Featured Gail Riplinger

Definitely not. In his 2969 book on inspiration, Our God-Breathed Book—The Bible, John R. Rice wrote:

“The scholar and the preacher would do well to have the American Standard Version at hand and to consult it when necessary, but generally would do well, we think, to use the King James Version in the pulpit, in memory work, and in class teaching, since it is actually the translation of the mass of people. And the beauty of its language is not equaled in other translations, we think” (p. 383).

This was the position of 99.999% of fundamentalists PR (Pre Ruckman). (Admittedly, this is not a scientific figure, but from personal knowledge of most of the fundamentalist leaders of the 1960s-1970s.)

 

wannabe: "a person who wants or aspires to be someone or something else or who tries to look or act like someone else" (Definition of WANNABE).

I have no respect for wannabes. Many years ago in college I was an assistant instructor in the Chinese martial art of Pai Lum Kun (白龍拳, "White Dragon Fist"). One Friday I was in the gym to teach an extra class when two young dudes came in and challenged me.

I said, "What's your style?" They said, "Jeet Koo Knee Do." At first I was mystified, but then it hit me. "Oh, you mean Jeet Kune (pro. coon) Do, Bruce Lee's method."

Well, one of them took me on in a sparring match, and I have to say I did my best high side kick ever, laying my foot right upside his head about an inch away from it. He stopped and said, "What was that?" I said, "Oh, just a side kick."

So here were two dudes claiming to be martial artists, but they not only did not know how to pronounce their claimed style, they did not even know what a very basic technique, the side kick, was. They were wannabes.

One day in Japan a man called me up wanting to help with our Lifeline Japanese New Testament translation. I said, "Do you know Greek?" Nope. "Do you know Japanese?" Nope. But he could contribute financially. So I told him where to send the money to our mission board so that it could get to me. Nope. He didn't believe in mission boards. He was a wannabe.

Gail Riplinger is a wannabe. She wrote a whole book about what is wrong with lexicons, Hazardous Materials, but she mixes up basic information. She simply doesn't know what she is talking about. She's a wannabe.

1. She rails against Strong's, but professionals don't use it. It's a mere dictionary with glosses (very short definitions). And the concordance is out of date, with all the great software we have nowadays that do searches. A genuine lexicon has extended definitions with references to usage in both the Bible and in extra-Biblical contemporary works. When I first introduce my students to Thayer's next semester, they will all be intimidated--it's complicated. I'll need to guide them. Riplinger needs a guide also. She's a wannabe.

2. She rails against Thayer's, but professionals don't use Thayer's anymore. I don't use it when translating. The reason is that the definitions are out of date. The papyri discoveries of the early 20th century provided us with much new detail about koine Greek that neither Strong nor Thayer had access to.

3. On p. 12 of Hazardous Materials she says, "The conclusion that must be drawn is that lexicographers, past and present, do not agree with each other." This is baloney, sliced because Gail doesn't know Greek. I just looked up ekklesia (ἐκκλησία, "church") in several lexicons, and they all say essentially the same thing.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Riplinger is a wannabe.

 

My favorite for a quick look is Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, by Tilmothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, Neva Miller." It has longer and more complete definitions that all other analytical lexicons. The authors are evangelical missionary translators, solid believers. It is in several software packages I believe.

I often use Gingrich's Shorter Lexicon. For deeper study I highly recommend A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, by G. Abbot-Smith, an older one but excellent. (Here is a pdf: https://www.coptica.ch/Abbott-Smith-Lexicon.pdf). I also use BAGD, the 2nd edition (not the 3rd).

Riplinger is clueless about Friberg, Abbot-Smith, and Gingrich, but does mention the first edition of BAGD.