Koine Greek Spot 1. 2 Timothy 3:15

This blog entry dedicated to our new nephew Levi

Welcome to my first Greek spot. I plan to do one of these at least weekly. I won't be covering anything too intense (I'm a student, not a scholar), I just hope to offer something that will encourage you to dig a little deeper into God's Word. Typically I will be covering something I have read that has inspired me to do just that.

We see in 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul is writing to Timothy and warning him about the difficult times to come. Then he encourages him to continue in the things he has learned, and he says "and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus"  2 Tim 3:15. There is so much we could pull out of this one verse but I want to focus just on three words.

Lets take a quick look the word translated here as "infancy" which is the word "brephos" (see the attached graphic which I chose to do since not everyone will have Greek fonts installed, better suggestions welcomed). This word is only used about 8 times in the NT. Its usual translation, dependant on context, is baby or infant, but I was fascinated to learn it can also mean embryo, foetus, or unborn child (see Luke 1:44).

The next couple of words I'd like to highlight is Paul's use of the term "hiera grammatta", sacred writings, but translated Holy Scriptures in the version used here. The vast majority of times that the Scriptures are mentioned in the NT (John 5:39 for example), the word used in Greek is "graphe" (see the graphic below) and is used in conjunction with the word holy for "Holy Scriptures" (see Rom 1:2). In this instance however, Paul chose to use the words "hiera" (sacred) grammata (writings). The word hieros is used only a couple of times in the NT. The other time it is used (1 Cor 9:13) it is translated "holy things", "sacred services" or "temple" dependent on which translation is being read.

I find it fascinating Paul chose this term to refer to the Scriptures in this instance instead of the more commonly used term graphe. In the very next verse (2 Tim 3:16) Paul refers again to the Scriptures. Guess which term he chose to use there? Did you think graphe? So whats going on? Perhaps the Sacred Wrtings in v15 refer to the Old Testament alone, and the Scriptures mentioned in v16 refers to the writings of what would become the NT and furthermore, perhaps v16 refers to the NT & OT. Something to think about and something to research. I hope it encourages you to do both.