Grammar Is a Means of Grace

A.T. Robertson, the great American preacher and Greek scholar, wrote a sentence whose truth has changed my life: “Grammar is a means of grace.” And even though Robertson was talking about Greek grammar, this principle applies to reading and studying the Bible in English as well.

In other words, the study of adjectives and adverbs, commas and clauses, prepositions and participles, is a channel through which God pours spiritual growth, Christlikeness, and joy to the Christian. Therefore, you should treasure it and study it.

A few of you may be nodding your heads and mumbling, “Amen,” but those of you who spent English class chewing your pencil, staring out the window, and dreaming about being somewhere—anywhere!—else probably need more convincing. So here are three metaphors to demonstrate how God uses grammar to grow our faith and joy.

• First, grammatical knowledge is a key to unlock the treasure chest of truth.

The very term “Scripture” refers to words that are written down. And when words are written down, unless they are in a list, grammar is involved. Take the sentence “Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” That sentence has a subject (“Jesus Christ”), a verb (“is”), and a predicate (“the Son of God”).

That sentence may be clear to you, but how about a longer sentence, of which there are many in Scripture? Here’s just the beginning of a very lengthy sentence that starts in Ephesians 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (ESV). Did you notice the relative clause that states what God the Father did? How about the prepositional phrase that reveals the location of that blessing? How about the prepositional phrase that describes that blessing? How about the prepositional phrase that teaches the timing of that blessing? How about the conjunction phrase that points out the purpose of that blessing?

All that beautiful, heart-rejoicing, life-transforming truth is revealed in grammar, in prepositional phrases, in relative clauses, in nouns, adjectives, and verbs! To read those verses without considering what nouns the prepositional phrases are modifying, for example, is to miss out on enjoying the depths of salvation. But to know grammatical terms, to be able to analyze a sentence grammatically, is to have a key in your hand to unlock the riches of God’s truth.

And those depths become even clearer when you study the grammar of the original languages—Greek in the New Testament, Hebrew and Aramaic in the Old. Martin Luther, that great Reformer, said about them that the original “[l]anguages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit; they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and as the gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude.” That is why you should spend time learning Greek and Hebrew if you want to dig as deeply as possible into the rich mines of God’s Word.

But even if you can only read the Bible in a good translation, knowing English grammar will be a key in your hand to open the treasure chest of the Bible. Turning the key and lifting the lid is not always easy, but it is always worth it!

• Secondly, grammatical knowledge is a handbrake to decrease our reading speed.

Have you ever rode a bicycle down a steep hill and enjoyed the wind blowing in your hair and roaring in your ears? It’s a good thing bicycles have brakes, though, in case someone runs across your path, or just to keep your speed manageable and prevent a spectacular crash with tangled limbs and flying contents of pockets.

If you read the Bible too quickly, you are liable to crash as well—perhaps not so spectacularly, although the affects of such a crash are much more dangerous. I’m referring to believing false doctrine because of careless reading.

In 2 Timothy 2:7, the apostle Paul commanded his protégé, young Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (ESV). This is a command for us as well, for us not merely to read the Bible but to think about it. Grammatical knowledge helps you slow down as you read to notice and ponder the details.

Take, for example, this excerpt from 1 Peter 1:1-2: “To those who are elect… according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (ESV).

To whom was the letter of 1 Peter written? To people who are called “elect.” That word is then modified by one conjunction phrase, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” and three prepositional phrases: “in the sanctification of the Spirit,” “for obedience to Jesus Christ,” and “for sprinkling with his blood.” That gives us the standard of election, the means of election, and the twofold purpose of election. You could dig deeper into other passage that also talk about “foreknowledge,” about “sanctification,” and so on, to greatly enrich your knowledge of salvation and love for the Savior.

So if you spend time looking at the grammar, seeing what modifies what, finding the main point, you are using a handbrake to slow you down so you won’t crash theologically.

• Finally, grammatical knowledge is a whetstone to sharpen our minds.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength” (ESV). Obvious, isn’t it? If you try to cut a piece of wood with a dull saw, you will grunt and sweat more than if you used a razor-sharp saw. Of course, if you had a dull saw, you could simply choose not to cut wood! But as Christians, we don’t have the option not to read the Bible. And since the only way to understand the words of the Bible is by using our minds, why would we choose to this badly? Why not rather seek to sharpen our mental abilities, so that when we read and meditate on Scripture, our minds will have a keen edge, able to rightly divide the word of truth? (2 Tim 2:15)

Being able not only to read the words of Scripture but also to know the difference between finite verbs and adverbial participles, for example, enables you more skillfully to distinguish the main point of a sentence from its supporting clauses.

Of course, we must also rely on the Holy Spirit! Our minds alone cannot understand God’s truth, but since we as Christians have the Spirit, we are able to understand the Bible (1 Cor 2:12). But this doesn’t mean that we don’t have to think and work to understand it! Remember 2 Timothy 2:7? Believers should “think over what I [the inspired author of Scripture] say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (ESV).

The reason why Paul tells Timothy to think carefully over what he says is because the Lord will give him understanding. Paul is grounding the human effort of contemplation in the divine gift of illumination. Paul doesn’t say, “Think over what I say, because you don’t need the Lord’s gift of understanding.” Nor does he say, “Don’t think over what I say, because the Lord will give you understanding.” This is not an either-or situation. God’s guidance in understanding the Scriptures is the very reason why we must use our brains to understand the Scriptures! God’s gift of the Holy Spirit who knows the thoughts of God (1 Cor 2:10-12) doesn’t invalidate our thinking, but promises success to our thinking!

And the more accurately and precisely we learn to think, the better we will be able to obey 2 Timothy 2:7 and see Christ’s glory more brightly in his written Word.

Reading the Bible is a treasure hunt, and grammatical knowledge is a key to unlock the chest containing the treasure. Reading the Bible is a dangerous journey, and grammatical knowledge is a handbrake to slow us down so we don’t mishandle Scripture. Reading the Bible is joyful but difficult labor, and grammatical knowledge is a whetstone to make our tools as sharp as possible.

So go study English grammar! Work on a biblical Hebrew course! Start studying biblical Greek! You will find that grammar is a means of grace.

Brent will be teaching Elementary Greek Grammar for grades 9-12 starting in Fall 2020, as well as Early Moderns from Old Western Culture.