Why Study Hebrew?

"This is a question of great importance. Your motivation for studying Hebrew will fuel the passion behind the effort required to master this biblical language. John Piper pleads with us to consider the privilege of studying the biblical languages along with the peril of its neglect. This is something you must consider." — BBH

"The more a theologian detaches himself from the basic Hebrew and Greek text of Holy Scripture, the more he detaches himself from the source of real theology! And real theology is the foundation of a fruitful and blessed ministry." — Heinrich Bitzer (Banker)

"What happens to a denomination when a useful knowledge of Greek and Hebrew is not cherished and encouraged for the pastoral office? I don’t mean simply offered and admired. I mean cherished, promoted, and sought." — John Piper

• The confidence of pastors to determine the precise meaning of Biblical texts diminishes.
• The uncertainty of having to depend on differing translations - which always involve much interpretation - will tend to discourage careful textual analysis in sermon preparation.
• Expository preaching – which devotes a good bit of the sermon to explaining. the meaning of the text - is not much esteemed by the preachers or taught in the seminaries.
• Weakness in Greek and Hebrew also gives rise to exegetical imprecision and carelessness. And exegetical imprecision is the mother of liberal theology.
• We create an eldership of professional academicians. We surrender to the seminaries and universities essential dimensions of our responsibility as elders and overseers of the churches.

"Where pastors can no longer articulate and defend doctrine by a reasonable and careful appeal to the original meaning of Biblical texts, they will tend to become close-minded traditionalists who clutch their inherited ideas, or open-ended pluralists who don’t put much stock in doctrinal formulations. In both cases the succeeding generations will be theologically impoverished and susceptible to error." — John Piper

"Oh, for the day when prayer and grammar will meet each other with great spiritual combustion!" — John Piper

"I now studied much, about 12 hours a day, chiefly Hebrew... [and] committed portions of the Hebrew Old Testament to memory; and this I did with prayer, often falling on my knees ... I looked up to the Lord even whilst turning over the leaves of my Hebrew dictionary." — George Mueller (age 24)

"Though weak, I often spent two hours in my evening retirements and prayed over my Greek Testament, and Bishop Hall’s most excellent Contemplations, every hour that my health would permit." — George Whitfield

"If the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the word, I might have still remained a chained monk, engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obscurity of a cloister; the pope, the sophists, and their anti-Christian empire would have remained unshaken." — Martin Luther

"Continuing education is being pursued everywhere. Let’s give heed to the word of Martin Luther: 'As dear as the gospel is to us all, let us as hard contend with its language.' Bitzer did. And Bitzer was a banker!" — John Piper