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Podcast
Did Jesus Speak Aramaic Or Greek
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I want to deal with the question, did Jesus speak in Aramaic
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or Greek?
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It might be tempting to say who cares or what difference does it make, but it's a really
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important issue.
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The significance of this issue is whether or not we have the actual words of Jesus in
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the Gospels, or the exact words of the other New Testament authors for that matter.
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Here's an example of why that's important.
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On December 8, 2017, Pope Francis suggested that the phrase in the Lord's Prayer of Matthew
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6, do not lead us into temptation, should be changed to, do not let us fall into temptation,
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because we know God doesn't lead us into temptation.
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What's significant is that the Pope thinks he can abandon the literal reading of the
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Greek text, because he believes Jesus didn't really say that.
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The word eis pharaoh means to cause someone to enter into a particular event or state
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according to the lexicon.
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So why does the Pope think that he can change the meaning of the word in the text from lead
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to let us fall?
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Well, the reason the Pope thinks it's okay to do that is huge.
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One defender of the Pope put it this way, quote, Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and his words
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were later translated into Greek, and other languages such as Latin and English.
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The Pope is not suggesting changing the original words of Jesus.
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Instead, the Pope believes the phrase, do not let us fall into temptation, is a better
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translation.
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That's the end of the quote.
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Of course, if Jesus spoke in Aramaic, we'd know what he said anyway.
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The point being made comes from the typical liberal agenda that the words of Jesus were
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translated and retranslated a bunch of times, and we actually don't know what he said.
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So there's no reason to pay close attention to the Bible or take it literally.
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The point is, if Jesus spoke in Aramaic, as the Pope claims, and we have it in the Gospels
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in Greek, then nobody knows what Jesus actually said about anything.
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G. Scott Graves of the Associate Professor of Theology at Faulkner University in Montgomery,
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Alabama, put it this way, quote, the Aramaic hypothesis infers that the Gospels represent
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theological expansion, religious propaganda, or blatant distortions of Jesus' teaching.
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That's a close quote.
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The Roman Catholics, as well as the Protestants, have for centuries claimed that Jesus spoke
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in Aramaic.
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For example, a Zondervan blog in September 7, 2016, said, quote, Jesus' first language
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dash, the language he used in ordinary conversation and language he used to teach the crowds dash,
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was Aramaic, close quote.
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You may recall in 2004, the film Passion of the Christ, where Mel Gibson made is, he
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had the whole thing done in Aramaic.
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Aramaic was the ancient language the Jews picked up and developed during the Babylonian
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captivity.
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It's used in Daniel's two through seven parts of Ezra, and a few other places in the Old
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Testament.
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The Jews brought this language back with them when they returned to the land in the 400s
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B.C.
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But when Alexander the Great conquered the Western world for Greece in the 300s B.C.,
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the Western default language became Greek.
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So Greek was the language of the people for 300 years before Jesus was born.
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Outside of America, most educated people speak at least two languages, their local or national
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language and a commerce language, which today is English.
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In the first century Western world, the commerce language was Greek.
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It appears that there were three languages spoken in Israel.
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When he allowed the Jews to crucify Jesus, Pilate placed an inscription on the cross
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which read, Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.
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And he put it in three languages, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.
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And you'll notice that sometimes translated as Hebrew, but it means what the Hebrews were
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speaking, which was the Aramaic they brought back from Babylon.
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Most modern scholars agree that very few Jews spoke in actual Hebrew of the Old Testament.
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What the Gospels call Hebrew is actually Aramaic by the Hebrew people.
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The Roman military, like the centurions and the Roman dignitaries like Pilate, spoke Latin.
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They would not know Aramaic since it was a provincial language of a small group of people,
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but they would know Greek.
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So the Jews and the Romans had to communicate in Greek.
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The question is, which of these three languages did Jesus speak when he taught the disciples
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and the crowds?
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I want to suggest that the overwhelming evidence shows that Jesus spoke Greek with a few Aramaic
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words or phrases mixed in.
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In other words, what we have recorded in the Gospels are the actual words of Jesus,
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not some later translation of them.
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Here are four considerations.
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Number one, if Aramaic was the language of the first century Jews, then why was the New
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Testament written in Greek, actually Koine Greek, the common language of the Greek-speaking people?
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Take, for example, the book of James written in AD 49, probably the first New Testament
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book written, written by the Lord's half-brother, James.
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James is writing to first century Jews.
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He calls it to the 12 tribes who are dispersed abroad, not Gentiles.
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Why did James not write to these Jews in Aramaic?
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James and Jesus grew up in the same household, so if James was fluent in Greek and taught
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in Greek, it would be reasonable to assume that the same is true of Jesus.
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And why were all the Gospels written in Greek?
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Matthew is written to Jews about their Messiah.
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Why tell them in Greek?
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The book of Hebrews is written to Hebrews.
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If Hebrews spoke Aramaic, why was it written in Greek?
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The second consideration, there are a number of statements in the New Testament that are
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best understood.
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This is assuming we have the actual words of Jesus in the Greek text.
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Jesus said, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all
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things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must
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be fulfilled.
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Then he also said, in Scripture, Scripture cannot be broken.
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This sounds like the words of Jesus spoke which are recorded in the Gospels in Greek
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are the fulfillment of all things which are written about me.
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All things written about me is a quote from Jesus.
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All three of these synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record Jesus saying, heaven
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and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
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That sounds like it's Jesus' words, not a translation of them, which will not pass away.
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Peter said we cannot stop speaking about what we've seen and heard.
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This sounds like Peter spoke the same words that he heard from Jesus.
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The author of Hebrews writes, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
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After it was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard.
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This sounds like the apostles taught us salvation, which they heard from the words first spoken
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through Jesus.
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The Gospel writers use the phrase Jesus said 141 times, and they were inspired by God.
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That sounds like they were telling us what Jesus said, not some translation of it.
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A third consideration, if Jesus spoke in and taught in Aramaic because that was what was
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being spoken, then why is there no original Aramaic evidence of it?
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If what Jesus said was in Aramaic, then it would have to have been originally written
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in Aramaic.
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Zonderman reports the overwhelming majority of documents and inscriptions recovered from
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that era are in Aramaic.
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Well, if that's the case, and Jesus spoke in Aramaic, originally recorded in Aramaic,
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then why is there not one single manuscript ever been discovered of Jesus' words in Aramaic?
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Why have we been discovering New Testament manuscripts for 2,000 years now and found
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nothing in Aramaic?
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If it was written in Aramaic, we would expect it to be copied in Aramaic.
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Surely, if Jesus spoke in Aramaic, there would be a great interest in preserving these words
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in Aramaic and copying them in Aramaic.
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But not one single scrap of anything recorded Jesus speaking in Aramaic has ever been found.
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Wikipedia reports the New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other
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ancient work, having over 5,800 complete or fragment Greek manuscripts, 10,000 in Latin
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manuscripts, 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages, including Syriac,
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Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Armenian.
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And nothing in Aramaic.
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So in all the manuscripts that have ever been discovered all over the world for 2,000 years
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now, why has there not been one single manuscript of the Gospels or any part of the Gospels
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in Aramaic?
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Fourth consideration.
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The most obvious clue that Jesus taught in Greek, not Aramaic, is the Aramaic words and
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phrases Jesus used.
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If I'm speaking in a certain language, I do not mention the certain words as being
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from that language.
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I would not be speaking English and say, in English, this means thus and so.
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For example, I wouldn't say, this coffee is hot.
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In English, that means this coffee is hot.
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The fact that Aramaic words are being used means they are not the ones usually used.
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Therefore, it would make no sense to mention them because they would already be translated.
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Here's a few of the main Aramaic terms used in the Gospel.
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Talethakum, taking a child by the hand, he said to her, talethakum, which translated
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means little girl, I say to you, get up.
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What sense would it make to translate talethakum for us if the whole thing was translated?
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It would be like saying, little girl, I say to you, get up, which translated means, little
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girl, I say to you, get up.
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Fratha, looking up to the heavens, he sighed and said to him, fratha, which is to be opened.
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Why am I told what it means if it was all in Aramaic and translated into Greek?
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Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
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Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what your will.
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If this was translated from Aramaic to Greek, it would be Father, Father from Abba, Abba,
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not Abba, Aramaic, Father, Greek.
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Well, there's a lot more examples of this, but one thing is clear.
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The New Testament was written in Greek, the language of the Western Greek and Roman world
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for 300 years.
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When the old Aramaic words are occasionally used, they're clearly identified.
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In Dan Wallace's article, I'm going to read it here in a minute, in what language did
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the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus happen?
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And this is what Wallace says, more and more New Testament scholars are coming to the conclusion
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that Jesus often taught in Greek, and there is significant evidence that in Jerusalem,
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and among the Pharisees and Sadducees, Greek was the only language spoken by them.
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Well, in conclusion, one thing should be clear.
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Every word written in the Bible was inspired by God and written down without error.
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Ryrie defines inspiration of the Bible like this, God superintended the human authors
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of the Bible so that they composed and recorded without error his message to mankind in the
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words of the original writings.
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That's Charles Ryrie.
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What the gospel writers put down with pen and ink is the inspired word of God.
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If Jesus spoke in Swahili, it wouldn't affect the fact that what the New Testament authors
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wrote in Greek is the inspired inerrant word of God.
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The gospels in Greek are the precise message from God, the inerrant word of God, and what
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the Holy Spirit wants us to know about the words of Jesus.
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The appeal of Roman Catholics and liberals to claim Jesus spoke in Aramaic is an attempt
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to ignore the inerrant word of God.
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Nonetheless, it seems that Jesus did not speak in Swahili.
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He taught in Greek with some Aramaic expressions.
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What we have in the original writings of the gospels are the actual words of Jesus, exactly
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as he said them.
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Well thanks for listening.
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If you want my paper on the subject Proving Jesus Spoke in Greek, it's available on our
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website relationalconcepts.org.
