BIBLE WRITERS WROTE IN A KNOWN LANGUAGE
GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION.
I'm not sure how God spoke to the writers, but there is significant empirical evidence of what they wrote and language they expressed those thoughts (God''s thoughts). I believe that the words the writers chose came to them inspired by God, BUT, in view of man's own inabilities, the words had to be in the language bestknown and commonly understood language of that day.
Bible scholar F. F. Bruce writes:
"The revelation under the old covenant, which was in the first instance communicated to one particular nation, was appropriately expressed and recorded in the language of that nation. But the fuller revelation given under the new covenant was not intended to be restricted in this way. The words spoken by Simeon when he first saw the infant Savior (Luke 2. 30 – 32) had not long to wait for their fulfillment once that Savior had accomplished His work of salvation:
'Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.'
"The Evangelists who narrates this incident closes his gospel by telling how Jesus laid down a program for His disciples ' that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations beginning from Jerusalem' (Luke 24.47).
"The language most appropriate for the propagation of this message would naturally be one that was most widely known throughout all the nations, was a thoroughly international language, spoken not only around the Aegean shores but all over the Eastern Mediterranean and in other areas to. Greek was no strange tongue to the Apostolic Church even in the days when it was confined to Jerusalem, for the membership of the primitive Jerusalem church included Greek speaking Jews as well as Aramaic-speaking Jews. These Greek speaking Jewish Christians (or Helenists) are mentioned in Acts 6. 1, where we read that they complained of the unequal attention... By contrast with those of the Hebrews or Aramaic speaking Jews." F. F. Bruce, THE BOOKS and THE PARCHMENTS.pp. 58 – 60
"The Septuagint is the name commonly given to the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek made by Alexandrian Jews in the third and second centuries D. C., Of which we have more to say in chapter 8. This translation was practically the' Authorized Version of the Bible for Greek speaking Jews (until the end of the first century A. D.) And for their Greek speaking Christians (throughout the whole Christian era). Among Greek speaking Christians in the early days of Christianity it was as well known as our Authorized Version is to English-speaking Christians, and exercised a comparable influence on their style. We know, for example, how deeply indebted a writer like John Bunyan was for his prose style to the English Bible.
In this case the influence was wholly admirable, for (quite apart from the' heavenly notice of the matter') the Authorized Version is written in magnificent English. But the Septuagint was not written in magnificent Greek. The first five books of the Bible had special attention paid to them, and their Greek style is tolerable; but many the books were translated very indifferently, and the Hebrew idioms were imported boldly into Greek. To one accustomed to reading good Greek, Septuagint Greek reads very oddly; but to a Greek reader acquainted with Hebrew idiom, Septuagint Greek is immediately intelligible. The words are Greek, but the construction is Hebrew. This was the version, then, in which so many early Christians knew the Old Testament, and for those of them who became' men of one book' it influenced their style, Hebrew idioms in all. So when we find Hebrew idioms in the Greek of the New Testament, we may put it down as the influence of the Septuagint. This is true even in a writer like Luke, who, as we have said, commanded a good, idiomatic Greek style.....
"But apart from Hebrew idioms which came into New Testament Greek through the influence of the Septuagint style upon the New Testament writers, we should consider the Septuagint influence upon the New Testament vocabulary. Most important kind of influence exercised by the Septuagint on New Testament Greek is in the meaning of certain theological and ethical terms. The Greek outlook on religion and morals differed from that of the Jews and the Greek terms were of course devised in used to reflect the Greek outlook.
BUT the SEPTUAGINT TRANSLATORS USED THESE TERMS TO REPRESENT HEBREW WORDS WHICH REFLECTED IN the JEWISH OUTLOOK, and thus GAVE OF these GREEK TERMS A NEW CONNOTATION.
And it is this new connotation which regularly attaches to these words when they are used in the New Testament....
"As for the influence of Palestinian Aramaic on the Greek of the New Testament, this is found particularly in the conversations and discourses recorded in the Gospels and the early chapters of acts, and in the book of Revelation. Some scholars have argued that are Gospels were actually written in Aramaic and then turned into Greek. The evidence, however is against this....
"These Semantic elements and New Testament Greek--the Hebraism's the ride from the Septuagint and the Aramaisms derived from contemporary Palestinian speech--distinguish it from other forms of vernacular and literary koine; in the vulgar Greek of the Levant there was nothing corresponding to the semantic flavor of the early Christian writers." Ibid pp 70--72
I'm not sure how God spoke to the writers, but there is significant empirical evidence of what they wrote and language they expressed those thoughts (God''s thoughts). I believe that the words the writers chose came to them inspired by God, BUT, in view of man's own inabilities, the words had to be in the language bestknown and commonly understood language of that day.
Bible scholar F. F. Bruce writes:
"The revelation under the old covenant, which was in the first instance communicated to one particular nation, was appropriately expressed and recorded in the language of that nation. But the fuller revelation given under the new covenant was not intended to be restricted in this way. The words spoken by Simeon when he first saw the infant Savior (Luke 2. 30 – 32) had not long to wait for their fulfillment once that Savior had accomplished His work of salvation:
'Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.'
"The Evangelists who narrates this incident closes his gospel by telling how Jesus laid down a program for His disciples ' that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations beginning from Jerusalem' (Luke 24.47).
"The language most appropriate for the propagation of this message would naturally be one that was most widely known throughout all the nations, was a thoroughly international language, spoken not only around the Aegean shores but all over the Eastern Mediterranean and in other areas to. Greek was no strange tongue to the Apostolic Church even in the days when it was confined to Jerusalem, for the membership of the primitive Jerusalem church included Greek speaking Jews as well as Aramaic-speaking Jews. These Greek speaking Jewish Christians (or Helenists) are mentioned in Acts 6. 1, where we read that they complained of the unequal attention... By contrast with those of the Hebrews or Aramaic speaking Jews." F. F. Bruce, THE BOOKS and THE PARCHMENTS.pp. 58 – 60
"The Septuagint is the name commonly given to the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek made by Alexandrian Jews in the third and second centuries D. C., Of which we have more to say in chapter 8. This translation was practically the' Authorized Version of the Bible for Greek speaking Jews (until the end of the first century A. D.) And for their Greek speaking Christians (throughout the whole Christian era). Among Greek speaking Christians in the early days of Christianity it was as well known as our Authorized Version is to English-speaking Christians, and exercised a comparable influence on their style. We know, for example, how deeply indebted a writer like John Bunyan was for his prose style to the English Bible.
In this case the influence was wholly admirable, for (quite apart from the' heavenly notice of the matter') the Authorized Version is written in magnificent English. But the Septuagint was not written in magnificent Greek. The first five books of the Bible had special attention paid to them, and their Greek style is tolerable; but many the books were translated very indifferently, and the Hebrew idioms were imported boldly into Greek. To one accustomed to reading good Greek, Septuagint Greek reads very oddly; but to a Greek reader acquainted with Hebrew idiom, Septuagint Greek is immediately intelligible. The words are Greek, but the construction is Hebrew. This was the version, then, in which so many early Christians knew the Old Testament, and for those of them who became' men of one book' it influenced their style, Hebrew idioms in all. So when we find Hebrew idioms in the Greek of the New Testament, we may put it down as the influence of the Septuagint. This is true even in a writer like Luke, who, as we have said, commanded a good, idiomatic Greek style.....
"But apart from Hebrew idioms which came into New Testament Greek through the influence of the Septuagint style upon the New Testament writers, we should consider the Septuagint influence upon the New Testament vocabulary. Most important kind of influence exercised by the Septuagint on New Testament Greek is in the meaning of certain theological and ethical terms. The Greek outlook on religion and morals differed from that of the Jews and the Greek terms were of course devised in used to reflect the Greek outlook.
BUT the SEPTUAGINT TRANSLATORS USED THESE TERMS TO REPRESENT HEBREW WORDS WHICH REFLECTED IN the JEWISH OUTLOOK, and thus GAVE OF these GREEK TERMS A NEW CONNOTATION.
And it is this new connotation which regularly attaches to these words when they are used in the New Testament....
"As for the influence of Palestinian Aramaic on the Greek of the New Testament, this is found particularly in the conversations and discourses recorded in the Gospels and the early chapters of acts, and in the book of Revelation. Some scholars have argued that are Gospels were actually written in Aramaic and then turned into Greek. The evidence, however is against this....
"These Semantic elements and New Testament Greek--the Hebraism's the ride from the Septuagint and the Aramaisms derived from contemporary Palestinian speech--distinguish it from other forms of vernacular and literary koine; in the vulgar Greek of the Levant there was nothing corresponding to the semantic flavor of the early Christian writers." Ibid pp 70--72
WHY MENTION THE GREEK ?
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