This series is designed to help people better understand the Bible and how it speaks to us. Read the series Introduction post to learn how this series is designed to help you.

I’m a Grammar Convert

You hate grammar, and I get that. I graduated high school with the following understanding about English grammar:

1. He, she and it are 3rd person.
2. Participles are grammatical things.
3. Pronouns have antecedents
4. Verbs are action words

I couldn’t explain what any of those things meant, but I knew that we were supposed to know them. Since then, I have come to appreciate grammar in a major way because it is vital in understanding written communication. In an earlier post, we mentioned that written communication has rules. Grammar constitutes the majority of those rules. Whether we like it or not, the Bible is written communication, and grammar plays a key role in understanding it.

What is Grammar?

The New Oxford American Dictionary describes grammar as ‘the whole system of language…”. “Grammar” is an umbrella term made up of constituent parts such as punctuation, syntax, and morphology. Perhaps this will be easier to digest: Grammar is the ecosystem of written communication. It examines not only words, but how they function and combine to form sentences, paragraphs and chapters. Therein is where meaning is to be found. It is certainly its own jungle of moving parts; and unfortunately, it is often not taught in a way that promotes understanding.

When you speak with someone in person, you have a plethora of non verbal clues to assist you in determining meaning. Facial expression, tone, volume, hand gestures, and posture all combine to assist you. Grammar takes up that role in written communication.

Grammar specifically helps us in two perspectives:

1. It helps the writer in communicating detail, complexity and nuance.

2. It helps the reader accurately perceive and understand this detail, complexity and nuance.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

“Fall, and ball boy sky threw the bounce. ground ball let the the toward, on the red the watched freckled the”

That doesn’t make any sense. English words and punctuation are used, but the lack of grammatical structure renders it incoherent.

Here it is within grammatical structure:

“The freckled boy threw the red ball toward the sky, watched it fall, and let it bounce on the ground.”

While not the most profound sentence ever, it does contain a bit of complexity, and it is coherent.

Grammar allows us to communicate and understand detail, complexity, and nuance; we are able to study and understand these things to a greater extent when we understand grammar and how to leverage it.

Grammar and The Bible

So how does this work in the Bible? None of the Biblical writers wrote or thought in English. They did so in the original languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Translators therefore, use English grammar, and its rules, to communicate what the Biblical writers wrote in their original languages.

Look at Paul as an example. The ESV often translates Paul with many long, loonggggg sentences because its translators attempted to capture the detail, complexity and nuance of Paul’s thoughts in English. When we understand the translators’ grammatical structure, it becomes much easier to follow Paul’s writings. Words like for, therefore, now, and since all indicate that what comes next is related to what came before. More than just that, grammar indicates what that relationship is. Grammar will also help you differentiate main points from sub points. This is invaluable.

You don’t need to become a grammar aficionado, but developing a working understanding of how grammar communicates detail, complexity and nuance will greatly aid your Biblical engagement.

Happy Bibleing!