A Message from Pastor Justin Alfred
Many years ago while teaching Hebrew and Greek for Fuller Theological Seminary’s Extension School in Colorado Springs, CO, I realized that the vast majority of pastors and lay people who were taking Beginning Hebrew & Greek were really needing something that wasn’t as intense and all encompassing as the full course in grammar for each of these two languages. Thus, I began praying about writing a grammar for each
language that would provide the student with the necessary tools to accurately and adequately understand and teach to others the truth being expressed through these languages, while at the same time developing a course curriculum that was realistic and reasonable as far as the time necessary for the course itself, as well as something that could be grasped and used in a relatively short period of time. The result of that prayer has been the development of what I call Simplified Hebrew and Simplified Greek. I have also developed a course called Advanced Simplified Hebrew & Greek, which takes those
students who have either had my Simplified Hebrew and Simplified Greek grammars, or who have taken the full grammar course at some earlier time and want to refresh their
skills in either or both.
In essence, therefore, the aim of this Simplified Greek grammar is the following:
(1) To enable the student to be able to read and pronounce the Greek letters and diphthongs, and then to be able to pronounce the Greek words in combination with the various letters
and diphthongs.
(2) To be able to find in an Interlinear Greek-English New Testament the Greek word or words one wants to examine and analyze.
(3) To be able to go and find the Greek word or words in the Analytical Greek Lexicon and understand what the
parsing of those Greek verbs or nouns means.
(4) To be able to go to the Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament and find the expanded meaning of the word.
(5) And finally, to be able to put all of the above together in a simple and cohesive manner and give a clear and basic understanding to listeners of what the Greek is presenting in a
particular passage. This course is twenty-four hours long, and at the end of it, if a student has applied himself or herself, they will be able to do the above.
My prayer for you, the student, is that God will use this course in a mighty way in your life, and that He will be honored and glorified in your understanding of the Greek as your share and minister to others the truths the Holy Spirit teaches you, and in turn, those who receive His truth will become more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and walk in His freedom
(John 8:31-32).
