Mark Ward writes about “4 Simple Language Principles That Will Improve Your Bible Study.” He’s writing to the Bible student who wants to learn Greek or Hebrew. Or possibly to the person who wants to use original language tools well. You know, the sort of person who can be heard saying things like, “What the Greek word here really means is…”
Ward offers some excellent advice for these folks, and for the rest of us, when he encourages us to learn first how all languages work. Then we’ll be in a better place to understand how Greek and Hebrew work.
His principles are as follows:
- Usage determines meaning.
- Usage determines meaning—no, I mean it.
- Look at every level of meaning, not just the word level
- Learn linguistic and literary labels
These principles are so important, especially the first two. Many people tend to think words have specific meaning built into them inherently, like a code. But words only have meaning according to how real people use those words in real communication. Another way to put it is that we assume words get their meaning from the dictionary. But we fail to realize that dictionaries get their word meanings by listening to people use words in conversation (for real: see this TED talk). And therefore, word meanings are constantly changing over time.
Ward’s musings on this topic are worth reflecting on.
