EDITOR’S NOTE: A.T. Robertson’s A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research no longer appears as required reading in Elementary Greek or syntax courses. Nonetheless, his breathtaking scholarship has influenced those who are shaping the basics of New Testament Greek studies today, beyond the confines of Southern Seminary.
Stanley E. Porter, president and professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College
I first started using Robertson’s grammar when I was in seminary. Most of the grammars that we used were brief and compact, but Robertson was voluminous. He also included a number of intriguing personal anecdotes and stories. Throughout my career, I have been very interested not only in ideas on their own, but where ideas come from and how they develop, and especially in the people who think and talk about them. I was fascinated to find out how Robertson’s grammar developed from a series of handwritten pages to the published book that it became — including the story of the near bankruptcy of the publisher. I was also fascinated by his story of John Brown, and used it at the beginning of a book I recently wrote, How We Got the New Testament.
I have continued to use Robertson’s grammar in several different ways. One is as a monument to the kind of comparative grammar and philology that was important at the time, and how he was utilizing the current thinking. Another way is to draw upon the individual insights that he has regarding various grammatical phenomena within this comparative framework. A third would be the very thorough treatment that he gives to most issues that he addresses. In each of these, I think that he provides a model for me and for other students of the Greek language — not simply to continue to do the work that Robertson did over and over again, but to draw on the best insights of the time from the available fields of inquiry to inform our understanding of the Greek of the New Testament. Not surprisingly, my favorite quotation from the book is in the preface to the third edition: “The Greek New Testament is the New Testament. All else is translation.” I think we would be wise to keep this in mind, especially in this day and age when there are efforts to move away from the kind of rigor embodied by Robertson and his work.
Daniel B. Wallace, professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary
I have two copies of his magnum opus — one at school and one at home. Robertson was a brilliant grammarian with an intuitive sense of how the language worked. He was one of the first to recognize how important the non-literary papyri were for New Testament studies. I have devoured his masterpiece several times. Not only his big grammar, but his journal articles and other books have impacted me. His command of the literature was most impressive, and his devotion to our Lord is clearly seen in his academic work. That may have impacted me the most: here was a man who did not divorce his mind from his heart, but loved God with both fully.
Constantine R. Campbell, associate professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
In my opinion, A.T. Robertson produced the greatest of all New Testament Greek grammars. The most distinct feature of Robertson’s grammar is that even today it seems remarkably modern — a whole century later. This can only be explained by Robertson’s carefully nuanced sense for the language, such that even prior to the dawn of modern linguistics, Robertson handles Greek in a way that is not, on the whole, overturned by modern linguistic principles and methodology. The grammar is my go-to volume whenever I want to see what Greek scholarship a century ago thought about various topics, but inevitably Robertson ends up strongly influencing my thinking about such topics — including voice, pronunciation, mood, and the verbal system. He remains an authoritative figure in modern discussions about Greek.
I think the main thing that Robertson contributes that differs from modern grammars is that it is written like one huge monograph. That is, the grammar is more like a series of essays that discusses all the ins and outs of Greek usage, historical reflection — drawing on classical literature as well as Hellenistic papyri — and scholarship of the day. It is not a “look up and reference” type of grammar that you go to for quick answers. But it is exactly the place to go for longer answers, and often longer answers are what we need.
Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College
One of my greatest treasures is a painting that was given to me from the administration at Southern Seminary about three years ago. I love this painting not merely for aesthetic reasons but because of its subject — A.T. Robertson. Robertson is a legend at Southern Seminary whose shadow of influence is long and substantial. His influence extends far beyond our little plot in Louisville due chiefly to his grammar book. I have found Robertson’s grammar to be the most comprehensive explanation of the grammar and syntax of New Testament Greek that I have ever read. There is hardly ever a question that I come up with that he hasn’t already thought about and addressed in his work. It is a breathtaking monument of scholarship. There really is nothing else like it in the field. If I were marooned on a desert island and could only take 10 books with me, Robertson’s would be one of them. For me, at least, it is foundational for reading and doing exegesis in the Greek text. I am grateful for the sacrifice of scholarship represented in that volume. It has defined the field from Robertson’s generation to our own.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary
A.T. Robertson’s Greek scholarship has never been replicated nor replaced. There have been many wonderful advances in understanding the Greek language, Greek literature, and Greek exegesis since Robertson’s time, but no one has yet done the comprehensive work on the grammar of the Greek New Testament that was Robertson’s great life passion. His life and his work stand as a monumental achievement pointing to the true essence of evangelical scholarship.
When students spoke about Robertson, they didn’t speak about what they learned in his lectures, but what they learned from his life. Even to see those old photographs of Robertson in the classroom is to understand that he is a great example of a scholar-teacher. The very fact that we are having this discussion 80 years after his death is an indication of the power of a teacher and, in particular, the power of a teacher in the service of the Christian church.
