TheNew Testament was written in a form ofKoine Greek,[1][2] which was thecommon language of theEastern Mediterranean[3][4][5][6] from theconquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the evolution ofByzantine Greek (c. 600).
The New Testament gospels and epistles were only part of a Hellenist Jewish culture in theRoman Empire, whereAlexandria had a larger Jewish population thanJerusalem, and more Jews spoke Greek than Hebrew.[7] Other Hellenistic Jewish writings include those ofJason of Cyrene,Josephus,Philo,Demetrius the chronographer,Eupolemus, Pseudo-Eupolemus,Artapanus of Alexandria,Cleodemus Malchus,Aristeas,Pseudo-Hecataeus,Thallus, andJustus of Tiberias,Pseudo-Philo, manyOld Testament Pseudepigrapha and theSeptuagint translation of theHebrew Bible itself.
Whereas theClassical Greekcity states used different dialects of Greek, a common standard, called Koine (κοινή "common"), developed gradually in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC as a consequence of the formation of larger political structures (like theGreek colonies,Athenian Empire, and theMacedonian Empire) and a more intense cultural exchange in theAegean area, or in other words theHellenization of the empire ofAlexander the Great.
In theGreek Dark Ages and theArchaic Period,Greek colonies were founded all over theMediterranean basin. However, even though Greek goods were popular in the East, the cultural influence tended to work the other way around. Yet, with the conquests of Alexander the Great (333-323 BC) and the subsequent establishment ofHellenistic kingdoms (above all, theSeleucid Empire andPtolemaic Kingdom), Koine Greek became the dominant language in politics, culture and commerce in the Near East.
During the following centuries,Rome conquered Greece and the Macedonian Kingdoms piece by piece until, with theconquest of Egypt in 30 BC, the Roman empire included all the land around the Mediterranean. However, asHorace gently puts it: "Conquered Greece has conquered the brute victor and brought her arts into rustic Latium" (Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio.[8]) Roman art and literature werecalqued upon Hellenistic models.
Koine Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of theRoman Empire, extending into theByzantine Empire as Byzantine Greek. In the city of Rome, Koine Greek was in widespread use among ordinary people, and the elite spoke and wrote Greek as fluently as Latin[citation needed].Jewish Koine Greek did not exist as a separate dialect, but some Jewish texts in Koine Greek do show the influence of Aramaic in syntax and the influence of Biblical background in vocabulary.
After theBabylonian captivity,Aramaic replacedBiblical Hebrew as the everyday language inJudea. The two languages were as similar as twoRomance languages or twoGermanic languages today. ThusBiblical Hebrew, which was still used for religious purposes, was not totally unfamiliar, but still, a somewhat strange norm that demanded a certain degree of training to be understood properly.
After Alexander, Judea was ruled by thePtolemies and theSeleucids for almost two hundred years. Jewish culture was heavily influenced by Hellenistic culture, and Koine Greek was used not only for international communication but also as the first language of many Jews. This development was furthered by the fact that the largest Jewish community in the world lived in PtolemaicAlexandria. Many of thesediaspora Jews would have Greek as their first language, and first, theTorah and then other Jewish scriptures (later the Christian "Old Testament") were therefore translated into standard Koine Greek, i.e. theSeptuagint.
Currently, 1,600 Jewish epitaphs (funerary inscriptions) are extant from ancient Judea dating from 300 BC to 500 AD. Approximately 70 percent are in Greek, about 12 percent are in Latin, and only 18 percent are in Hebrew or Aramaic. "In Jerusalem itself, about 40 percent of the Jewish inscriptions from the first century period (before 70 C.E.) are in Greek. We may assume that most literate Jewish Jerusalemites who saw the inscriptionsin situ were able to read them".[9] However, this sample may be skewed as it representswritten language anda large share of the population was illiterate. We know from other low-literacy societies like medieval Europe that expert literacy often correlated with knowledge of a highprestigelingua franca[10][11] –Classical Latin or Koine Greek in the Roman Empire andMedieval Latin in medieval Europe.
The languages spoken in Galilee andJudea during the first century include theSemiticAramaic andHebrew languages as well asGreek, with Aramaic being the predominant language.[12][13] Most scholars agree that during the early part of the first century Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all natives of Galilee and Judea.[14] Most scholars support the theory thatJesus spoke in Aramaic and that he may have also spoken in Hebrew (Dalman suggests for theWords of Institution) and Greek.[12][13][15][16]Stanley E. Porter concluded: "The linguistic environment of Roman Palestine during the first century was much more complex, and allows for the possibility that Jesus himself may well have spoken Greek on occasion."[17]
Most biblical scholars adhere to the view that the Greek text of the New Testament is the original version.
The idea that an initial version of Matthew's Gospel was produced in Syriac has substantial historical attestation, including by Papias, Irenaeus, Eusebius, Origen and Jerome.[18] Textual scholars do not support the idea that the Greek is a literal translation from another language.[19]
However, there does exist an alternative view which maintains that the New Testament is a translation from an Aramaic original, a position known asPeshitta Primacy (also known in primarily non-scholarly circles as "Aramaic primacy"). Although this view has its adherents, the vast majority of scholars dispute this position citing linguistic, historical, and textual inconsistencies.[20] At any rate, since most of the texts are written bydiaspora Jews such asPaul the Apostle and his possibly Gentile companion,Luke, and to a large extent addressed directly to Christian communities in Greek-speaking cities (often communities consisting largely ofPaul's converts, which appear to have been non-Jewish in the majority), and since the style of their Greek is impeccable,[21] a Greek original is more probable than a translation.
EvenMark, whose Greek is heavily influenced by his Semitic substratum, seems to presuppose a non-Hebrew audience. Thus, he explains Jewish customs (e.g.Mark 7:3–4, see alsoMark 7), and he translates Aramaic phrases into Greek (Mark 3:17:boanerges;Mark 5:41:talitha kum;Mark 7:34:ephphatha;Mark 14:36:abba;Mark 15:22:Golgotha;Mark 15:34, see alsoAramaic of Jesus andSayings of Jesus on the cross). In the AramaicSyriac version of the Bible, these translations are preserved, resulting in odd texts like Mark 15:34:
In thePeshitta:
Critics of the mainstream consensus that Greek is the original language of the New Testament claim logical improbabilities in the Greek text compared to the Syriac/Hebrew texts and vocabulary containing wordplay in the Syriac/Hebrew New Testament texts that parallels Hebraic wordplay in the Old Testament.[22][23]