7 What should I say, is Greek grammar a linguistic sham? Not in the least; but I would not have know my wrong translation but through Greek grammar, for I would not have known that ‘en’ could signify a dative of means had not Greek grammar said “‘en’ does not always mean ‘in'”. 8 And folly of the subconscious, seizing only on the point that ‘en’ usually means ‘in’ as implied by the very grammar rule stated, produced in me all sorts of narrow translations. 9 Formerly I was oblivious to such a distinction, but when the rule was stated, the narrow translation of ‘en’ sprouted up all over 10 and I lost all integrity as a translator, and found that because of my lack of critical thinking the rule that was meant to be instructive proved my downfall; 11 for when my laziness sought refuge in the rule, the rule killed me. 12 So the rule is good and Greek grammar is instructive, and useful and beneficial. 13 So the good rule was my downfall? No, of course not; but that my error might be pointed out as such, it used the good rule to bring about my downfall so that a slight mistake might be known as a serious grammatical error through the rule. 14 For we know that the grammar rule has the final say; I am but a student, paying through my nose to get a piece of paper that says I know something. 15 I don’t have a clue what I’m doing here; cuz I don’t mean to write what I end up translating; I actually think my translation is pretty hysterical. 16 But atleast if I recognize its absurdity I’m acknowledging the purity of the original Greek grammar–that it does actually make sense. 17 So it’s not really a reflection of my integrity that my translation is bad, but only a recognition of the limited extent of my learning. 18 For I’ll confess I hardly remember a thing I studied in Machen, that is conscientiously, cuz I can remember the rule when I see it, but I can’t reproduce the results in my translation; 19 for I can’t remember the rules that I know are correct, and so even though I don’t want to produce a horrible translation that’s exactly what I end up doing. 20 But If I didn’t mean to butcher the grammar so badly, it’s not really something you can hold against me personally, but it just shows you what empty pockets and a bad memory does to you. 21 So the general principle is that the more I try to memorize rules, the more I realize what a horrible rule memorizer I am; 22 Cuz I love Greek as far as that is concerned, personally and all, 23 but I see the constant struggle with my limitedness and bad memory just taking over my actual translations. 24 I really am a hopeless case. Who can get this stuff pound into my head? Thank God his Word is greater than my linguistic prowess. So I can say I really enjoy translating the truth, althewhile recognizing that, as a translation, it’s really worthless.