Classical Greek versus Biblical Greek

[StephenMartyr]

Is there much of a difference between classical Greek (Greek philosophers) and Biblical Greek?

I ask this because I saw a while back that Loeb has a digital library where their catalogue is online and searchable. I thought it would be interesting to take Biblical words and see how they were used in a secular sense.

Is it worth my while to get this? Is Classical Greek so different that this won't work? Or are they similar enough that it would work?

Thanks!

 

[arapahoepark]

Classical Greek is more comprehensive. Koine (common Greek) typically was vulgar with less rules for prose. Some NT authors wrote understandably but others, like Luke, wrote with more conventions. If you want to have a wide variety of Hellenistic literature to read Classists have encouraged me to go with Classical Greek.

 

[StephenMartyr]

Classical Greek is more comprehensive. Koine (common Greek) typically was vulgar with less rules for prose. Some NT authors wrote understandably but others, like Luke, wrote with more conventions. If you want to have a wide variety of Hellenistic literature to read Classists have encouraged me to go with Classical Greek.

Just wondering though if Greek words in the Bible could be found in the likes of Greek philosophers.

Like if I got the program do you think this word would be found in Classical Greek literature?

ἀρέσκω
areskō
ar-es'-ko
Probably from G142 (through the idea of exciting emotion); to be agreeable (or by implication to seek to be so): - please.


That's from:

Rom 15:1 WeG2249 thenG1161 that are strongG1415 oughtG3784 to bearG941 theG3588 infirmitiesG771 of theG3588 weak,G102 andG2532 notG3361 to pleaseG700 ourselves.G1438

 

[Guido's Brother]

Just wondering though if Greek words in the Bible could be found in the likes of Greek philosophers.

Like if I got the program do you think this word would be found in Classical Greek literature?

ἀρέσκω

According to the Liddell and Scott lexicon, this word is used by authors like Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Sophocles. So yes...

 

[Ben Zartman]

While I don't have any Greek, I think logically the better you can learn a language in all its uses, the better you'll understand the narrow slice of it that's contained in one work. There are shades of nuance and expression that will become evident with broad reading, that will necessarily be missed if the only Greek you learn is every word in the NT.

 

[greenbaggins]

It is definitely worth while to learn classical Greek, if for no other reason than that NT Greek will seem easy by comparison.

There are dangers, however. In the 19th century, many NT commentators, who were quite skilled classicists, misinterpreted aspects of NT Greek, because they thought NT Greek worked the same way as classical Greek did. There is overlap, for sure. However, one cannot take the precision of particles and prepositions in classical Greek usage, and impose that level of precision on to NT Greek particles and prepositions. NT Greek adds a lot of prepositions to verbs, as well, without always changing the meaning of the verb. Classical Greek experts often assumed there was a change of meaning. Now, most of these dangers have been well noted by NT scholars in the last 50 years. As long as you're aware of the pitfalls, studying classical Greek can be of vast benefit. As vitally and centrally important as the NT is, it is not the only thing in Greek worth reading!