Why was the New Testament originally written in Greek and not in Hebrew or Aramaic and are there any original Greek manuscripts in existence?
Answer
Most scholars agree that the New Testament was written in Greek although there are ones written in Coptic. There are no surviving original manuscripts, but there are some reasonably old ones. The main
One reasons that the New Testament was written in Greek and not Hebrew is that Hebrew was no longer a day-to-day language, even among the Palestinian Jews, who now spoke Aramaic. The Diaspora Jews spoke Greek.
Among the major books of the New Testament:
· The Epistle to the Hebrews is almost universally regarded as an exceptional work of Greek writing. Even in the early centuries of the Church, commentators wrote of its elegant Greek style.
· Paul's epistles were written in Greek, for a Gentile audience.
· Mark, Matthew and Luke contain sections of text that are identical in Greek, because Matthew and Luke used Mark as their major source. If translation from or to Aramaic (or Hebrew) had been involved, the translation process would have resulted in changes to the text, but not the meaning. Matthew used the Greek 'Septuagint' translation of the Hebrew Bible for his Old Testament references, indicating that he was more familiar with Greek than with Hebrew. Luke inadvertently conjoined Mark's previous/subsequent text surrounding the Missing Block, using the same Greek words. All the New Testament gospels were written in Greek.
Answer
on your first question "why it was written in Greek ."
Because none of the [mostly anonymous] Authors of the New Testaments ever walked with Jesus nor his Apostles.
Books of Peter, James and John were of unknown authorship..
You can easily verify this by consulting any Encyclopedia of your choice.
On your second question "Are there any Originals", There are no originals. What we have now are copies of copies of copies of the alleged originals. Answer Hebrew has always been the language of prayer for Jews. Thus the Jewish scriptures, the Tanakh, are in Hebrew, with a bit of Aramaic. The New Testament, being the Christian bible, would never have been written in Hebrew, as it had nothing to do with Judaism. Thus it was in Greek and Coptic and never in Hebrew.
Answer There are over 5000 Greek manuscripts in existence today. The Greek that was used is called Koine Greek and is not quite the same as the Greek used today. These manuscripts were compiled by many different people, Erasmus being the most noted, and formed what is often referred to as the Textus Receptus, or Received Text. None of the Greek Manuscripts in existence today to my knowledge are complete New Testaments, so Erasmus compared them and developed one complete text from them.
About 1/3 of the New Testament is actually the Old Testament being quoted, which leads us to the doctrine of preservation, which is a whole new topic.
Because none of the [mostly anonymous] Authors of the New Testaments ever walked with Jesus nor his Apostles.
Books of Peter, James and John were of unknown authorship..
You can easily verify this by consulting any Encyclopedia of your choice.
On your second question "Are there any Originals", There are no originals. What we have now are copies of copies of copies of the alleged originals. Answer Hebrew has always been the language of prayer for Jews. Thus the Jewish scriptures, the Tanakh, are in Hebrew, with a bit of Aramaic. The New Testament, being the Christian bible, would never have been written in Hebrew, as it had nothing to do with Judaism. Thus it was in Greek and Coptic and never in Hebrew.
Answer There are over 5000 Greek manuscripts in existence today. The Greek that was used is called Koine Greek and is not quite the same as the Greek used today. These manuscripts were compiled by many different people, Erasmus being the most noted, and formed what is often referred to as the Textus Receptus, or Received Text. None of the Greek Manuscripts in existence today to my knowledge are complete New Testaments, so Erasmus compared them and developed one complete text from them.
About 1/3 of the New Testament is actually the Old Testament being quoted, which leads us to the doctrine of preservation, which is a whole new topic.
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Answered
Was the New Testament written in Greek?
Yes. The 'Old Testament' was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, but the 'New Testament', was written in Greek.Yes, the New Testament was written in Greek
Answered
Was Matthew's Gospel originally written in Aramaic?
No, Matthew's Gospel was not written in Aramaic. Scholars tell us that it was written in Greek Koine. There are many explanations to show this, the most important being: Mark…'s Gospel was written in Greek. Mark was the principal source used by the author of Matthew, and whenever they agree, the words used are almost identical in the Greek language, which could only happen if Matthew was also written in Greek.The hypothetical 'Q' document was also written in Greek. It was a major source used by Matthew for sayings attributed to Jesus.When Matthew quotes Isaiah as supposedly prophesying that a virgin would have a baby, he was quoting from a flawed Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, the 'Septuagint'. The actual Hebrew text does not mention a virgin, but says, "the young woman" will have a baby. Thus, scholars know that when the author referred to the Old Testament, he was reading the Greek translation, evidence that he would have written in Greek. (MORE)
Answered
What books of the New Testament were written in Aramaic?
All the books of the New Testament are now known to have been written in Greek. None was written in either Aramaic or Hebrew. It was once thought that Matthew's Gospel was fi…rst written in Aramaic or Hebrew, because of its apparent Jewish flavour. However, when read in Greek, we find many passages that are identical in the Greek language to Mark's Gospel, something that could not have happened unless the author of Matthew was actually copying Mark in the original Greek language. Similarly, many of the sayings that Matthew shares with Luke but not Mark are identical in the Greek language, which scholars say proves they were both copying down in Greek, material from the hypothetical 'Q' document.In addition to the aboveIt may be of interest to the questioner that while none of the Gospels were written in Aramaic, Jesus's first language was Aramaic and, as a result of this, there are some words written in Aramaic in the gospels that are recorded verbatim from Jesus' mouth. One example is where Jesus quotes the psalms on the Cross: "Eloi, Eloi, Lama sanachthani" (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me". (MORE)
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How many reliable English translation of the original Hebrew aramaic and greek scriptures are there?
None. The only reliable way to read the scriptures is in their original language. All translations are, by definition, interpretations.
Answered
Did St Paul speak Hebrew and Aramaic and did he write any manuscript in this language?
A: Paul's first language was Greek. Paul was born in Tarsus, in modern day Turkey, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. From Greece eastward, the people in the lands a…round the eastern Mediterranean spoke Greek, usually as a first language, but certainly as second. In all the provinces, Greek was the language of governance and trade. In Galatians, Paul described how he visited Jerusalem to speak to the members of the Jerusalem Church, including James and Peter. The story also appears in Acts. In Palestine itself, there were three main languages in use. Greek was the language of the Roman Empire and so anyone who spoke to the government or who engaged in trade would speak Greek. During the centuries in which Greek entered Palestine, from about 330 BC onwards, the main Jewish language was Aramaic which had been learned during the Babylonian Exile. Starting in the Exile, Hebrew had been relegated to a liturgical language. So it is probable that when Paul visited Jerusalem, he spoke Greek to the members of the Church. Also, Paul's discussion of the "Law," nomos, in Romans assumes the standard Greek meaning of the word. His theological explanation is not based on the Hebrew word Torah which is what nomos translates in the Greek Septuagint. We have no record of any manuscript written by Paul in Hebrew or Aramaic. (MORE)
