by Richard Barcellos | Sep 20, 2010 | Current Events
You can read it here.
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
by Richard Barcellos | Sep 15, 2010 | Practical Theology
“Twenty things I wish I knew when I began the ministry (and am still learning now).” Great stuff! Read it here.
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
by Richard Barcellos | Sep 13, 2010 | Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics
A new life had begun, intellectual, moral, and social, teeming with elements, which could not but work and expand. It would have been hard to say with what force they would do so, or in what direction. Now the great ideas of the Gospel are old and familiar; and the very words which represent them have been sorely battered by controversy, and worn thin by use. But then the revelation of Christ had just broken, like an unexpected morning, on a weary and hopeless world. The stupendous events which had so lately passed on earth, the present actual relations with heaven which were witnessed to men by proofs within and around them, the prospect of things awful and glorious hastening on, and perhaps already near at hand, must have given a stimulus to thought and feeling, the first sensations of which it is not easy for us now to estimate. The Father revealed, the Son incarnate, the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven—redemption wrought, salvation given, the resurrection of the body, the eternal judgment, the second death, the life eternal—new principles of thought, new standards of character, new grounds of duty, new motives, new powers, new bonds between man and man, new forms of human society, new language for human lips—all coming at once upon men’s minds, placed them, as it were, in a different world from that in which they had lived before. At the same time they carried into that world of thought all the tendencies, infirmities, and perversities of our nature, and revealed truth had to settle itself into lasting forms, to find its adequate expression, and to have its moral and social consequences deduced, under a variety of influences uncongenial to itself. So critical a period, on which the whole future of the Gospel hung, would seem to cry aloud for a continued action of the living word of God; such as might, with supreme authority, both judge and guide the thoughts of men, and translate the principles which they had received into life and practice.
The Lord recognized this necessity. He met it by the living voice of his Apostles; and their Epistles remain as the permanent record of this part of their work. They are the voice of the Spirit, speaking within the Church to those who are themselves within it, certifying to them the true interpretations and applications of the principles of thought and life which as believers in Jesus they have received. This is the function in the scheme of divine instruction which belongs to these writings; …
Thomas Dehaney Bernard, The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament, 145-47
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
by Richard Barcellos | Sep 10, 2010 | Biblical Theology, Historical Theology
Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron interviewd me about by dissertation last month. You can listen to it here.
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
by Richard Barcellos | Sep 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
Why study New Testament Greek syntax?
There are at least six reasons for studying New Testament Greek syntax:
1. Because syntax identifies the function of each word in a sentence. Too often, students of New Testament Greek assume that lexical definitions (i.e., word studies) are the key to proper interpretation. Actually, since all words take on their specific meaning based on their use in a given context, though lexical analysis is a necessary step in the exegetical process, it is not determinative. As the saying goes, “Syntax is king!”
2. Because Greek sentences are rarely simple. Most sentences in the Greek New Testament are complex; they contain a subject (either stated or implied) and a predicate with various modifiers. Syntax helps the student to see how the author expands on the kernel to form a more complex sentence. Notice Luke 1:1-4 as an example. What is the simple sentence?
3. Because syntax is necessary for sentence diagramming and sentence diagramming forces the student to understand the syntax of the sentence or passage under consideration. We may call this the syntactical-diagrammatical analysis circle. We diagram to show the syntax, but in order to do so, one must understand the syntax first (or at least discover it in the diagramming process). We must agree with Scot McKnight, when he says, “The goal of diagramming is simple: to identify and display the grammatical function of each word in a sentence. Until one can display (or identify) the grammatical function of each word, it is unlikely that the grammar has been grasped.”[1]
4. Because syntax is necessary to trace arguments. As Thomas R. Schreiner says, “No one can follow the thread of Paul’s arguments if the syntax and grammar of the text are not understood.”[2] The same goes for all other authors of the New Testament. For example, in Colossians 1:5, what is the word “because” modifying? Is Paul saying “We give thanks to God…because of the hope…”? Or is he saying they have “faith in Christ and…love for all the saints because of the hope…”? And is “the hope” subjective (i.e., confident expectation in the souls of the Colossians) or objective (i.e., that which is hoped in or for)? Understanding syntax is necessary to trace arguments.
5. Because syntax is the basis from which outlines can be constructed. Once the syntax is understood (and, preferably, diagrammed), the exegete is ready to construct an outline which is faithful to the construction of the inspired text. The exegete can then be confident that he is well on his way to determining the meaning of the text. These outlines can also be utilized in sermon-crafting.
6. Because the student will be able to utilize the best exegetical tools available and interact with the experts on a meaningful level. Understanding syntax will assist students of the New Testament in the profitable use of more technical commentaries and advanced tools. Instead of taking their word for it, the informed, syntactically aware exegete will be able to interact with the best commentators on any given text. He will be able to ask the right questions of the commentators instead of discovering what those questions are (or what the commentator thinks they are).
[1] Scot McKnight, “New Testament Greek Grammatical Analysis” in Scot McKnight, editor, Introducing New Testament Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), 89.
[2] Thomas R. Schreiner, Interpreting the Pauline Epistles (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990), 97.
Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.
Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.
