Customer Reviews

Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament

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More than any other Greek reference tool, this handy volume has been my steadfast companion to NT. While I still use other Greek reference books, this remains my most treasured book. In sum, these are the reasons why:
1. It is arranged according to the order of the New Testament (book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse). Therefore, it is tremendously easy to use.
2. Every important verbs, nouns, prepositions are mentioned with accuracy and clarity. The definitions are given to understand the meaning of the word in the context.
3. It provides important cultural and historical background of the word used. This is important in exegetical work.
4. The typeset is easier to the eyes.
5. It is portable. This book is light and small, therefore you can carry it anywhere.

NOTE:
(a)The new edition came out, but I quickly went back to this volume. The new edition is large, heavy, and less appealing.
(b) This book is out of print. So you might have to find it in used book sale. I was fortunate enough to find another one (via Amazon.com) since my old one is quickly falling apart.

"A Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament," by Rienecker has been a tremendous help to me as a pastor in the study of the New Testament. One of its values in in its ease of use - important words are listed in the order they appear in the text. More importantly, the definitions are very scholarly,accurate and objective, reflecting very little, if any, of the author's prejudices. I have recommended this book to many scholars over the years.

This book already has another revised edition but I have found this version to be very helpful when I am attempting an interpretation of a particular passage. Not only is it quite easy to locate the word in question because the book is arranged in the order of the New Testament, but you can also be sure that the definition of the word is the intended meaning for your specific phrase, and not just a general meaning that might not be appropriate. Knowing how to read Greek is definitely recommended, but you can get around that if necessary by simply looking up the word from your Bible in Strong's Concordance. A very handy and useful tool.

This is a handy little volume. I purchased it when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary. It goes through the NT verse by verse. Important Greek words are given in Greek letters, with a short definition and sometimes an abbreviated parsing. Short exegetical comments are also sometimes provided. What makes this book valuable is its small size. My edition is 5"x7" with a leather-flex binding. So it is easy to carry.

Of course, with its small size, it is not that detailed. So I did not refer to this volume much as I was working on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT). I mainly used more detailed lexicons, but I did refer to this book on occasion. So it was good that I had it on hand.