Yesterday I quoted Greek words in my sermon. I don’t usually do that - and for a reason. It prompted me to put into writing what has become my guide for when and when not to use Greek in a sermon. There are two reasons, in my opinion, to use Greek when preaching to a normal congregation.

First reason: Sometimes the sound of the Greek word is similar to an English word which serves as an illustration to help the listener grapple with the meaning of the text. As an example I think of the word dunamis which occurs in Ephesians 1:19 and which is translated “power” The verse reads, “and which is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” The English word “dynamite” comes from that Greek word. When preaching on Ephesians 1:19 and wanting to help the people to realize what that power is, it may be helpful to pronounce the Greek word and then point out our English word “dynamite” and then proceed to talk about the “dynamite power” of God which is ours to live by.

Another example is when trying to explain the meaning of “nations” in the Great Commission. We are told to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). There is a real problem for an English speaker here. The word enthe does not correspond one-on-one to our English word “nation.” So, pronouncing the Greek word ethne and then pointing out that our English word “ethnic” comes from that, will help the listener realize that what Jesus was talking about was more akin to our ethnic groups than to political-geographical units which we call “nations.”

So, the first reason I would quote a Greek word is that its similarity in sound to other English words may help the listener better understand the meaning of a particular text.

Second reason: Yesterday I was preaching on 1 Timothy 1:5 and ran into the word agape, which is one of the Greek words for “love.” The sermon was about love. It seemed helpful to point out that there were four words in Greek that are translated “love” in English. The reason it was helpful was that by eliminating certain shades of meaning it highlighted the actual meaning. I could have merely said, “The first one means…, the second one means…, the third word means…., and the fourth one is in 1 Timothy 1:5 and it means….” But that seemed laborious and unnecessarily vague. In that case it would have been almost distracting to not mention the Greek. So I did. I talked about eros, and philia, and storgay, and agape. As a matter of fact, because of dealing in a bit of detail with the meaning of agape I actually used that word over and over in the sermon.

This kind of situation doesn’t happen much. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember it ever happening until yesterday.

A different setting: I have been talking about preaching to a normal church gathering. If I am called on to preach to a bunch of preachers or seminary graduates I might refer to the Greek in other ways. But not in the normal church setting.

Why not? Here the heart of the preacher is revealed to be as sinful as those to whom he preaches. If the truth were known, many a preacher quotes Greek because it impresses people. The people don’t know Greek. It makes him seem educated. It sets him up higher on the pedestal. People are impressed. The preacher’s own insecurities often have more to do with him quoting Greek than the people’s needs.

That isn’t what we preachers are here for. We aren’t supposed to be impressing people. We’re supposed to be helping people. And to be brutally honest, most of the times Greek is quoted by a preacher in a sermon it isn’t helping anyone.

So, if I’m preaching to a normal church gathering I stay away from quoting Greek except for the two reasons which I’ve mentioned above.