[B-Greek] Jesus knew b-greek or koine ?

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 12 13:28:53 EST 2007


This question reminds me of the old position that the Greek of the NT was "Holy Ghost" Greek.  This has been rather effectively demolished by the discovery of the Oxyrhynchus papyri and various inscriptions.  Koine means "common" which is indeed what the language of the NT was.  Adolf Deissmann in the first chapter of his _Light from the Ancient East_ wrote

Until recently the men of this class were almost entirely lost to the historian. Now, however, thanks to the discovery of their own authentic records, they have suddenly risen again from the rubbish mounds of the ancient cities, little market towns, and villages. They plead so insistently to be heard that there is nothing for it but to yield them calm and dispassionate audience. The chief and most general value of the non-literary written memorials of the Roman Empire, I think, is this: They help us to correct the picture of the ancient world which we have formed by viewing it, hitherto. exclusively from above. They place us in the midst of that class in which we have to think of the apostle Paul and the early Christians gathering recruits. This statement, however, must not be pressed. Of course among the inscriptions and papyri of that time there are many that do not come from the lower class but owe their origin to Caesars, generals, statesmen,
 municipalities, and rich people. But side by side with these texts lies evidence of the middle and lower classes, in countless depositions made by themselves, and in most cases recognisable at once as such by their contents or the peculiarity of their language. These are records of the people’s speech, records of the insignificant affairs of insignificant persons. Peasants and artisans, soldiers and slaves and mothers speak to us of their cares and labours. The unknown and the forgotten, for whom there was no room in the pages of the annals, troop into the lofty halls of our museums, and in the libraries, folio on folio, are ranged the precious editions of the new texts.

Deissmann, A., & Strachan, L. R. M. (1910). Light from the ancient East the New Testament illustrated by recently discovered texts of the Graeco-Roman world (7). London: Hodder & Stoughton.

No, it wasn't "Holy Ghost" Greek or Biblical Greek, but the common language of the people.
 
george
gfsomsel
 
Therefore, O faithful Christian, search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.
 
- Jan Hus
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Mario Trinchero <mariotrinchero at gmail.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 12:00:58 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Jesus knew b-greek or koine ?

I have a question in my mind.
Jesus knew b-greek or koine ?

Thanks to all in advance.
Mario Trinchero
---
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