The Language of the New Testament Part Two

May 14, 2022

In the previous post, I discussed arguments used by a minority of Biblical scholars for the view that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew. Today, I would like to discuss some of the reasons why the majority of scholars believe that it was originally composed in Koine Greek. For my previous thoughts on this debate, check out my recent articles which have discussed it:

https://newtestamentchristianityat.blogspot.com/2022/04/an-introduction-to-language-of-new.html

https://newtestamentchristianityat.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-language-of-new-testament.html

1. Introduction:

For some Christians, the debate is not as simple as whether the New Testament was written in Hebrew or Koine Greek. It has been argued, however, that it was written (or at least part of it) in Judeo-Greek. By this, I mean that the New Testament was written in a form of Koine Greek that was heavily influenced by the Hebrew language. For more on this view, check out the following link:

https://blog.israelbiblicalstudies.com/jewish-studies/the-hebrew-new-testament/

With that said, I would like to proceed to further discussion over the language of the New Testament and why the vast majority of scholars believe that it was written in Koine Greek. As always, this is a difficult topic to cover in a short blog post but my purpose here is not to give a long discourse over which of these two views is true (which would probably take an entire book at the least to do). Rather, as I mentioned previously, I wish to stimulate discussion over this.

2. The Context of the Gentile Churches

Perhaps one of the strongest arguments for the New Testament having been written in Greek is that many of the churches that Paul wrote to were Gentile Churches that would have spoken Koine Greek, the common language of the Mediterranean world at that time. Think of the Romans, Galatians, or the Ephesians, all of these churches would have included many (if not predominantly) Gentile believers. It seems only natural then that the Pauline epistles would have been written in Greek. However, even if this were true, does this prove anything about the language of the gospels? For example, there is a debate about whether or not The Gospel of John was originally written in Greek or Aramaic. More on John later.

Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Roman Empire throughout the eastern Mediterranean, had gained wide acceptance since Alexander the Great's conquest of the region in the fourth century before Christ. Even in many places where Aramaic had been the main language, it quickly became surpassed by Greek (Wright, Brid, p.41). Interestingly enough, more Jews in the first century spoke Greek than Hebrew. Aramaic, however, continued to influence the syntax of Jewish-Greek texts. Greek only became the dominant language of the Jews after the Alexandrian conquests.

According to tradition, Mark was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Mark provides us with possible insight as to the language of other parts of the New Testament. The Gospel of Mark explains Jewish custom in Mark 7: 3-4. Because of this, many feel that the author was not writing only for a Hebrew audience but also for a Gentile one.

Some have suggested the Gospel of Luke was written in Aramaic or Hebrew instead of Greek but most scholars believe that Luke was a Gentile rather than a Jew. As Paul mentions Jewish believers who had circumcision in Colossians 4 but says nothing about Luke having been circumcised, this remains one of several pieces of evidence that Luke was probably a Gentile. While some have contested this claim, tradition has historically regarded Luke as a non-Jew. Considering the latter position, it would seem doubtful then that he would have used one of the non-European languages to write his gospel.

Let me return now to The Gospel of John. Oxford Biblical scholar, C. F. Burney, argued that John was first composed in Aramaic. John's frequent explanation of Jewish customs (presupposing a Gentile audience) continues to be one of the great arguments against this, however.

3. Conclusion

I have discussed different views among theologians and Biblical scholars over the past few weeks. While I have not done exhaustive research on this, I find the whole debate over the language of the New Testament to be fascinating. I hope that this discussion will enlighten you on this topic and inspire you to learn more about it.