1. What is Concordance?
2. Why do we need concordance?
3. How to use the concordance for effective bible study - Tips
4. Practical bible study using concordance
5. Precautions to observe in using the concordance
Question: is anyone here familiar with Concordance? Do we know what it is?
Chelsea - Its an alphabetical list of words with references to a certain text or passage
Samson - Bible dictionary sort of
1. What is Concordance
Concordance is a bible, an index of words in Hebrew or Greek showing the Pronunciation of the Hebrew or Greek words, the transliteration and definition of same . It also shows other words this Greek word can be translated into (as used by KJV) it shows the number of times it appears and the verses it appears.
You'll most times find it translated into KJV English.
It helps the reader/user to compare how these words are used in other chapters for better comprehension.
2. Why Concordance?
We use concordance because:
The bible we have today wasn't originally written in English language.
The OT was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, while the NT in Greek, Koine Greek specifically.
History has it that the English Bible is the fourth level of translation from the original Hebrew/Greek bible.
Also, we need concordance because of translation errors as recorded in the bible translations we've. The KJV is the most closest to the Hebrew and Greek bible, and even so, most of the 1611 English used might not be applicable to us today.
Let me also add to this that the Hebrew and Greek is vast than English. Especially Greek, it is wider, unlike English that is limited in application. Most times a word in the Greek can mean 10 different things in English language and the AMPC version of the bible helps us see this.
This is also a reason to have and use the Concordance
This is one of the reasons why we see something like Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5 "...deliver him to Satan for the crucifying of the flesh" and we sometimes get confused.
Using concordance also helps us understand the Bible better. We can understand the thought of the writer being communicated as we study.
Let me give an example:
For my Yoruba people here: lets say i'm talking to Omotola and i want her attention, i'll say something like "tẹti silẹ"
Literally in English it means "put your ears to the ground", but that is not what I mean. What's intended to communicate was Omotola ,listen attentively" but a non Yoruba person might go by the literal meaning and miss the though being communicated.
Also, I should say - There is nothing spiritual about concordance it doesn't depict how spiritual a person is.
3. How to use the concordance
1. We should have the Bible concordance on our phones and of course our usual English Bible. (I'll like to say that you'll mostly find concordance being translated in the light of KJV translation).
2. While reading our normal English Bible, we might come across a word that is not clear in usage, we launch our concordance and check up the word. We check how it is used, it's literal and figurative meaning, it's relative words used elsewhere.
3. We also compare its usage. Is it a verb, a noun, an adjective, a conjunction? These are the things to look out for.
4. After checking the above, we check it's definition. The concordance will always give you definitions.
5. We might need to check the root word for some Greek words, this will be given in the concordance.
Just as in English,we have a root word, it is same for Greek/Hebrew. E.g, We derive purposefully from purpose in the English language.
We'll understand Better when we get to the practical aspect.
4. Practical usage of concordance in studying the bible
5. Precautions
There is nothing spiritual about using concordance. Using concordance or not is not a gauge of spirituality.
Let's remember that beyond checking the Greek meaning or Hebrew, CONTEXT IS KING.
we can know all Greek words and still miss what the author is trying to communicate.
We should study the pretext
We should understand the context
We should study the post text and with the aid of concordance, we'll have an effective bible study.
Let's not forget, the whole essence of this is to understand the author's thought being communicated and not to be doing Greek/Hebrew scholar upandan.
