The Art of Biblical Words

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About Course

The Art of Biblical Words is a prerequisite course for our Online Bible Institute Graduate programs. Every student applying for our graduate program must take and complete this course.

Many key biblical words are either unfamiliar or have lost their original meaning in our
modern context. Gain the skills you need to understand these words every time you
read, and try out some of the best free tools scholars use to uncover the original
meaning of biblical words.

Even though you will access the sessions through our Online Bible Institute platform, you will watch the sessions and complete the Bible Project requirements on the Bible Project Classroom platform. You must open a free account on the Bible Project Classroom site. They will provide you with a username and password different from the one you have for the Online Bible Institute. The link below will open a new window and allow you to create an account at the Bible Project Classroom.

Sign up for the Bible Project Classroom

All of the ideas and principles conveyed by the instructor in this course are not necessarily held by the Online Bible Institute Network.

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Course Content

Session 1
Even unfamiliar words can help convey meaning, but overly familiar words can potentially obscure meaning. Meaning has an important relationship to words, but there are more factors for communicating meaning that just words. Our modern definitions for words may not match the range of meaning for biblical words written thousands of years ago. Learning to study biblical words is crucial to deepening Bible study.

  • Video for Session 1

Session 2
Reading the Bible is a cross-cultural experience. When an author sits down to write, they don’t use a mental dictionary, they use a mental encyclopedia. We must strive to be aware of our own encyclopedia, and guard against imposing our own assumptions and meaning onto the text. Reading well requires that we work to discover the encyclopedia of the biblical authors by investigating the historical, cultural, and textual background of the Bible.

Session 3
The Bible was written in ancient Hebrew, ancient Aramaic, and Koine Greek. Jesus and the New Testament authors were raised with an encyclopedia that came from the Hebrew Bible, often by way of its Greek translation. Tracing every occurrence of a word throughout the Bible is a powerful way to better understand the range of meaning for that word. Tracing a New Testament word back through its use in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible can reveal connections the author intended to make.

Session 4
Most words have a range of meanings, and we need context to determine what aspect of a word’s meaning an author intends. Use a variety of translations when you study. Different translations are like tools designed for different purposes.

Session 5
Each biblical author writes with their own emphases, styles, and ideas. To better understand how an author is using a word, study it in expanding circles of context—the same book, other works by the same author, the same collection, and the entire Bible.

Final Exam and Final Task

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