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Historic Christianity vs Calvinism  /  Lecture 9: The History and Dangers of Proof-texting  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 7
Finny’s language examples (dust, original, left, clip) and his bilingual/ESL experiences are used to argue that native speakers have “vast advantages” and that “unanimity of the native speakers” is a “powerful advantage”; how should that reshape the weight you give to later theological systems versus the earliest Greek-speaking Christian interpreters?
Another way to ask: Finny argues that native Greek speakers had a big advantage in understanding the New Testament. Should that make you trust later theology systems less than the earliest Greek-speaking Christian teachers, and why?

Direct Answer Finny’s argument suggests you should give special weight to early, native Greek-speaking Christian witnesses when interpreting the Greek New Testament, because they had a natural grasp of nuance that later, non-native readers (and translation-driven systems) may miss. It doesn’t mean later theology is worthless, but it should be tested against the earliest linguistic and historical context.

Support from Transcript:

  • Finny’s examples show words can mean opposites depending on context: “dust” (remove vs apply), “left” (departed vs remaining), “clip” (attach vs cut), “original” (first vs creative).
  • He says native speakers have “vast advantages” and non-natives miss “richness of what was intended.”
  • He ties this to Augustine: he “famously did not know Greek,” tried late, and thus is “dealing with translations” even though the NT was written in Greek.
  • Finny contrasts Augustine with “Clement of Rome, or Irenaeus, or Justin Martyr…who grew up speaking it natively and fluently.”
  • Key claim: “If you can claim unanimity of the native speakers on a position, that is a powerful, powerful advantage.”
  • This is part of why he says Christians “should all learn church history, particularly the early church.”
Discussion Follow-ups How often do you check how early Greek-speaking writers read key salvation texts? If a later system conflicts with a strong early consensus, what should get the benefit of the doubt?

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