Tonight I had the privilege of saying a few words about my Greek professor, Dr. Jim Freerksen, at his retirement dinner. It was a tremendous honor to study under this great man and to be able to participate in this evening honoring his legacy of 37 years of faithful service to Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary. Below are the remarks I prepared for those that may be interested. For all of his former students, I'm sure that you no doubt share in these sentiments. Dr. Freerksen is truly irreplaceable, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue the great work which he so faithfully began. "I had the privilege of studying under Dr. Freerksen for 5 semesters of Greek in Seminary. My initial impression of Dr. Freerksen (who informed us on the first day it was “Freerksen, not Freeksen”) was that he was a very serious, almost stern professor, quite different from my undergraduate Greek instructor. I soon found instead that he was a very serious, almost stern professor. (that was a joke) In actuality, I found him to be a very warm-hearted man who had a very good sense of humor as we saw just recently at the awards banquet. But, what still stands out most to me about Dr. Freerksen are these three things: 1) his love for the Scriptures, 2) his love for his students, and 3) his love for the church. Being in class with Dr. Freerksen, it was obvious that he has a deep respect and love for the Word of God. This was evidenced not only by his words, but by his actions. When interpreting a text or examining a syntactical construction, the motivating interest was always to better understand the passage. But this interest was not simply knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but rather to understand so that the text could be communicated more effectively. Interpretation was never simply about “knowing the right things”, but also about speaking and doing the right things—about living and loving well. And this interest in accurate interpretation was motivated by more than just ministry success, but by a clear evidence that it was his love for our God and our Lord that inspired his love for the Scriptures. Dr. Freerksen always struck me as a man who had spent much time in the Word and at the feet of the Lord, listening and learning so that he could impart that wisdom to others. That desire for impartation was what demonstrated most the love that Dr. Freerksen had for his students. Though I doubt many appreciated it (myself included) at the time, Dr. Freerksen always maintained high expectations for his students. I remember on a few occasions (and fortunately for me only a few) coming to an exegesis class unprepared. For those unfamiliar, on a typical day we would spend time translating and discussing a passage, usually making our way around the room from student to student. When it was your turn, Dr. Freerksen would ask for a translation of a particular section and would also ask some follow up questions as well (the ever frequent “what do you see?”, which we so often wanted to answer with, “I don’t know, what do you see?”). So, on those few occasions when I or others came unprepared, if the lot fell on us that day, Dr. Freerksen would expect a translation and interaction with the text, prepared or not. I remember on those occasions the pressure of having to translate on the spot and discuss constructions and forms that I had not previously examined. Dr. Freerksen expected students to be prepared, and those who weren’t did not get off easy. I think often Dr. Freerksen expected more of his students than they expected of themselves, and this expectation was what pushed them on to excellence. Finally, Dr. Freerksen also evidenced a clear love for the church. On occasion in class he would speak of his involvement at his local church, showing his students that he not only taught about the church, but was personally committed to it. But more often this was demonstrated in his desire to train men and women to be careful students of the Word and effective servants of the church. By training his students to better understand, engage with, and submit to the Scriptures, he prepared them to be capable workers in the church. He sought with earnest to help us avoid the common exegetical pitfalls and landmines that many a preacher on Sunday morning has unknowingly set off (like saying the aorist tense expresses “once for all” action, or that dynamis means “dynamite power”). No doubt we continued to step on some, but the obvious ones were thankfully avoided. So as I reflect on the legacy of Dr. Freerksen from my vantage point as a former student of his, I fondly remember 1) his love for the Scriptures, 2) his love for his students, and 3) his love for the church. In closing, Dr. Freerksen, I want to commend and thank you for the path you have taken. You have faithfully served this institution for many years, instilled in your students a hunger for the Scriptures, given them the tools to handle them well, and provided a model of a faithful steward that is ever harder to find. I pray that I might attain to even a fraction of the consistency, excellence, and faithfulness which you have achieved to the praise of Christ."
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