And Also to the Greek by W. E. HOWELL.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 29, 1909

“And Also to the Greek”

By W. E. HOWELL.

AFTER the conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent spread of the Greek language and civilization in so many regions of the East beyond the bounds of Greece proper, it is not surprising that the Lord chose the Greek language as a medium to convey the good news of salvation through the accomplished death and resurrection of Christ, to succeeding generations. Nor is it to be wondered at that we should find in this gospel message specific mention of a people whose intellectual and social influence was so wide-spread in the then civilized world.

We accordingly read that during the ministry of Jesus, “certain Greeks . . . came up to worship at the feast,” saying to one of the disciples, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” In response to this request Jesus uttered some very telling truths on the fundamental principles of Christian living (see John 12: 23-26), merging into a touching prayer to the Father for strength to pass through the approaching scenes of betrayal and death. His prayer was answered by an audible voice from heaven, which the people who stood by thought was thunder. But Jesus said, “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.” So the Greeks also were not left without very striking testimony from this Jesus whom they came to see.

When Paul was teaching in Thessalonica, both then and now a Greek city, it is recorded that “some of them believed, . . . and of the devout Greeks a great multitude.” As a result of his memorable visit to Athens, “certain men clave unto him, and believed.” In Corinth, he, “persuaded the Jews and the Greeks;” and further, “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” The young man who fell from a window in Troas, and was restored to life by Paul, was doubtless a Greek, as his name is substantially the same as a word we hear in daily use among modern Greeks. Finally, we hear Paul saying to the Christians at Rome, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians.” “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

So much regarding the Greeks of the first century. As to the Greeks of to-day, their religion and their education both teach them to look backward—backward for their moral and social ideals and for the basis of their national pride. The nation bases its right to national existence on its illustrious past, and prides itself on all that remains of geography, customs, and ruins to remind the visitor that the modern Greeks are racially identical with the far-famed Hellenes of ancient history.

In language, the purist party, which is strongly in the ascendancy, points backward for its standard. A Greek who has stood high in government position, remarked to me one day about the language, “We are progressing backward; soon we shall attain our ideal”—the present language purged of every foreign element, and restored to the purity of at least the Greek of Xenophon.

As to religion, while we may well look backward to the life and teachings of Christ for our moral and spiritual ideals, yet if we must view them through a telescope darkened and blurred with the traditions of men; with the adoration of saints, relics, and pictures; with the literal use of crosses, holy oil, candles, feasts, and fasts; and with individual ignorance of the pure, simple teachings of the Word of God, looking backward ceases to be a virtue. It constitutes, rather, a serious impediment to the entrance of that gospel which points us forward to the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Yet “the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.” It is only by patient continuance in sowing good seed that we can hope to gather the fruits of the harvest. The sterile, stony soil of Attica is seemingly a symbol of the unresponsiveness of men’s hearts when filled with the pride of the past and the cares and ambitions of the present. But “the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.” In this, and in this only, we trust for results in Greece.

And we are happy to announce that we have just received from the printer three thousand copies of our first tract in Greek,—“The Way to Christ,”—and have begun its circulation. It will be distributed not only in Greece proper, but a supply is already on its way to Brother R. S. Greaves, in Smyrna, and to our Greek brother in Albania, of whom I wrote in a previous article; so that from at least three centers the light will radiate to the Greek people. And there is not the least doubt that, as there were in Paul’s day “of the devout Greeks a great multitude” who believed, so there will also be of the devout modern Greeks not a few who will receive the truth.

I received a letter from our Albanian brother recently, urging me to return for our summer itinerary, and to bring Mrs. Howell with me. His two daughters, attending the school in Macedonia, will be at home to spend their summer vacation, and he writes that they are very desirous of seeing the Seventh-day Adventist missionary.

Enclosed in our brother’s letter were two others, a joint letter from two of the Jews with whom I studied the prophecies while there, and one from the Greek neighbor, who, on my departure, accompanied me for an hour, to talk concerning the truth. These thanked me for a tract sent them, and requested correspondence.

Let the readers of the REVIEW pray that God may increase these small beginnings, and that more means may be forthcoming to print more literature; for the gospel for our day must be given “also to the Greek.”

W. E. HOWELL.