Our western mind is a Hellenistic mind, we use much rational reason to build thought upon thought.If something is so, and something else is so, then this also must be so we say.We invent.Hebrew thought didn’t.They said if something is so, that means we must act in this way to be in line with what is the truth.In the Greek there are words for emotions, in ancient Hebrew there weren’t.We have many words for love.In very ancient Hebrew, love was expressed by a picture of giving gifts, and in their minds it expressed love.To our way of thinking, the giving of a gift could be many things, often not love.We don’t connect the two ideas.To their way of thinking, everything was connected so if you gave a gift it was love expressed.Often, our western mind can read the Old Testament with no idea of what it is saying.
Why does this matter?If you are a student of the Bible, it matters a great deal.It is the task of those who believe in and seek to follow the Bible to develop a biblical worldview.That means seeing the world through the eyes of scripture and developing the character and mind and heart of God within us.The question one has to answer is–what kind of mind does God have?Does He think with Greek thought or Hebrew thought?
With Hebrew thinking, the Bible has a context that we must understand, but it is not limited to our narrow blinders about what we may think it means.It can mean multiple things, which gives it richness and great applicability, assuming one knows how to handle it. Is the Song of Solomon erotic love poetry celebrating proper sexuality within marriage?Absolutely.Is it about Israel and the Church as well?Indeed it is.Are the poor that the Messiah will care for and preach good tidings for in Isaiah 61:1 (quoted in Luke 4:18) physically poor or the spiritually poor (humble) in spirit?Both.It’s not an either/or thing.Simply because a passage of the Bible applies to literal matters does not mean it does not apply to Israel or the Church or believers in their spiritual state. It can mean multiple things, which gives it richness and great applicability, assuming one knows how to handle it.
Greek thinking pits the physical against the spiritual, leading either to asceticism where the tainted and dirty physical is punished while the enlightened spiritual is developed or to hedonism, where the corruption of one’s physical body through promiscuity or gluttony is unimportant because it is only the mind and spirit and not the body that matter anyway.In Hebrew thought, the body, heart, mind, and spirit are all an interconnected whole, none of which can be neglected.In Hebrew thought the law is a part of the spiritual, in Greek thinking they the law is apart and only something to kill.
As can be expected, Greek thought is somewhat less rich in possibility than Hebrew thought, but considerably more precise.Greek thought is something that is nailed down, that means exactly and only one thing.
Even in the NT where we have only the Greek language to translate from, now, they tended to see the Bible in characteristically “Hebrew” ways, something that shows up even in the Greek.Even Paul, who had gone to school in Rome under Greek teachers, had his basic education under a famous Hebrew rabbi and his letters reflect Hebrew thought with much Hebrew quoted.In many of the very early manuscripts that have been unearthed, there are indications that the gospels were first written in the Hebrew language, even, that reflects Hebrew thinking.Even without that, there is Hebrew thinking in all the gospels, especially.
Why does this matter?If you are a student of the Bible, it matters a great deal.It is the task of those who believe in and seek to follow the Bible to develop a biblical worldview.That means seeing the world through the eyes of scripture and developing the character and mind and heart of God within us.The question one has to answer is–what kind of mind does God have?Does He think with Greek thought or Hebrew thought?
With Hebrew thinking, the Bible has a context that we must understand, but it is not limited to our narrow blinders about what we may think it means.It can mean multiple things, which gives it richness and great applicability, assuming one knows how to handle it. Is the Song of Solomon erotic love poetry celebrating proper sexuality within marriage?Absolutely.Is it about Israel and the Church as well?Indeed it is.Are the poor that the Messiah will care for and preach good tidings for in Isaiah 61:1 (quoted in Luke 4:18) physically poor or the spiritually poor (humble) in spirit?Both.It’s not an either/or thing.Simply because a passage of the Bible applies to literal matters does not mean it does not apply to Israel or the Church or believers in their spiritual state. It can mean multiple things, which gives it richness and great applicability, assuming one knows how to handle it.
Greek thinking pits the physical against the spiritual, leading either to asceticism where the tainted and dirty physical is punished while the enlightened spiritual is developed or to hedonism, where the corruption of one’s physical body through promiscuity or gluttony is unimportant because it is only the mind and spirit and not the body that matter anyway.In Hebrew thought, the body, heart, mind, and spirit are all an interconnected whole, none of which can be neglected.In Hebrew thought the law is a part of the spiritual, in Greek thinking they the law is apart and only something to kill.
As can be expected, Greek thought is somewhat less rich in possibility than Hebrew thought, but considerably more precise.Greek thought is something that is nailed down, that means exactly and only one thing.
Even in the NT where we have only the Greek language to translate from, now, they tended to see the Bible in characteristically “Hebrew” ways, something that shows up even in the Greek.Even Paul, who had gone to school in Rome under Greek teachers, had his basic education under a famous Hebrew rabbi and his letters reflect Hebrew thought with much Hebrew quoted.In many of the very early manuscripts that have been unearthed, there are indications that the gospels were first written in the Hebrew language, even, that reflects Hebrew thinking.Even without that, there is Hebrew thinking in all the gospels, especially.