Page 24 - Discipleship Ministries Student E-Book

Another great took which is available online is an interlinear translation of the verse. You can select a
verse in English, and the verse will then be displayed in Greek or Hebrew. With a short basic study of
the original languages, you can gain an understand of how various word (nouns, verbs, etc.) are used to
construct a sentence. You can study the tenses and voices of verbs and the cases of nouns. This simple
knowledge will open a whole new world in correctly interpreting Scriptures.
Biblehub.com has an excellent interlinear version: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/. Here is an
example after inserting Ephesians 2:8 in the search box:

An interlinear translation will show you the Greek words for the verse in Greek order, the English words
below, and the tenses and voices of all verbs, the case of all the nouns, the objects of each noun, and so
on. If you understand what these tenses, voices, and cases mean, you will easily be able to find out
what the author of the verse is clearly saying. The top line of numbers represents the Strong’s
Dictionary number so you can look up the definition of each word. The Greek is presented in both in
English alphabetical style of Greek words and the actual Greek symbols for each word.

Here is how the interlinear is so very helpful. The Bible states that man is dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1-3).
The word “dead” is a figure of speech to describe our spiritual condition. It is also described in the Bible
as “sickness” (Matt. 9:12). This is called the depravity of man. In short, depravity corrupts our nature in
sin, but it does not destroy (as in death) our ability to seek God. Depravity separates us from
communion with God. Mankind was created in the image of God, and that image was not destroyed
when man sinned in the Garden of Eden. What happened is spiritual separation from God, not spiritual
11
annihilation.

Here is why that is significant. There are reformed theologians who say this verse proves to us that
since mankind is spiritually dead, no person can place his faith in the work of Christ unless the Spirit of

11 See Norman Geisler’s book, “Chosen but Free”, p. 45 and 63 for a further explanation of the definition of spiritual
death.

23