He likes the Bible version he is currently translating or revising. When I took lessons he was using the CSB. But if he found something he liked in another version, he would write it down and memorize it. One time we were looking at a passage in the NLT, which I don't consider a very accurate version. But somehow, the NLT of this passage better expressed the tense, so he kept track of it. Mounce learned to speak Greek at home as a small boy. His dad was a Bible translator, and they both wrote commentaries using the Greek.
But he was very humble. I asked what he thought of women in ministry, and he said he was a complimentarian, and didn't agree with women leading churches. He told me to read his commentary on 1 Tim, 1-2. So I bought the book and read a few pages each day while we drove to AZ for a week. I concluded the whole passage had to be based in how you translate the hapax legomena, "authentein." It is translated as "exercise/usurp authority over, in most offer versions. It can't be compared to any word in the a Bible, as there are no others. Recent literary research has found a lot of definitions for the word authentein. It is an infinitive. "To exercise authority over" required an added word to make sense. And it added the word "authority" which is. Noun, not an Infinitive, and is translated from exousia, "authority." Not authentein. Paul knew his languages. It was not a mistake he used authentein only once. It What would be wrong with, " A woman is not to domineer a man." That is consistent with Biblical ethics and actions. Women should not dominate men, nor vice versa. He agreed I was right, and it could easily have been something different, but because of his upbringing, he was going to stay a complimentarian. So here's me, the second year master's level Greek, discussing with my imminently recognized teacher and Greek scholar on a very controversial issue, and he never went off in me or called me names. And we politely agreed to disagree.
The Basics of Biblical Greek is what I used. I liked it, because it was a system. The text book, the work book, CDs of all the vocabulary in the whole book on tape, with room to say the word. There were also graded flash cards by number of times it is used in the Bible. I did learn every word. So I was riding my bike in winter, I would throw in my ear phones, and listen to the words over and over and repeat them. I also learned to recognize the words. Plus, there was a computer game I downloaded on my computer, which I used 4 hours in a high mountain road between Calgary and Golden BC, where
we were stuck while they broke up all the avalanches.
He might have changed the edition. Make sure the cards and vocabulary words match before you buy the sets. I've been getting his articles by email for years. Always some amazing insight!! I've never used Greek for the rest of us. Beyond the Basics of Biblical Greek is a thick grammar by Daniel Wallace who is the top Greek grammarian in the world. He is Mounce's cousin. It is well worth having for reference, once you are into the languages!!
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