It Is Not All Greek

Have you ever been in a discussion where the other person or people seem to use words foreign to you? They use jargon unique to them. Maybe you have said, “it is all Greek to me.” Accountants talk about accruals, debits, credits, p/e ratios, burden rates. All words that make no sense to non-bean counters. That allusion refers to the idea that accountants are often overly dedicated to detail, counting every last item (bean), often missing the bigger picture. Have you ever listened in to lawyers talking? Are they speaking in code? Medical terms, they all seem to have at least five syllables.

My wife works as a healthcare social worker. She regularly sits in on a psychotropic drug meeting. While I vaguely understand what they discuss in that meeting, my mind conjures up a completely different picture; that of stoned-out-their-mind hippies listening to Jefferson Airplane or Country Joe & The Fish at Woodstock. Even pastors and theologians sometimes use words that are not easily understood by most people – eschatology, justification, exegesis, just to name three. When we first moved to eastern North Carolina, much of their dialect and language was foreign to me. To this day, I think they have more than 26 letters in their alphabet.  

We all have those areas in our lives that, based upon our background, education, experience, we easily understand. Those things are not Greek to us. There are also those things that on our own we simply do not, cannot, understand. Without help, those things are foreign to us, they are “Greek to us.” One of the things we need help in understanding is when reading the Bible. 

To comprehend the Bible, we need the wisdom of God. I believe that God first reveals himself first through His Son, Jesus, and then also through the words of scripture. And unless someone knows Jesus, they do not have the ability to understand the things of God. John 1:14 says this about God the Father revealing himself through Jesus His Son– And the Word (see John 1:1-4) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of truth and Grace. 

The Bible is also God’s revelation of himself and his purposes. Jesus taught that the Scriptures reveal who He is – He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-45).

First, in order to know God (not know about Him), we must commit our lives to following Jesus. Secondly, since we cannot comprehend Scripture on our own, we need the Spirit of God, who resides within every Jesus-follower, to illuminate our minds. As Jesus was giving his final instructions to the disciples, here is what he told them –And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).

Are you reading the Bible as if it were Greek? Or, are you being led by the Spirit as you read, meditate, digest, submit your will, all while gaining divine revelation and being transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus?

So, to help the Bible not be like Greek to you and to me, we need to be seeking the help of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, asking Him to open our minds and hearts, revealing to us God’s divine truths and promises through the words we read.

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