In what language was the Gospel originally written?

Answer 1

"ARAMAIC
"The official language of the Persian Empire, spoken widely throughout the Near
East. Certain portions of the Old Testament are written in Aramaic (Gen. 31: 46;
Ezra 4: 8 - 6: 18; Ezra 7: 12-26; Jer. 10: 11; Dan. 2: 4 - 7: 28). Aramaic words are
also found in Job, Song of Solomon, Jonah, Esther, the Hebrew parts of Daniel, and
some of the Psalms. The common language of the Jews after the return from
Babylon was Aramaic, and it is most probable that Jesus and the Twelve spoke
Galilean Aramaic, rather than the Hebrew of earlier times."
(http://scriptures.lds.org/bda/aramaic )

Yes, Hebrew has been preserved as a language from ancient times. However, it has been preserved more a language of the educated rather than as a language for common use. Most Jews converse in the language of the people among whom they live. At the time of Jesus' ministry, the dominate language in Palestine was Aramaic not Hebrew.

Another thing, while the earliest Christian were Jews (Jesus limited His ministry to the Jews), the Apostles also preached to the Gentiles. By the time that the Gospels were written, a majority of Christians were Gentiles. Additionally, each of the Gospels seems to have been written for a specific audience. Again from my Bible Dictionary:

"It appears from the internal evidence of each record that Matthew was written to
persuade the Jews that Jesus is the promised Messiah. To do so he cites several
O.T. prophecies and speaks repeatedly of Jesus as the Son of David, thus
emphasizing his royal lineage. Mark appeals to a gentile audience and is fast
moving, emphasizing the doings more than the sayings of the Lord. He occasionally
gives geographical and cultural explanations - necessary procedure for non-Jewish
readers (see Mark 2: 26; Mark 5: 41; Mark 7: 2-13, 34). Luke offers his readers a
polished literary account of the ministry of Jesus, presenting Jesus as the universal
Savior of both Jews and gentiles. He dwells extensively on Jesus� teachings and his
doings. Luke is favorable toward the gentiles and also gives more stories involving
women than do the other records. John�s account does not contain much of the
fundamental information that the other records contain, and it is evident that he was
writing to members of the Church who already had basic information about the Lord.
His primary purpose was to emphasize the divine nature of Jesus as the Only
Begotten Son of God in the flesh."
(http://scriptures.lds.org/bdg/gospels )

The audience would dictate the language in which the Gospel was written. Matthew was written to the Jews. So it probably would have been written in Aramaic. However, the rest of the Gospels probably were written in Greek. The majority of early Christians were Greek and Greek was a common language throughout much of Rome. (After all, Greeks had ruled much of that area before the rise of the Roman empire.)

Answer 2

All evidence is that the gospels in the Bible were originally written in Greek by Greek speaking individuals who had very little knowledge of Aramaic.

Answer 3

The gospels themselves (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were written in Greek. The whole New Testament was written in Greek, the old Testament in Hebrew.

Answer 4

greek and aramaic. old testament in hebrew(except some of the minor prophets). greek was the trade language of the ancient world, like french in the 16th century, like english today, like spanish tomorrow (grins widely)

as opposed to slim whitman's semi educated assertions, there are over 25,000 manuscripts (in whole or in part) of the new testament, some dating to within 100 yrs A.D. (or A.D. 100 for you nit-pickers). and they are in agreement to within a few letters of each other. no other ancient manuscript can boast the same. as for the old testament, people used to say that it was lost in translation too, till the book of isaiah was translated from the dead sea scrolls. it turned out to agree to within a few letters with the next oldest example - which was several hundred years newer. sorry slim. i'm not a fanatic, but i am informed and fairly current. you watch too much history channel.

for more info, check out www.followtherabbi.com

Answer 5

Since the "supposed" authors were aramaic in all likelihood the original texts were aramaic as was the "Dead Sea Scrolls".

Later transliterated to Greek and Latin.

Answer 6

Greek and Aramaic.

Answer 7

Aramaic and greek

Answer 8

They were translated from greek to english.


---------------------------------------------
Get Rich Quick Scams Revealed!
http://ballz.ababa.net/getrichscam/
-----------------------------------------------