Advice With Regard To The Greek Comprehensive

  1. Students at Calvin Theological Seminary are expected to have memorized Greek words employed 15 or more times in the New Testament. These can be found in Bruce M. Metzger, Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek, Baker, 1997.
  2. About one-half of the Greek Comprehensive will be translation from one passage in the New Testament. Vocabulary employed less than 15 times is supplied.
  3. A second section involves the identification of verb and participle forms. Students should be able to identify the grammatical data such as person and number, tense, voice, mood, and case. For participles students should be able to identify the use of an adverbial participle (temporal, causal etc.) or the reason for a supplementary participle (periphrastic, verbs of perception). Reasons for the use of the subjunctive should also be known. These can be reviewed in the Overview of Greek Grammar (pdf), by Calvin Theological Seminary professor of New Testament Dean Deppe.
  4. Frequently there will be a section on grammatical distinctions. We especially emphasize conditional sentences, the difference between the present (movie picture) and aorist (snapshot) tenses, and the various uses of the genitive. Insights into the exegetical significance of these distinctions can be reviewed in the Overview of Greek Grammar (pdf).
  5. Finally, sometimes students are asked to complete a short clausal outline. This is usually done in English comparing it with the Greek text and identifying the type of clause in the left margin. Examples can be found at the end of the Overview of Greek Grammar (pdf).
  6. If students do not pass the Greek Comprehensive on their first attempt, professors will gladly review their mistakes with them so that they will be competent to pass the test on their next try.
  7. For students who have difficulty with memorization, we offer a three day seminar employing Logos Bible software as an alternative to the Hebrew and Greek comprehensives. There are exercises during this time to confirm that you have developed the proper skills to use this program in original language exegesis and sermon preparation.