Scribes Trained for the Kingdom: A Pre-Grammar for New Testament Greek as a Spiritual Discipline

As a Pre-Grammar this book is intended as a prelude leading to New Testament (NT) Greek studies. (1) It focuses on why the pursuit of Greek as a spiritual discipline can be an exciting adventure that forever changes the way one reads the Bible; and (2) it gives one a taste of the language--a kind of jump start. Each chapter is divided into two sections: I. SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE (with various titles) The first section of each chapter is the primary focus of the book. It emphasizes and illustrates why the pursuit of NT Greek can be a spiritual discipline: a life-long encounter with biblical texts a spiritual journey.Chapters 1-3 briefly describe spiritual disciplines and why the pursuit of NT Greek belongs here. Chapters 4-10 lay out seven (7) benchmarks one for each chapter. By looking at one specific text from the Gospel of Matthew (13:52) these chapters highlight the pursuit of NT Greek as one way of serving God: a truly spiritual discipline. II. TIME FOR GREEK (always this title) The second section of each chapter offers some very basic Greek enough to give readers a taste for the language. This is not a shortcut to learning Greek. (There is no such thing!) Here a mere taste of Greek is offered at a light pace a kind of jump start into the language or maybe like a sampler in a restaurant. This small amount of the language is intended to help one see the larger picture as a way of serving God and to whet the appetite for taking the next step. A focus only or even primarily on the Greek part of this book will result in missing the point of the book.TABLE OF CONTENTS Explanation of Chapter Format: 9 Master List: The 7 Spiritual Benchmarks 11 1 A GREEK EXPERIENCE 13 2 A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE 21 3 A TIME TO SOW 31 4 SCRIBES 39 5 TRAINED 47 6 KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 55 7 HOUSEHOLD MANAGER 69 8 TREASURE 83 9 NEW 93 10 OLD 103 APPENDIX 119