6. He may be made to understand the reasons for many changes of rendering from an older version, which, on their face, seem to him arbitrary and useless.
7. He can be taught something of the characteristic usage of
words and phrases by different authors, and may learn to de- tect, even through the English version, certain differences of style. (See the Introductions to the different books.)
8. He can be shown the simpler distinctions between the Greek tenses, and the force of the Greek article; and how the observance of these distinctions adds to the vigor and liveliness of the translation.
Much valuable matter of this kind is contained in commen- taries ; and in some popular commentaries considerable promi- nence is given to it, notably in the two admirable works of Dr. Morison on Matthew and Mark. But it is scattered over a wide surface, and is principally confined to commentaries pre- pared for the critical student; while very much lies hidden in lexicons and etymological treatises, and in special essays distributed through voluminous periodicals. I have collected and sifted a large amount of this material from various and reliable sources, and have applied it to the treatment of the words as they occur, verse by verse, divesting it of technicali- ties, and trying to throw it into a form suited to the students of the English Bible.
I had these so prominently in view at the beginning that I seriously contemplated the entire omission of Greek words. On further thought, however, I decided that my plan might, without detriment to the original purpose, be stretched so as to include beginners in the study of the Greek Testament, and certain college-bred readers who have saved a little Greek out of the wreck of their classical studies. For the convenience of such I have inserted the original words wherever it seemed ex- pedient; but always in parentheses and with the translation appended. The English reader may therefore be assured that any value which the book may have for him will not be im- paired by the presence of the unfamiliar characters. He has but to pass them over, and to confine his attention to the Eng- lish text.
xil PREFACE.
It is evident that my purpose relieves me of the duty of the exegesis of passages, save in those cases where the word under consideration is the point on which the meaning of the entire passage turns. The temptation to overstep this limit has been constantly present, and it is not impossible that I may have occasionally transgressed. But the pleasure and the value of the special study of words will, I think, be enhanced for the student by detaching it from the jungle of exegetical matter in which, in ordinary commentaries, it is wellnigh lost.
A few words should be said respecting a name which the title of this book will at once suggest to New-Testament stu- dents—I mean Bengel. The indebtedness of all workers in this field to John Albert Bengel it is not easy to overstate. His well-known “Gnomon,” which still maintains a high and hon- orable rank among commentaries after the lapse of nearly a century and a half, was the pioneer in this method of treating scripture. My own obligations to him are very great for the impulse to this line of study which I received in translating the “Gnomon” more than twenty-five years ago; more for that, in- deed, than for any large amount of help in the present work. For his own labors have contributed to the great extension of his special line of study since the appearance of the “ Gno- mon” in 1742. The entire basis of New-Testament philology and textual criticism has been shifted and widened, and many of his critical conclusions, therefore, must be either modified or rejected. His work retains its value for the preacher. He must always stand pre-eminent for his keen and deep spiritual insight, and for that marvellously terse and pithy diction with which, as with a master-key, he so often throws open by a sin- gle turn the secret chambers of a word ; but for critical results the student must follow later and surer guides.