Colin Wong Supporter Founder, eBible.com

The New Testament was written in Koine Greek. After Alexander the Great conquered much of that area from Greece all the way to India, Greek became the "lingua franca" (unifying language) of that region. Much like English is spoken all throughout the world today.

October 07 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeff Hammond Supporter

Some scholars have argued, without success, that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic and then later translated into Koine Greek.

That suggestion lacks both internal and external evidence. Internally, whenever a Hebrew or Aramaic word is used, the Greek translation is given (e.g. Matthew 1:21, Mark 5:41, Mark 7:34, Mark 15:34, John 1:41; Revelation 9:11; Revelation 16:16 etc) and this indicates that the original language being used is in fact Greek.

The external evidence is very strong indeed. With over 10,000 of the oldest documents of the New Testament being in Greek, Latin and some Syriac, not one has been found in Hebrew. Nevertheless some of the early translators, such as Jerome suggested that maybe the Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Hebrews may have been originally written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek, however, no such documents have ever surfaced.

Furthermore, the lingua franca of Jesus day was Greek and Jesus would have frequently ministered in the Greek language. He grew up in Nazareth in Galilee, a non-Jewish province, and it indeed was called "Galilee of the Gentiles", Matthew 4:15. Jesus regularly ministered in the Decapolis (Matthew 4:25, Mark 7:31), i.e. 10 Greek cities established during Greek colonization after the time of Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East.

The fact that the Greek language was the language of the New testament and of the apostles was one reason why the Gospel spread so quickly around the Greek and Roman world.

October 08 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report