New Testament written in Greek?

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Gabriel_Francis

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Was the entire New Testament written originally in Greek?
Were some books originally written in Aramaic then translated into Greek?
Also, was the author of John’s Gospel the disciple John, John the Baptist, or another John?
 
Gabriel_Francis said:
Was the entire New Testament written originally in Greek?
Were some books originally written in Aramaic then translated into Greek?
Also, was the author of John’s Gospel the disciple John, John the Baptist, or another John?
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Matthew was originally written in Hebrew (or was it Aramaic?). Peter was named “Kepha” by Jesus, which pretty much eliminates the whole Petra/Petros debate. All the other books were written in Greek.

It is accepted in most circles that the Apostle John wrote most, if not all of John’s Gospel. There is some debate that the part of John’s Gospel that deals with Jesus after his Resurrection may have been written by one of his disciples, but the Church teaches that the author of both parts of the Gospel were inspired by God.
 
Gabriel_Francis said:
Was the entire New Testament written originally in Greek?
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Beginning before 500 BC, the Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranian, establishing colonies in the Black Sea and in the south of what is now France. After defeating two Persian invasions, their culture expanded even more. In the last half of the 4th Century BC, Alexander the Great conquered everything from Egypt to India.

As a result, the Greek language became the Lingua Franca of the ancient world, and all educated people could read, write and speak Greek – particularly a version called the Koine. It was essential to business and trade to be able to speak the Koine.

At the behest of the Ptolomys of Egypt, the Old Testament was translated into Greek – supposedly by a committee of 70 or 72 Greek-speaking Jewish scholars. This Greek translation is called the “Septaugent” (meaning “70”) and often abbreviated as LXX (Roman numerals for 70.)

The Septaugent was the most widely used version of the Bible in the time of Christ. Relatively few Jews could actually read Hebrew, but most could read and speak Greek – especially the Diaspora – Jews settled in other lands.

All the books of the New Testament were written in the Koine as we have received them.
Gabriel_Francis said:
Were some books originally written in Aramaic then translated into Greek?
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Traditionally, Matthew is supposed to have written a gospel in either Aramaic or Hebrew. The version we have may be a translation of this Aramaic or Hebrew gospel. But all the Old Testament quotes in Matthew are from the Septaugnet, not the Hebrew bible.
Gabriel_Francis said:
Also, was the author of John’s Gospel the disciple John, John the Baptist, or another John?
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John the Baptist was dead – beheaded by Herod – before any gospels were written down. The John who wrote the Gospel according to John had a disciple called Polycarp, who became the Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp, who knew the author of the Gospel and of Revelation, tells us he was the Apostle John.

Now, it is possible that the Gospel was actually written down from John’s oral preaching, not by John’s own hand. That would not, in ancient times, change the authorship attribution.
 
In Karl Keating’s book, *What Catholics Believe, *there is mention of a a scholar by the name of Jean Carmignac who translated the synoptic Gospels into Hebrew. He thought it would be difficult, but discovered that it was very easy. He discovered that the writer of Mark “had slavishly kept to the Hebrew word order and grammar,” Suggesting someone who was either unfamiliar with Greek, or an overly faithful transliteration. In another example, he found that the song of Zachary in Luke 1:68-79 has several wordplays in Hebrew that the Greek text lacks. In the phrase 'show mercy to our fathers," the expression “show mercy” is the Hebrew verb *hanan, *which is the root of the name Yohanan (John). In “he remembers his holy covenant,” “he remembers” is the verb zakar, which is the root of the name *Zakaryah *(Zachary). “In the oath which he swore to our father Abraham” is found, for “to take an oath” the verb *shaba, *which is the root of the name *Elishaba *(Elizabeth).
 
Vern-
Ordinarily I don’t stress about typos, but I think it’s important to get proper names right for those who might not know the difference. It’s Septuagint. 👍
 
RNRobert said:
In Karl Keating’s book, *What Catholics Believe, *there is mention of a a scholar by the name of Jean Carmignac who translated the synoptic Gospels into Hebrew. He thought it would be difficult, but discovered that it was very easy. He discovered that the writer of Mark “had slavishly kept to the Hebrew word order and grammar,” Suggesting someone who was either unfamiliar with Greek, or an overly faithful transliteration. In another example, he found that the song of Zachary in Luke 1:68-79 has several wordplays in Hebrew that the Greek text lacks. In the phrase 'show mercy to our fathers," the expression “show mercy” is the Hebrew verb *hanan, *which is the root of the name Yohanan (John). In “he remembers his holy covenant,” “he remembers” is the verb zakar, which is the root of the name *Zakaryah *(Zachary). “In the oath which he swore to our father Abraham” is found, for “to take an oath” the verb *shaba, *which is the root of the name *Elishaba *(Elizabeth).
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Interesting. But it’s not uncommon for various linguistic peculiarities to perculate from one language to another.

For example, if you’re in Ireland you will often hear this exchange:

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

“You will.”

It’s phrased that way because in Irish there is no word for “yes” or “no.” And Irishmen who don’t speak Irish at all still use a phraseology that avoids the use of the English yes and no.
Vern-
Ordinarily I don’t stress about typos, but I think it’s important to get proper names right for those who might not know the difference. It’s Septuagint.
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Arrg! The Dreaded Spelling Flame.😃
 
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