When God's Truth started talking about verb tenses, a couple of weeks ago, I realized the writer was self taught (nothing wrong with that if you don't start thinking that you know more than you know).
With that in mind, here are some comments that I hope help the non-seminary student:
Here is a question all of us need to answer, and maybe it belongs on its own thread:
How do we, as 21st century types, bridge the gap between the biblical message in the Greek and Hebrew?
I can’t speak for everyone, but this is my answer:
First, I have virtually every major Bible translation. For the most part, that will serve the serious student, quite well. When reading for comparison sake, you will find that some translations will include particular verses that others do not. If you believe that evil men translate and subvert the “word of God,” you will approach the translation with a partisan bias that prohibits an objective reading of the text in whatever version, and, especially, an objective consideration of any given doctrine.
Secondly, if you will use discussions such as what we see on TOL (other than the thread that wants to kill the gay folks) , as an opportunity for the reconsideration of what you believe, always reading the Bible “as if for the first,”
There is the matter of the original languages and how we might access their meaning. In a word, you can start with Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance . It is sold as a comprehensive concordance with lexicons for each language (Hebrew and Greek)
If you are not accomplished in either language, you might even purchase a dedicated lexicon (Arnt/Gingrich, [naming these authors date me, I know . . . . a more common author for the same lexicon is Walter Baurer] ) or even, the older but wonderful lexicon by Thayer. You can locate the lexical gk word in Strong’s, hunt and peck until you find it in the larger lexions. Understand that you can read 90% of anything written in a Gk/English lexicon.
A good gk grammar (Dana and Mantey, Summers, William Mounce, Young, or the very popular grammar by Wallace) would be great. If you have no background, skip the technical stuff, such as declensions, verbal roots, locations and conjugations, and just go for the parts you can understand. You will be surprised at how much you can benefit from such books . . . . just don’t start thinking you know more than you know.
But, I am running off into weeds, here. Just don’t get in the habit of despising those who have a knowledge of Greek. Arrogance for those trained in “the languages” is also a potential problem to be avoided.
I know how maddening it can be to have studied with diligence, enough so that you feel qualified to formulate a particular teaching, only to have someone come along and burst your bubble with technical jargon that is not part of your background.
In summary, English translations and comparative readings, a Strong's Concordance with all the bells and whistles, and the willing to read the Bible "as if for the first time," every time you pick up the Good Book, will do you just fine.