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Using Biblical Languages in Sermon Preparation: Greek and Hebrew

June 28, 2026

Working with the original biblical languages — Koine Greek for the New Testament and Hebrew for the Old Testament — deepens your understanding of the text. Even without fluency, using original language tools strategically allows you to access nuances that translations cannot always capture.

Why the Original Languages Matter

Translation is inherently an act of interpretation. Even the finest translation cannot fully render every layer of meaning present in the original language within a single target word.

A few examples illustrate why this matters.

Greek words for “love”: English Bibles use the single word “love,” but the Greek New Testament has multiple distinct words: agapē (ἀγάπη), philia (φιλία), eros (ἔρως), and storgē (στοργή). In John 21, when Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” three times, the dialogue alternates between agapē and philia — a detail that invites reflection on the nature of that exchange (though scholars differ on how much weight to place on this alternation).

Hebrew “to know”: In Genesis 4:1, the Hebrew יָדַע (yāda’), translated as “Adam lay with his wife,” literally means “to know.” In Hebrew, knowing is not merely cognitive — it connotes intimate personal relationship. This single word opens up a theology of human sexuality rooted in knowledge and relational union.

Greek verbal aspect: 1 John 3:6 — “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning” — uses the Greek present tense, which typically conveys ongoing action. The verse means habitual or continuous sinning, not a single act. Understanding this tense prevents both the perfectionist misreading (“true Christians never sin”) and unwarranted alarm from a single failure.

Practical Tools for Original Language Study

You don’t need an advanced degree to benefit from original language study. The following tools put these resources within reach.

1. Interlinear Bibles

An interlinear Bible displays the original language word with a translation directly beneath each word. You can see exactly what Greek or Hebrew word underlies a given English translation.

Old Testament: Interlinears based on the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS)
New Testament: Interlinears based on the Nestle-Aland 28th edition (NA28) or UBS5

Digitally, Logos Bible Software and Accordance offer full interlinear functionality. For free access, biblehub.com provides solid interlinear tools for both Testaments.

2. Lexicons

Lexicons give the semantic range and usage history of individual words across ancient literature.

For New Testament Greek:

BDAG (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature): the standard reference
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: older but freely available online
LSJ (Liddell-Scott-Jones): covers classical Greek beyond the New Testament

For Old Testament Hebrew:

BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon): the classic reference
HALOT (Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament): the modern scholarly standard
TWOT (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament): organized for theological word studies

3. Grammars

You don’t need to read a grammar cover to cover. Use them as references when a particular grammatical feature matters for your passage — a specific verbal tense, voice, or syntactical construction.

New Testament Greek: Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics; Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek

Old Testament Hebrew: Gesenius’s Hebrew Grammar; Waltke and O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

4. Using Commentaries Wisely

Good commentaries include original language analysis and can serve as a shortcut. However, read commentaries only after you’ve made your own observations from the text. Consulting a commentary first risks allowing its conclusions to shape your reading before you’ve engaged the text yourself.

Reliable commentary series: NICNT/NICOT (accessible), WBC (scholarly), NIGTC/NIBC, and the Pillar New Testament Commentary series.

A Worked Example: Romans 3:21–26

The phrase “the righteousness of God” (dikaiosynē theou, δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ) in Romans 3:21 has been debated for decades.

Does it mean “a righteousness that comes from God” (the righteousness imputed to us), “God’s own attribute of righteousness” (his moral character), or “God’s saving activity” (his faithfulness to covenant promises)? Your answer shapes your entire doctrine of justification.

Studying this expression through original language tools — its genitive construction in Greek, its parallels in Isaiah’s “righteousness of God,” and its use across Romans — is not optional background work for preaching Romans 3. It is the work itself. The fruit of that investigation is what you bring to your congregation.

Translating Original Language Insights for the Pulpit

When sharing original language insights in a sermon, keep these principles in mind.

Avoid using Greek and Hebrew to perform scholarship. The original languages are a means of understanding the text, not a display of learning. Congregants should gain insight from the sermon without needing to remember a transliteration.

Tell the story of the word. Rather than announcing “the Greek word here is…” say instead: “In the world of Jesus’s first hearers, this word carried a meaning that stopped people in their tracks…” This communicates the insight without requiring specialized knowledge.

Focus on one or two key words per sermon. Covering multiple original language terms in a single message fatigues listeners. Select the one or two words most critical to the passage and explore them well.

Original language study deepens the quality of sermon preparation. More important than perfect fluency is the disposition to listen humbly to what the language and culture of the text have to say. God revealed himself in specific words, a specific language, and a specific culture — and honoring that specificity is part of the interpreter’s responsibility.

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