David Alan Black’s NT Greek DVDs Now on YouTube

October 10, 2021 20 Comments

These DVDs consist of recorded lectures from 2005 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And they are now available for free viewing! Read Dr. Black’s announcement in his blog post. The post contains a link to his beginning New Testament Greek grammar used in the course (and here’s a direct link to the YouTube videos).

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20 Responses to David Alan Black’s NT Greek DVDs Now on YouTube

  1. Blue Collar Theologian says:
    October 10, 2021 at 2:27 pm

    Thank you for sharing this! I have some of his books. My Greek professor was his protege and Dr Black is a wise man.

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  2. SLIMJIM says:
    October 13, 2021 at 5:01 am

    Thanks for this!!!

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  3. Jim says:
    August 13, 2023 at 4:44 am

    Craig, with your extensive knowledge of Greek, tenses, word order, referents, is there a legit way of interpreting Acts 13:48 to read something like, ‘and all who believed were appointed to eternal life’? Or does pistis have to be the last word in the sentence? Thanks in advance.

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    • Craig says:
      August 13, 2023 at 6:24 am

      Word order in Greek is very flexible, due to the way all words are inflected, even though there is a sort of ‘default’ position. To put simply, items may be placed ‘out of order’ to indicate emphasis. The basic default is finite verb, then subject. This is because a finite verb automatically encodes a subject. In other words, a finite verb makes a complete sentence. But sometimes the context may not make clear what is exactly the subject, and in these cases the subject follows the verb. See John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” The verse is finite verb-specified subject.

      In 2Thess 2:7, we have part of the subject (“the secret”) positioned before the finite verb AND part of the subject after the verb! This makes the subject emphatic, but the latter portion more so: For the secret of this lawlessness.

      In the case of Acts 13:48, we place “believed” at the end of the of the sentence in English for readability.

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    • Craig says:
      August 13, 2023 at 6:32 am

      I should expound/clarify 2Thess 2:7. If Paul wanted to emphasize “this lawlessness” (in the genitive, modifying “the secret” as part of subject) only, he would have placed this before the verb. In placing “the secret” in front of the verb, thereby separating it from its genitival modifier, he, in effect is also placing this genitive modifier in an emphasized position.

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  4. Jim says:
    August 13, 2023 at 5:27 am

    I think I’ve answered my question 😄. The subject of those who believed is the gentiles. It looks as though this describes a corporate ‘appointing’ of the gentiles, moving on from the first ‘appointing’ being the Israelites (and this fits contextually from a couple of verses earlier). So it makes the question moot. The perfect inflection of ‘having been appointed’ would indicate completion prior to ‘believed’, which does answer my question. You can stand down Craig 😂

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  5. Jim says:
    August 13, 2023 at 6:50 am

    Thanks for the replies. Strange the timestamps are not chronological. You say ‘believed’ is put at the end of Acts 13:48 for readability, so it’s not there on grammatical grounds? The meaning of that clause is changed considerably if the result of belief was eternal life, rather than the Calvinistic determination that prior appointment to eternal life resulted in belief.

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    • Craig says:
      August 13, 2023 at 7:20 am

      I’m not sure what you mean by the timestamps not being chronological. Now, I did respond to your comments a bit out of order, if that’s a factor.

      See Bible Hub here, noting Young’s Literal Translation (and Darby) as the only ones not placing “believed” at the end: https://biblehub.com/multi/acts/13-48.htm

      I will have to ponder this verse further. I don’t think we must interpret this as Calvinistic determinism, but I will have to see how to best render this verse as not implying it. I’m now looking at Darrell Bock’s commentary (BECNT), in which he states: Those how have been ordained to eternal life believe. Hmmmm…

      I will respond later.

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    • Craig says:
      August 13, 2023 at 8:46 am

      The following in A. T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament sheds some light (bold added):

      The joy of the Gentiles increased the fury of the Jews . . . It was triumph with the Gentiles, but defeat with the Jews. As many as were ordained to eternal life (hosoi ēsan tetagmenoi eis zōēn aiōnion) . . . The word “ordain” is not the best translation here. “Appointed,” as Hackett shows, is better. The Jews here had voluntarily rejected the word of God. On the other side were the Gentiles who gladly accepted what the Jews had rejected, not all the Gentiles. Why these Gentiles had ranged themselves on God’s side as opposed to the Jews Luke does not tell us. This verse does not solve the vexed problem of divine sovereignty and human free agency. There is no evidence that Luke had in mind an absolutum decretum of personal salvation. Paul had shown that God’s plan extended to and included the Gentiles. Certainly the Spirit of God does move upon the human heart to which some respond, as here, while others push him away . . . The subject of this verb [“believed”, episteusan] is the relative clause [“as many as had been appointed to eternal life”]. By no manner of legerdemain can it be made to mean “those who believe were appointed.” It was saving faith that was exercised only by those who were appointed to eternal life, who were ranged on the side of eternal life [ED: some of the Gentiles there, none of the Jews there], who were thus revealed as the subjects of God’s grace by the stand that they took on this day for the Lord. It was a great day for the kingdom of God.

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    • Craig says:
      August 13, 2023 at 10:20 am

      And here’s I. Howard Marshall’s TNTC commentary on this verse:

      …It could be taken in the sense that God had predestined certain of them to believe (cf. 16:14; 18:10). But it could also refer to those who had already put their trust in God in accordance with the Old Testament revelation of his grace and were enrolled in his people, or perhaps it means that the Gentiles believed in virtue of the fact that God’s plan of salvation included them. Whatever be the precise nuance of the words, there is no suggestion that they received eternal life independently of their own act of conscious faith…

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  6. Jim says:
    August 13, 2023 at 3:35 pm

    Thanks Craig. Great quotes

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    • Craig says:
      August 13, 2023 at 8:21 pm

      This may be the clearest and most persuasive quote yet. This is in John B. Polhill’s Acts commentary (New American Commentary) regarding Acts 13:48:

      …Many of them believed, accepting Christ as Savior. They were those who were “appointed for eternal life.” In this phrase we encounter the same balance between human volition and divine providence that is found throughout Acts. On their part these Gentiles took an active role in believing [ED: the verb here is in the active voice], in committing themselves to Christ; but it was in response to God’s Spirit moving in them, appointing them for life. All salvation is ultimately only by the grace of God

      I note that the participle tetagmenoi (“appointed”) is one of those middle/passive voiced verbs. In other words, it can possibly be interpreted either passive or middle. Those of a Calvinistic bent deem it passive, and, hence, it is strictly by God’s “appointing”. Interestingly, my software specifically parses it middle. Middle voice is hard to define, but generally most sources state it is subject focused in some way—and the subject here is “As many as had been…”. I don’t know if this can be pressed too hard, though. Certainly, the active voice of “believed” is important here.

      And I think we should see these Gentiles referenced above as juxtaposed with the Jews who specifically ‘rejected the word of God, not considering themselves worthy of eternal life’ (13:46).

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  7. Jim says:
    August 13, 2023 at 10:00 pm

    Great input! I agree that a good deal of the way Calvinism lands hard on God’s sovereignty to ‘dispense’ salvation to whom he will, is actually the NT writers juxtaposing the now ‘fading away’ Judaic approach to God (works of the flesh that are dead) with one that comes through Christ by faith alone and which brings eternal life.

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  8. Jim says:
    August 14, 2023 at 12:50 am

    Although, to be clear I believe the purpose of the second final resurrection is to apportion eternal life or permanent destruction to all those outside of Christ and his gospel, including Jews and everyone who never came under the pre-Christ Judaic laws and covenants. An interesting conversation for another time perhaps.

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