Greek Primacy
Greek Primacy is the view that the Christian New Testament and/or its sources were originally written in Koine Greek. It is generally accepted by most scholars today that the New Testament of the Bible was written primarily, if not completely, in Koine or common Greek. Greek Primacy is asserted over and against Aramaic primacy and Hebrew primacy.
Background on Koine Greek
Koine Greek started taking shape as a common dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great. As the allied Greek states under the leadership of Macedon conquered and colonised the known world, their newly formed common dialect was spoken from Egypt to the fringes of India. Even though Koine Greek was shaped during the late Classic Era, the symbolic starting point of the second period of the Greek language (known as Post-Classic) is set at the death of Alexander the Great and the beginning of the Hellenistic era in 323 BC. The closing of Post-Classic Greek and the passage into the next period of the Greek language, which is known as Medieval Greek, is symbolically assigned at the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine I in 330. In that respect, the Post-Classic period of Greek refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic and Roman eras of Greek history until the start of the Middle Ages.
Languages Used in Ancient Palestine
Most Jewish Funerary Inscriptions in Greek
Currently, 1,600 Jewish epitaphs (funerary inscriptions) are extant from ancient Palestine dating from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. 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 Jewish Jerusalemites who saw the inscriptions in situ were able to read them" [1]
Jesus and the Disciples Spoke Greek?
The reader should understand that Aramaic was the common spoken language within the resident Jewish community, or otherwise Yah-Hoshua ben Yusef would not have used the language including "Talitha Cumi" (Aramaic), "Ephpha" (Greek=Ephphatha) and other Aramaic terms as identified in the New Testament. The languages used inside the Jewish Community were Hebrew (spoken and interpreted by the Priests and the Scribes and certain other Teachers and Elders who were so educated in the Hebrew Language) and Aramaic. The Scribes were specifically trained in the Hebrew written text, the verbal Hebrew and the written and spoken Aramaic and quite possibly the written and spoken Koine.
Just because Koine was in common vogue during 01-100 of the Common Era (CE),there is no reason to assume that the "Q" (Quelle) document or Euangelion kata Levi bar H'alfai was originally written in Koine. Perhaps these books and others were translated into Koine.
The point is, we do not know enough to state categorically that all of the New Testament was written in Koine.
The following books are questionable, as to the prospect of being written primarily in Koine: Euangelion kata Levi bar H'alfai, Ya'Acov (Letter of..) and of course, the projected source document, identified as the Quelle document(s), or the "Q" document(s).
Manuscript Evidence
Criticisms
References
- ^ "Jewish Funerary Inscriptions -- Most Are in Greek," Pieter W. Van Der Horst, BAR, Sept.-Oct.1992, p.48.
External links
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