Word Studies in the Greek New Testament

Word Studies in the Greek New Testament
by Kenneth Wuest

Hardcover - 4 volumes - 3499 pages 
1961
Eerdmans Publishing Co.
ISBN: 0802822800

Available at:

CBD Book Description 
Description: A wealth of information on most of the Greek New Testament---all in non-technical language! This reader's companion series clarifies many of the English words that do not fully capture the meaning of original Greek words. Includes topical word and devotional studies, book studies on most of Paul's epistles, and Wuest's New Testament. 3500 pages total, four hardcovers from Eerdmans.

Amazon reviews
Review #1: Absolutely the Best companion to my study bible and Interlinear. I was given a copy of this 4 volume set by a friend at church who had recently married. They Both had a set from Bible College and they passed one set to me... I had no idea what it was that I had recieved. It was a few nites later that I saw the books on the shelf and decided to see what sort of Treasure it was that I had been given.. I opened the "Expanded Translation" and didnt put it down for several hours... I was totally shocked at what I had been missing. I am no language student. This set gives me insites and meditations that are absolutely vital.. Now If I can just find a set like this on the Old Testament... :-) This set is worth every Penney!!! I recommend also getting a Interlinear Greek/English and Lexicon... and also a Strongs and Vines. You will want them handy later for further studies. ...

Review #2: Originally in 16 volumes, this is an in depth analysis of the meanings of the original greek that places the original words in their contexts with the idioms placed in their cultural settings. A reliable understanding of the original meaning is gained by the student of the New Testament who uses this excellent work. One does not need an understanding of languages other than English. This provides a clear understanding of the culture, setting and language that gave us the New Testament. Kenneth Wuest's work is superb. Get yourself a copy now.

Review #3: This book is really top notch. Weust does a verse by verse study. He does a great job of explaining the specific meanings of many Greek words. I have a whole new understanding of many verses after reading his book. For those of us who don't read Greek, this is the next best thing. This is a must have for any Christian library.

Philologos info:
Volume 1: Mark, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians.

Volume 2: Philippians, Hebrews, The Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus), First Peter, In These Last Days (2 Peter, 1,2,3 John, Jude)

Volume 3:
A. Golden Nuggets from the Greek New Testament:

  1. The Peculiar People of God
  2. The Christian and Trench Warfare
  3. The "Falling Away" of Hebrews VI
  4. Does He Feel at Home?
  5. Dislocated Saints
  6. Transfigured Saints
  7. Everlasting Watchfulness
  8. The Needle's Eye
  9. Our Lord's Prayer for Resurrection
  10. God's University for Angels
  11. The Fullness of the Spirit
  12. The Saint's Individual Responsibility
  13. The Greek Word for Faith
  14. About Tents
  15. A Contradiction Cleared Up by the Greek
  16. The Husband of One Wife
  17. Contact
  18. Why Worry?
  19. Bondslaves?
  20. Intense Christianity
  21. The Natural and the Spiritual Body
  22. The Word of God
  23. Luke, the Greek Historian
  24. The Indestructibility of the Church
  25. Entree
  26. Concerning Fellowship with Jesus
  27. "Agapao" Love
  28. "Phileo" Love
  29. The Monkey Wrench in the Machinery
  30. Citizens of Heaven
  31. Apostolic Memory
  32. Working Out Your Own Salvation
  33. About Saints
  34. Regarding Peter's Denial of His Lord
  35. The Personality of the Life
  36. Our Lord's Proclamation in Tartarus
  37. The Lord's Day
  38. The Mote, The Beam, and The Hypocrite
  39. Superabundant Grace
  40. Jesus of Nazareth, Who Is He?
  41. The Exegesis of God
  42. Two Obsolete Words
  43. Praying Without Ceasing
  44. The Road to Heaven
  45. The Other Comforter
  46. A Parable
  47. Defending the Faith
  48. Two Kinds of Power
  49. Since or When Ye Believed?
  50. The Spirit's Ministry In Prayer
  51. God's Emancipation Proclamation
  52. Divine Wood Cutters
  53. The Devil and His Demons
  54. Fellowship with Jesus
  55. About Trances
  56. Unfeigned Love
  57. Base Things
  58. The Names, Christ, and Jesus
  59. A Castaway
  60. The Grace of Giving
  61. The Intense Life
  62. A Perfect Salvation
    Index to Scripture References

B. Bypaths in the Greek New Testament:

  1. The Romance of the Inscriptions
  2. The Title Deed to Answered Prayer
  3. The Imperialism of Christianity
  4. About Royal Visits
  5. The Power of a Christlike Life
  6. Three Steps in a Sinner's Salvation
  7. Not with Wisdom of Words
  8. About Crowns
  9. The Crucible of Christian Suffering
  10. The Self-Emptied Life
  11. Forsaken
  12. A Portrait of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah
  13. The Divine Sculptor's Masterpiece
  14. The Soul-Winner's Adornment
  15. The Words for "Love" in the Greek New Testament
    Index of Scriptural References

C. Treasures from the Greek New Testament

  1. The Word "Grace" in the New Testament
  2. Christian Optimism and a Carefree Mind
  3. "Golden Nugget" Promises
  4. Greek Grammar and the Deity of Jesus Christ
  5. Is Future Punishment Everlasting?
  6. Hell, Hades, and Tartarus
  7. The Christian's "Thanatopsis"
  8. A Pauline Paradox and Its Solution
  9. Paul the Scholar
  10. Pauline Tactfulness
  11. Amalgamated Love
  12. The Word "Visit" in the New Testament
  13. Here and There in the New Testament
  14. An Exposition of the Greek Text of Romans VI
  15. How to Be Hungry
  16. The Four-Fold Basis of Christian Unity
  17. The Meaning of "Perfect" in the New Testament
  18. About Anointing
  19. Two Kinds of Testings
    Index of Scripture References

D. Untranslatable Riches from the Greek New Testament

  1. Paul's Doctrine of Verbal Inspiration
  2. Paul's Last Words to Timothy
  3. An Exposition of the Greek Text of Hebrews VI
  4. Light from the Greek on the Ministry of the Holy Spirit
    1. The Imperative Necessity of His Ministry
    2. The Anointing with the Holy Spirit
    3. The Baptism by the Holy Spirit
    4. The Spirit of Adoption
    5. The Sanctification by the Holy Spirit
    6. The Fellowship and Communion of the Holy Spirit
    7. The Fullness of the Holy Spirit
    8. Inaccurate Statements
    Index of Scripture References covering volumes 1-4 in this series.

E. Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament

Abide, Access, Accounted, Admonition, Adoption, Air, Another, Baptism, Baptize, Beast, Believe, Blessed, Bowels, Chastening, Choose, Church, Comfort, Comforter, Coming, Communion, Confess, Conform, Conversation, Counted, Disciple, Disorderly, Dwell, Empty, Envy, Faith, Faithfulness, Fellowship, Fight, Foreknowledge, Form, Forsaken, Gentleness, Godhead, Gospel, Grace, Hallow, Harpazo, Hebrew, Hell, Holy, Humility, Imputed, Israelite, Jew, Justify, Meekness, Mercy, Parable, Perfect, Predestinate, Prophecy, Propitiation, Quick, Quicken, Reckon, Regeneration, Renewing, Repent, Rest, Righteousness, Saint, Sanctify, Servant, Sin, Synagogue, Temple, Trance, Transfigure, Transform, True, Truth, Vain, Vile, Word, World

F. Great Truths to Live By

  1. Jesus of Nazareth—Who Is He?
  2. Jesus and Nicodemus
  3. The Believer and the Isolation of the Evil Nature
  4. Jesus and the Believer Today
  5. Jesus and Peter
  6. Jesus of Nazareth—His Coming for His Church
  7. The Believer and His Physical Body in the Future Life

Volume 4: The New Testament: An Expanded Translation
Preface (excerpt)
This translation of the New Testament, unlike the standard translations such as the Authorized Version of 1611 and the American Revised Version of 1901, uses as many English words as are necessary to bring out the richness, force, and clarity of the Greek text. The result is what I have called an expanded translation. It is intended as a companion to, or commentary on, the standard translations, and as such it complements them in several important respects.

(1) So far as a due regard for good English order will allow, this expanded translation follows the Greek order of words in a sentence. It places the emphasis where the inspired writer put it, and brings out the style of the original. Thus, for example, according to the Authorized Version (AV), John says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves " (1 John 1:8). This expanded translation has, "If we say that we do not have a sinful nature, ourselves we are deceiving." In the AV Satan says, "All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me" (Matt 4:9). The Greek order of words, as well as their meaning, is, "These things, to you, all of them, I will give, if, having fallen down upon your knees and having touched the ground with your forehead in an expression of profound reverence, you would prostrate yourself in worship before me." In regard to style, an attempt has been made, for example, to bring out the abruptness of an exclamation or the severity of a rebuke. Thus, the AV has our Lord say to Satan, "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matt 16:23). The expanded translation offers, "Be gone under my authority, and keep on going, behind me, out of my sight, Satan." The AV has Jesus say, "Give place" (Matt 9:24), a rather polite translation of the Greek which demands, "Be clearing out of here so as to make room."

The translation here offered will undoubtedly often jar the reader who is used to the smoothness of the standard translations, but it is hoped that thus the reader's attention will be forcibly drawn to what he is reading.

(2) The translation attempts to bring out the full meaning of each Greek word. Some Greek words are so full of meaning that many English words are required to translate them adequately. For example, the AV has, "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed" (Rom 12:2). This expanded translation has, "Stop assuming an outward expression that does not come from within yourself and is not representative of what you are in your inner nature but is put on from the outside and patterned after this age, but change your outward expression to one that comes from within yourself and is representative of what you are in your inner nature." The AV has, "...that Christ may dwell in your hearts" (Eph 3:17). The expanded translation has, "...in order that Christ might finally settle down and feel completely at home in your hearts." Compare the AV of Matthew 7:7, 8 with the following: "Keep on asking for something to be given and it shall be given you. Keep on seeking, and you shall find. Keep on reverently knocking, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking for something to be given, keeps on receiving. And he who keeps on seeking, keeps on finding. And to him who keeps on reverently knocking, it shall be opened."

The Greek word translated "see" by the AV in Philippians 2:23 ("...so soon as I shall see how it will go with me") says much about the character of Paul. It speaks of the act of a person who had up to a certain moment completely disregarded his own welfare in his concentration upon the welfare of others, and then had pulled his thoughts together sufficiently to look to his own interests. Paul was in prison, awaiting trial for his life. He was so concerned about the welfare of the churches that he had no thought about his own welfare. This expanded translation therefore offers: "...as soon as, having turned my attention from other things and having concentrated it upon my own circumstances, I shall have ascertained my position."

The Colossian heresy, in its attack upon the absolute deity of our Lord, states that the divine essence of deity is scattered among the angelic emanations from deity, and that our Lord possessed only a part of it. Paul answers, in the words of the AV, "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell" (1:19), and "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (2:9). The word "dwelleth" is katoikeo, made up of oikeo, "to live in a home, to be at home," and kata, whose root meaning is "down" and speaks of permanence. The expanded translation reads, "...because in Him [God] was well pleased that all the fullness be permanently at home" (1:19), and "...because in Him there is continuously and permanently at home all the fullness of absolute deity in bodily fashion" (2:9).

The apostle exhorts Timothy, "Preach the word" (4:2, AV). The noun form of the word "preach" is keryx. It was used of the imperial herald, spokesman of Caesar Augustus, who when entering a town as a representation of the Emperor would make a public proclamation of the Emperor's message with such formality, gravity, and authority as must be heeded and obeyed. A full translation, therefore, of Paul's exhortation is: "Make a public proclamation of the Word with much formality, gravity, and authority as must be heeded and obeyed."

The word "sanctify" usually means to the student of the English Bible God's act of bringing a believer to a certain state of holiness in his life. But in Hebrews 10:14, for example, the Greek word used for "sanctify" is hagiazo. The basic idea in this word is the act of setting apart; it concerns position, not experience. Therefore this expanded translation has: "...for by one offering He has brought to completion forever those who are set apart for God and His service."

(3) Distinctions between Greek synonyms are brought out. In the conversation between our Lord and Peter in John 21:15-18, Jesus' first two questions are here translated, "Do you have a devotional love for me called out of your heart by my preciousness to you, a love which impels you to sacrifice yourself for me?" and His third question as, "Do you have a friendly feeling and affection for me?" Peter's three replies are given as, "You know I have a friendly feeling and affection for you." Thus may be seen the connection between the conversation and Jesus' declaration that Peter would indeed exhibit a devotional love for the Lord Jesus by dying as a martyr for His sake.

In Galatians 1:6, 7 Paul writes: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another." The two Greek words translated "another" are, in their order, heteros and allos. The first means "another of a different kind," whereas the second means "another of the same kind." To obtain clarity this expanded translation has: "...to a message of good news diametrically opposed to the gospel, which message is not an alternative gospel." The Judaizer's message was both different from the message Paul preached and also diametrically opposed to it. Therefore, Paul declares, the Judaizer's message is not an alternative gospel.

(4) The force of the negative me is carried over into translation. In Greek questions, the use of me implies a negative answer. Thus Jesus' question to the Twelve becomes even more pointed: "And as for you, you are not desiring to be going away, are you?" (John 6:67). And Nicodemus' questions reveal his attempt to teach the great Teacher: "How is a man able to be born, being an old man? He is not able a second time to enter the womb of his mother and be born, is he?" (John 3:4).

(5) In this expanded translation the action found in the Greek tenses is carried over into English. The perfect tense, for example, speaks of an action completed in the past time which has present, and in some contexts permanent, results. The AV has, "By grace are ye saved" (Eph 2:8). The expanded translation offers, "By the grace have you been saved completely, with the result that you are in a state of salvation which persists through present time." The AV reports our Lord as saying, "It is written" (Matt 4:4). This translation has, "It has been written and is at present on record."

In Philippians 3:12 Paul says that he is not yet perfect, namely, spiritually mature. In 3:15 he includes himself with those who are perfect. The explanation of this apparent contradiction is brought out clearly in the expanded translation as follows: In 3:12 Paul uses the perfect tense. He denies the fact that he has been brought to the place of absolute spiritual maturity by the Holy Spirit, a place where there is no more possibility of growth and where it is impossible to sin. In 3:15 Paul uses the verb of being as a noun. Here he speaks of relative spiritual maturity, where there is room for growth in the Christian life. The translation therefore of the two passages is here given this way: "Not that I...have now already been brought to that place of absolute spiritual maturity beyond which there is no progress" (3:12), and "As many therefore as are spiritually mature [in a relative sense]..." (3:15).

The imperfect tense, which in Greek speaks of progressive action going on in past time, incomplete, is here translated so as to bring out more fully the meaning of a passage. For example, the AV, speaking of the Jews who came to John's baptism, renders, "They came and were baptized" (John 3:23). The expanded translation has, "They kept on coming in a steady procession and were being baptized."

The expanded translation also distinguishes between the tenses within the modes of Greek verbs. Thus Romans 6:1 and 6:15 become, respectively, "Shall we continue to sin habitually?" and, "Shall we sin occasionally?" Thus, too, John 4:13, 14 is rendered more accurately: "Everyone who keeps on drinking of this water shall thirst again. But whoever takes a drink of the water which I shall give him, shall positively not thirst, no, never." By way of further example, it may be pointed out that the present imperative with the negative me is clearly distinguished. Thus Paul said, "Stop having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph 5:11), not, "have no fellowship" (AV). Instances could be multiplied to show that in this expanded translation the tenses and modes of Greek verbs are rendered more accurately than in the standard translations.

(6) The translation here offered points up the significance of the use of personal pronouns in the Greek text. In Greek the person of a verb is indicated in the ending of the verb, and therefore a pronoun is not needed. When a pronoun is used in conjunction with a verb, therefore, it is used for emphasis or contrast. Thus John 10:11, where a pronoun is used, is here translated: "I alone am the good shepherd." First John 2:2 becomes "He himself is a propitiation for our sins." And such distinctions as the one made by Jesus to the Samaritan woman (John 4:22) are made clear: "As for you, you all worship that which you are not knowing. As for us, we worship that which we know"...

 

 

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