Return to Book Page

These materials were designed to be used as a course for high school home school students. It can, however, also be used as a self-study course by anyone. If you are using it for self-study you will need to be your own teacher and you should start with this guide.

Everything you need to translate the First Epistle of John from Greek into English is included in these course materials. To be successful a student needs to do three things:

(1) He must sometimes be willing to move ahead without completely understanding something.

(2) He must memorize the Greek alphabet.

(3) He must not quit.

I promise that any student who does these three things will complete this course knowing how to translate Biblical Greek into sensible English.

This course is very different than any other course I have seen. Most Greek courses are based on two different goals. (1) Many are based on the idea that the student is set on the long road to becoming an accomplished Greek scholar. They require the student to learn many grammatical rules and Greek forms in order to lay a proper foundation for future success. I call this method deductive learning. It takes a great deal of determination and many years to finish such a course of study. This course is not that comprehensive. (2) Many other courses are based on the idea that the student just needs to learn to look up the meanings of words and to be able to understand commentaries that refer to specific Greek words. This course will fulfill that goal but goes well beyond it.

This course is based on what I call inductive learning. Basically that means learning by example. The first 20 to 25% of the course teaches the student how to find and understand the information in the reference materials. The rest of the course is simply practice as the student translates for himself First John. By trying to translate and comparing results with the experts, over and over again, the student learns by example.

One statement in the introduction can not be over emphasized. "It is difficult to get a feeling of accomplishment as we go. It seems we are always in a state of confusion and it is easy to begin to believe you are not really learning anything and give up." As a teacher you must help the student with this by constant encouragement. Emphasize their successes and minimize their inevitable failures.

The fact of the matter is this: Some students will not catch on to this process as soon as others. Some students will grasp the essentials and be translating successfully by Lesson 50. For others, it will not come together in their understanding until Lesson 150. For most it will come somewhere in between. It is not important when it happens. It is very important that it does happen. The longer it takes for comprehension to dawn on the student, the more encouragement he will need.

One thing I have observed as a teacher that was unexpected is that in some ways this course is harder for "smart" students. They are not used to moving ahead in spite of a lack of full understanding. They are not used to dealing with the inevitable frustration involved in learning a different language inductively.

I was quite serious about the three things necessary for success. If the student has trouble memorizing vocabulary that just means they will have to look up more of it when they are translating. Eventually they will remember it if they look it up often enough. If the student is having trouble grasping the grammatical rules their translation will be very awkward. Eventually by comparing their efforts with the experts over and over again they will begin to grasp it. They may never fully understand the terminology but that does not matter. Terminology is just a means to an end. Understanding God's word in the original tongue is the goal. If the student finds the way to that without remembering grammatical terminology or memorizing vocabulary, so what?

Whether the student grasps this process early or late they will be spending significant time looking at the details of God's word. The struggle to translate will bring awareness of subtleties in the details that can not be discovered any other way.

At the end of this teacher's guide introduction you will find my statement of faith. Anyone who tries to tell you that he can be objective and translate God's word without his own beliefs having an impact is fooling you and/or himself. Translating involves making many choices. What the translator believes makes a huge difference. I have included my statement of faith so that you will know how to interpret what I have to say in this course and you can help the student to guard themselves where we may disagree.

I think it is also important, for the same reason, that you know something of my views about the various English versions of the Bible. I believe the King James Version is the best translation ever made into the English language. I do not mean the King James Version of 1611, which is actually very hard to find. I mean the King James Version as it has come to us through many revisions in the last four hundred years. It was the first translation into English that was done by a large committee instead of one or a few individuals. This has the tendency to mitigate the impact of personal bias. It was also revised by loving, Christian, hands many times over hundreds of years, which has purified it from much of the remaining bias.

However, the English that the King James Version uses is becoming obsolete. Many people already have difficulty understanding it. The consequence of this is that a plethora of new translations have appeared in the last hundred years or so. At the same time a great controversy has emerged over the Greek version on which the New Testament is based. Of the various versions of the Greek that have emerged I favor the one called the Majority Text. I believe it is the text that the scholars who translated the King James Version would have chosen if they had the Greek texts available to them which have become available in the last 150 years. I know of no good English version translated from the Majority text.

Of the popular English versions other than the King James I favor the New American Standard. I believe they have done the most accurate translation into modern English that is available. However, I do not agree with their choice of Greek text on which they base their translation. It is from the Alexandrian school which I believe is less faithful to the original Greek.

I have included all the textual variants of First John that I could find in these materials so that the student can have practice translating with them. As I explained in some detail in Lesson 49, determining which is best is beyond the scope of this course.

The most important consideration when determining how you will teach this course is the learning style of the student. Do what you need to do in order for him to be successful. If he has difficulty memorizing vocabulary make it of no importance. Let him practice with the exercises and quizzes that have vocabulary but tell him that they do not count very much toward the final grade. Except for a few that were chosen for examples of certain letters, the vocabulary in these materials are all taken from First John. The 75 words most often used in First John are emphasized to minimize the amount of looking in reference materials will be required once actual translation begins. They represent a huge majority of the words the student will encounter while translating First John. Once translation of I John 1:2 begins there are no more vocabulary exercises.

If the student does not have a good understanding of English Grammar, the grammar lessons will be very difficult for him. Make copies of the exercises, quizzes, and tests and let him do them several times until he makes a good grade and then only count the highest one. Once translation begins in earnest there are no more grammar lessons, quizzes or tests.

If it takes the student longer than an hour to go through a lesson let him put it off until the next day. The last 70% of the course is translating I John. He can make up time there if needed. Most of the verses from I John 1:2 to the end of the book are one verse per lesson. A few of the longer or more complex ones are split over two lessons. Towards the end, as he gains skill, the lessons will probably take less than an hour. He can catch up then. If he does not, what harm does it do if he only translates the first three chapters instead of all five? He will still know more Biblical Greek than most Christians.

The first forty lessons have exercises and four out of five have a quiz. Every fifth lesson has a test which is a review of previous material. Beginning in Lesson 42 the student begins to translate First John. At that point the teacher should assign grades based more on persistence than accomplishment. The important thing is for the student to remain challenged without getting discouraged.

Finally, in order for you to grade and/or review the student's work effectively, the teacher must know or learn the Greek alphabet. That is contained in the first five lessons of the course. It is also the hardest five lessons. Your student could probably use the encouragement of a learning partner.

The Lesson Guides are the main booklets for the student to use. It is divided into 180 lessons to conform to the usual school year. The first six lessons are the alphabet and pronunciation. Lessons 7 through 41 are grammar and guidelines for using the Reference Booklet. Lessons 42 to 180 are about translating the one hundred and five verses of First John.

The Reference Booklet contains the Greek text of First John, a Parsing Guide, various study aids and charts, and a Lexicon. Translation is a two step process - Parsing and Rendering. The Translation Hints are for use with the first step and the Translation Guides are for use with the last step. The Exercise Answers may or may not need to be held by the teacher until needed depending on how responsible the student is. It has the answers to all the exercises in the Lesson Guides. An irresponsible student might just copy his work from it instead of attempting to do it himself and then checking it. That would hinder learning considerably.

This Teacher's Guide and the answers to the quizzes and tests are in this Teacher's Guide booklet. The quizzes and tests are in a separate booklet. Please feel free to make copies of the exercises, quizzes, and tests as long as they are only for one student to use and re-use. If you are adapting these materials for classroom use, you may also make copies of the quizzes and tests if that is easier than managing all the student's quizzes and tests booklets.

Besides paper and pencil everything that will be needed is in these course materials. However, it is recommended that you also make flash cards out of index cards to assist in memorizing the alphabet and the vocabulary words. As part of the learning process the student should make these cards for their own use each time they encounter a new letter or a new vocabulary word in the Lesson Guides. See page 53 of the Reference Materials for card preparation instructions.

Lessons 1 to 6 - Alphabet and Pronunciation

Consistent pronunciation is very important. Accurate pronunciation is important in the long run but no so much for this course. If the student does move on beyond this course to learn more Greek he will regret no having learning pronunciation properly but it will not be an insurmountable obstacle. If pronouncing it exactly correct is difficult for the student it is more important that they not get discouraged than that they get it right.

Learning the Alphabet well is absolutely essential. Everything else depends on that. They can not look up the necessary information in the Reference Booklet unless they know the alphabet well and in order.

Lessons 7 to 40 - Grammar and Use of Resources

These lessons contain a brief review of English Grammar with an introduction to the corresponding grammar elements in Greek. If the student is not familiar with English Grammar you may need to supplement this course with some English Grammar materials. The information is neither comprehensive nor detailed for either language. The idea is for most of the learning to occur by example and experience during the translation process itself.

These lessons also contain directions on how to use the Reference Booklet. Many of the exercises, quizzes, and tests will instruct the student to look up answers in the Reference Booklet for practice and to demonstrate his ability to use it. Although the student is encouraged to commit as much as possible to memory to minimize the research effort during translation, memorizing everything necessary to translate Greek in just forty hours is impossible for almost everyone.

Vocabulary is introduced throughout, but except for a couple of vocabulary tests, it is de-emphasized by making the points it counts on quizzes very low. If the student is gifted at memorizing vocabulary you may want to increase how much it counts and decrease some of the other scores.

When grading quizzes and test always subtract the point values rather than adding them up. Some of the tests are only worth a total of 98 or 99 points and if you add the correct scores instead of subtracting the wrong scores from 100, the student's score will be lower. The quizzes and tests should be graded with the student so that they get the benefit of learning from the explanations that frequently accompany the answers.

Lesson 23 has several optional exercises and a challenge exercise. If the student is having trouble grasping the process have them do all the exercises. If the student is doing very well have them do the challenge exercise.

The translation process is introduced gradually throughout these lessons. The translation process is taught exclusively beginning in 39 with a final grammar review in lesson 40.

Lessons 39 to 46 - The Translation Process

Using I John 1:1 as an example the process of translation is taught in detail. The last test is given after lesson 40. The last quiz comes after lesson 41. The last vocabulary exercise is in lesson 46. This translation process is used for translating the remainder of the book. It should be learned as well as possible but it is likely that it will not be fully grasped by the student until he has practiced it many times in the following lessons.

Lessons 47 to 180 - Translating I John

The remainder of the book is translation practice. It repeats the grammar, vocabulary and processes learned in the first 46 lessons over and over again. Gradually more responsibility is transferred to the student as fewer hints are provided. By the end of the book the student will be confident in tackling any passage in the New Testament if he has the proper reference material available.

The bibliography is a good source of information regarding useful resources for translating Greek. Over time, as some of the web links in the Bibliography becomes obsolete, I hope to have a web site at http://www.tcarden.com/greek with more up-to-date information.

These are my beliefs in a nutshell. They are the foundation of all that I am or do. They have had a significant impact on everything I said in this book and all of my choices in translation. I hope and believe that those that do not agree with me completely will still find this course useful.

(1) I believe there is one God, eternally existent in three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(2) I believe God created the heavens and the earth and is still active in maintaining their continued existence. God is completely Holy, without defect of any kind. He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. God is light. God is love. God is Spirit.

(3) I believe our Lord Jesus Christ is divine, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed many notable miracles, died on the cross to atone for our sins, was physically resurrected, and ascended to be on the right hand of the Father, thus fulfilling many divine prophecies. My blessed hope is that Jesus will return soon and suddenly in power and glory.

(4) I believe the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict the lost, indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for holy living and service to Our Lord. The Holy Spirit chooses to use His position to exalt and glorify Jesus Christ even though the Spirit is equal to the Son and would have every right to exalt Himself.

(5) I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, infallible, and the supreme and final authority for all faith and life. By "the Bible" I mean the 66 books normally accepted by Protestant Christians. If pressed I defend it in the original autographs rather than in the various English versions.

(6) I believe man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore lost, and can only be cleansed from his sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I believe in the sovereignty of God in all things so, when a man is saved, he is totally without credit. I believe that each man is completely responsible for, and accountable for, his own depravity.

(7) I believe both the saved and the lost will some day be resurrected; the saved to literal everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord, and the lost to judgment and literal everlasting punishment. I believe in a pretribulation rapture of His church and a premillennial return of Jesus Christ, the King, but if actual events prove I am wrong I hope I do not sit under the Jonah tree and complain about it.

(8) I believe there are literal spiritual beings called angels who God uses to carry out His will.

(9) I believe there is an angel named Satan who, although doomed to destruction, is active in trying to deceive believers. Although he is very powerful he is not omniscient, omnipresent, nor omnipotent regardless of how much he would have us to believe otherwise.

(10) I believe the best and most proper way for me to express my gratitude for God's salvation is to love Him and obey His commands to love one another.

Return to Book Page