he is right about lexicons. Just remember inside Strong's is Thayer's lexicon. That's what I use when I use Strong's.

Guido said:

I have made notes on four verses in 1 Corinthians 1, not spending much time in doing so, and I may have written down some inaccurate interpretations of some or all of those verses. This is because I don't know the right definition to choose in the Strong's concordance. Based on some previous knowledge of mine, or just by guessing, I chose the definitions that made the most sense, and tried to phrase my notes reflecting my interpretation. The definition is often just one or two words in English. In the case of the words I chose "ambassador of the gospel" I did not get that from the concordance, I don't think, but simply wrote them down because I heard them used with respect to this passage before.

These are my notes so far, two of which I posted in another thread already, (which may have been corrected by others,)) I will just leave out the Bible verses themselves as I don't really feel like typing so much.



Please help me to understand how to choose the right Greek word definitions for words, so that I can study the Bible and interpret it with accuracy. Thank you.

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In addition to looking into the Greek words used, try applying in your life the insights you already have from your notes.

QUOTE

Notes on 1 Corinthians 1:1-4

1:1 The letter is from Paul and Sosthenes. God chose Paul to be an ambassador of the gospel, one belonging to Jesus Christ.

1:2 The letter is to the church of God at Corinth. The people in that church, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere, were made holy in the body of Christ and were invited to be saints. Christ is the Lord of all who call on His name everywhere, and the Lord of all in the church at Corinth, and the Lord of Paul, and of Sosthenes.

1:3 In this verse, Paul expressed his desire or prayer (I don't know which) that his intended audience would receive kindness and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:4 In this verse, Paul said that he always thanked his God, (the God whose Son is Jesus Christ, who is also God), because of those to whom he was writing, because of the loving-kindness of God given to them by means of Jesus Christ.

END QUOTE

For example:

* realize that all believers in Jesus are our family, no matter where they live or what church they attend
* following Paul’s example, pray that God will give kindness and peace to our loved ones, and especially to believers in heavy persecution zones like Nigeria, Somalia, Mali, Niger, Iran, China, North Korea
* be aware that every person you see is someone that God can give lovingkindness to because Jesus died for them— and if they receive Him as Lord, they can escape hell as their eternal destination, and live in heaven forever

John of Japan said:

I love doing it, and never think of it as tedious. It does take time and thought, though. And it is a gift of God, so that not anyone can do it. Wannabes are not welcome.

In one of his early books, Eugene Nida told the story of a man who wrote the United Bible Society and said, "If you would just send me a dictionary and grammar book of one of those unreached tribes, I would like to translate the Bible for them!" If only it were that easy!

I once had an American guy call me in Japan to offer his help in our Lifeline Japanese Bible translation effort. I asked if he knew Japanese. Nope. I asked if he knew Greek. Nope. Well, then, could he support the work financially? If so, please send the funds to my mission boards. Nope. He believed all funds must go through a local church. Just another wannabe.

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Well, early on in the Pentecostal Movement , there were times when they looked upon the gift of tongues as a way to evangelize to other people without even needing to learn their language, as the Spirit Himself would give them that needed tongue, so maybe they applied that towards translation also?

JesusFan said:

Well, early on in the Pentecostal Movement , there were times when they looked upon the gift of tongues as a way to evangelize to other people without even needing to learn their language, as the Spirit Himself would give them that needed tongue, so maybe they applied that towards translation also?

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"Many of the early Pentecostals believed that speaking in tongues had a unique missionary function. According to this perspective, the new tongues were actually spoken languages to be used by the Pentecostals in the proclamation of the Gospel in foreign lands" (Gary B. McGee, an Assemblies of God historian, in Azusa Street and Beyond, ed. by L. Grant McClung, Jr., p. 33). But then they all had to go to language school, just like I did.

I'm not aware off any who tried to translate the Bible using tongues.

John of Japan said:

"Many of the early Pentecostals believed that speaking in tongues had a unique missionary function. According to this perspective, the new tongues were actually spoken languages to be used by the Pentecostals in the proclamation of the Gospel in foreign lands" (Gary B. McGee, an Assemblies of God historian, in Azusa Street and Beyond, ed. by L. Grant McClung, Jr., p. 33). But then they all had to go to language school, just like I did.

I'm not aware off any who tried to translate the Bible using tongues.

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I have never encountered any true manifestations of speaking in tongues. All I hear is silly gibberish. Most of it sounds like a limited imitation Aramaic or just mouth noise and nonsense syllables. All Pentecostal tongues talking sounds pretty much the same.

Good friends kf mine

One was speaking for the other. He was told that there were a couple of women trying to seduce the congregation w tongues

Barry was like. Cool. Thanks for letting me know

He was speaking and a woman stood up and started in. He asked did anyone know whT she was saying 3-4 times

She said i was speaking in tongues

Barry says “let me interpret what you just said. You just said that you were going to sell all of your material possessions and give all of the money to this church”

That ended the tongues movement in Rons church. Very quickly