A Greek Class that Left Me in Awe of God as Father

“The professor was reading and translating aloud from the Greek. When he got to the last phrase in the verse, he started crying as he repeated ‘kai esmen’ several times…. The phrase is translated ‘and that is what we are’ ” - Eric Geiger

Discussion

The best, most helpful classes in seminary were my Greek classes. Dr. Rodney Decker instilled in me a love for God’s Word and the original languages that still fuels my preaching and teaching ministry today. He taught me that faithfulness to the text and text-driven preaching is the primary task of the preacher.

I, too, am moved at times when I come to certain passages in my Greek NT. In my Greek NT reading plan, I just read 1 Corinthians 15-16. I reread verses 15:54-58 several times to allow them to soak in. It was the encouragement I needed.

ad fontes, brothers.

Decker was a gift to the church. Spoke with him through email a couple of times. I was planning on going to Clark’s Summit for seminary just to sit under his teaching. He finished well.

[josh p]

Decker was a gift to the church. Spoke with him through email a couple of times. I was planning on going to Clark’s Summit for seminary just to sit under his teaching. He finished well.

Josh, I was able to meet him several times in person during my seminary years. He even took me out to lunch during one of my visits to campus, where we had a discussion about verbal aspect, the NIV, and Wayne Grudem.

For one of my electives, I wanted to do an independent Greek NT research project under his supervision, but he recommended against it given his health. He died the next semester.