Help in Using the Original Languages in Preaching Help in Using the Original Languages in Preaching Jay E. Adams Extracted from Ordained Servant vol. After all, there was no time in the history of preaching when there were more good translations than now. This is a special problem today, when so many translators have determined to become interpretive in their renderings. Self-help books and typed languages courses in both Greek and Hebrew exist.
English translations tend to trowel off the original tone of the writers.
Only by becoming acquainted with the original can one restore this. Without some knowledge of the languages, one cannot follow the reasoning behind the renderings suggested. A certain confidence derives from having examined the text for one's self. But I ll never be a Greek or Hebrew scholar. That is true of most pastors.