Beginning Greek
Purpose
Notes Page has resources that I'll be updating as I'm learning. This page outlines my approach to learning Biblical Greek. Below are the primary resources I am using, including textbooks, lecture series, and tools for practice and reading.
I'm working towards reading 1 John initially as the Greek is easier to understand and the repetitive vocabulary makes it good for beginners. That requires beginning Greek and a little extra vocabulary. My broader goal of reading the entire New Testament requires intermediate Greek which I'll go over next.
Primary Resources
The grammar I'm using is Beginning with New Testament Greek by Benjamin L Merkle and Robert L. Plummer. The website for the textbook Daily Dose of Greek has free lectures going over the material and other helpful resources. Benjamin Merkle and Robert Plummer also have a book called Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Reviving New Testament Greek.
This is an additional place to go over the materials from the book besides the author's website:
For free materials, New Testament Greek for Beginners is a textbook based on Gresham Machen's older work. The website biblicalelearning.org is a great place to go. It has a Mastering New Testament Greek home page, Textbook, and Workbook. There is also a lecture series to go along with it:
The bundle of Danny Zacharias Apps (ParseGreek, FlashGreek, and IGreek) is great for parsing and vocab practice. The website mastergreek.com is a free alternative for parsing practice specifically.
I like Tyndale's physical Greek New Testament for reading. The Greek New Testament SBL Edition can be read online for free. Another option is reading the New Testament at gntreader.com which has Abbot-Smith's A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament alongside of it.
Three video series reading 1 John: Greek Bible Speaker (Eras. Gk) with English Captions by Ted Hildebrandt Biblicalelearning, I John in Greek (as read by Maurice Robinson), and 1 John (Westcott-Hort). Two video series explaining 1 John: 1 John 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 by Daily Dose of Greek for a quick translation guide and 1 John in Greek by Ken Schenck for a detailed explanation.
Overall Approach
The vocabulary in each section should be mastered. The paradigms should be drilled. Don't get stuck on a chapter if it is not quite mastered. Do the practice, work on memorizing, but keep moving through the material. Some of it will take time to sink in or will make more sense as you continue on.
Secondary Resources
Bill Mounce has free lectures on biblicaltraining.org called Biblical Greek and a website billmounce.com with resources although it is geared more towards those who have purchased his textbook.
Another free online textbook to check out is Biblical Greek: Beginning the Adventure by Nathan E. Purtzer.
Intermediate Greek
Purpose
Although I'm still learning beginning Greek, I've gone ahead and looked into intermediate Greek as well. An intermediate Greek grammar is the next step after completing beginning Greek and learning to recognize basic forms and syntax.
Intermediate Greek moves past a heavy focus on identifying forms to understanding their function in greater detail. It introduces more advanced concepts such as verbal aspect, clause relationships, and discourse features which enables readers to interpret the New Testament with greater nuance and accuracy.
Primary Resources
The textbook I would get is Going Deeper with New Testament Greek, Revised Edition: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the New Testament by Andreas Köstenberger, Benjamin Merkle, and Robert Plummer. This grammar is a follow up to Beginning with New Testament Greek.
At this point you should be reading through the New Testament from easier to harder books and learning the vocabulary book by book. Biblical Mastery Academy's Vocab Pack is a good way to do this. Broadening out your reading past the New Testament into the Septuagint and Apostolic Fathers is another good way to move forward with your knowledge of Greek.
Another good option is Intermediate Greek Grammar: Syntax for Students of the New Testament by Dave Matthewson which also has lectures:
Daniel Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament with Scripture, Subject, and Greek Word Indexes is widely recommended and the most detailed option. It could also be looked at after Going Deeper as a reference work. The following lectures focus on exegesis and use this book:
Supplementary materials include New Testament Exegesis by Gordon Fee, Exegetical Fallacies by D. A. Carson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity by Everett Ferguson, and Idioms of the Greek New Testament by Stanley Porter.