original language of the new testament Summary and Overview

THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT The N. T. was written in Greek, which had, since the Macedonian conquest of Alexander the Great, supplanted Hebrew in common use among the Jews who dwelt in the Roman provinces, and was the medium of communication between all parts of the civilized world. The ancient Greek literature is a perennial source of inspiration and knowledge. The language is at once vigorous and flexible, profound and clear, remarkably well suited to express every variety of thought. It is equally adapted to the concise, the critical, and the commonplace. In short, every order of mind can use it appropriately. It was in that day a better channel than the Hebrew for a divine revelation, and that of the highest kind. Hebrew no longer met the wants of culture. By nature it was hampered. It was the language of monotheism, but not of developed trinitarianism. The N. T. Greek is the Macedonian, and more particularly the Hellenistic, dialect, more or less mixed with Hebraisms, arising from the fact that the writers were Jews. In some books this tinge is very strong, especially in Matthew, Mark, and Revelation. On the contrary, the Greek of James and Luke, particularly in the preface of Luke's Gospel and in the latter part of the Acts, is good and forcible. Paul has a style of his own; broken and involved, interminable at times, as his sentences are, they are bold, pregnant, and lively. But whether with classical finish or unadorned simplicity, in this language the apostles addressed their own countrymen and the Gentiles upon the momentous truths and facts of the everlasting gospel.
Also See: The Bible The Text of the Bible The Hebrew Bible The Greek New Testament The Original Language of the Bible The Original Language of the Old Testament The Original Language of the New Testament