Join us as we discuss: How to Interpret Scripture: Grammar and Syntax

Topics considered include:

The Grammar of Ephesians 5:18:

Imperative–It’s a command!
Passive Voice–It must be done to you.
Present Tense–Continuous action
Second/Plural–Y’all

The Syntax of John 10:26:

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Ye believe not–statement of fact
Because–conjunction giving reason/explanation for the stated fact.
Ye are not of My sheep–statement of fact that explains the main clause.
Arminianism gets this backwards: You are not my sheep because you do not believe.

Grammar of 1 John 3:8:

He that committeth sin is of the devil.

Present Tense Participle
The default tense for participles is the Greek aorist tense
Therefore, the present tense is a “marked” tense emphasizing kind of action.

Continuous or Habitual Action
He that keeps on sinning is of the devil.
The emphasis is not on the simple act of sin, which John says we cannot deny doing.
Rather, the emphasis is on life being characterized by continuous or habitual sin.

Recommended Resources:

Tom Schreiner, Interpreting the Pauline Epistles 038129
William D. Mounce, Greek for the Rest of Us 0134626

Your hosts:
TE Josh Owen
TE Aaron Garriott
RE Gabe Williams

Produced by: RE Gabe Williams
Music by: RE James Powers
Logo design: Beth Cragg

The Three Presbyteers is a ministry of Spruce Creek PCA in Port Orange FL.

If you're in the area, please join us for worship every Lord’s Day morning at 8:30 AM and 11:00 AM and in the evening at 6:00 PM. Education Hour is at 10:00 AM and we have a church planting prayer meeting every Lord's Day at 4:30 PM.

www.Sprucecreekpca.org

Join Pastors Josh Owen and Aaron Garriott as they sit down with Pastor Donny Harwood to discuss his church planting mission near Glasgow, Scotland. Learn about Donny and Courtney Harwood’s calling to serve in Donny’s hometown, their vision for ministry in the West End of Glasgow, and the broader goal of planting 30 churches across Scotland by 2030.

Discover how Donny’s background in physics and Courtney’s passion for writing intersect with their ministry, and hear how you can support their work through Mission to the World.

🎧 Learn more and support the Harwoods:

mtw.org/missionaries/details/harwood-donny-and-courtney

Produced by: RE Gabe Williams

Music by: RE James Powers

Logo Design: Beth Cragg

A ministry of: Spruce Creek PCA – Port Orange, FL

📍 Worship with us:
Sundays at 8:30 AM, 11:00 AM, & 6:00 PM | Sunday School at 10:00 AM | Church Planting Prayer at 4:30 PM

🌐 www.sprucecreekpca.org

PCA Pastors Josh Owen and Aaron Garriott discuss the importance of semantic studies for reading a text.

Topics considered include:

· The Popularity of Word Studies

o Spiros Zodhiates The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible

o The Amplified Bible

o Inductive Bible Studies (Kay Arthur’s Precepts)

o Vine’s Expository Dictionary

· The Pitfalls of Word Studies

o Root Fallacy

o Anachronism

o Etymological Fallacy

o Derivative Fallacy

o Illegitimate Totality Transfer

o Limiting Semantic Range by Extratextual Definitions (Creeds, Confessions, Other Author’s Works)

o Theological Bias

· The Promise of Word Studies

o Clarity

o Accuracy

o Depth

· The Procedure of Word Studies

o Identify the word’s part of speech. Is it a noun? If it is a noun is it the subject of the verb? The direct object? Is it the main verb? Is it an adjective? Adverb?

o Identify key words in the immediate context.

o Make an initial observation about the context. This can be modified as your study corrects initial assumptions.

o Concordances and Hebrew/Greek Dictionaries or Lexicons

§ Note the Semantic Range

§ Note other words in the same Semantic Range (concepts)

§ Note the historical and cultural background for a word

§ Note special meanings for certain contexts

§ Note historical development of word usage

§ For NT words, note how they are used to translate Hebrew words

§ For OT words, note how they are translated by LXX and NT

o Narrow word search to the author’s writings you are studying (Paul, John, Peter, Moses, David)

o Narrow word search to the writing you are studying

o Narrow word search to your text. The words surrounding your word will limit its usage.

o Distinguish Sense from Referent. The mental concept is in the mind, while the referent may be an object outside of the mind. “You are the Christ.” The referent is Jesus. But what is the sense? Did the speaker have the same sense of “Christ” as Jesus?

o Write out a basic definition of the word limited by the context.

o Explain the word’s relationship to the other words in the sentence.

o Write out a paraphrase of the sentence, not using the word under consideration, but using its definition.

o Does it make sense? How does it fit in the larger context of the paragraph?