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For teaching purposes, the powerful Greek language would have been useful.  Greek was in common use by Jewish people in Palestine, thanks in part to the conquest by Alexander the Great.  Greek was even widely used in Jewish ossuaries to bury the dead.  Commerce took place often in Greek, and Jesus had been in business as a carpenter.  He surely knew the language.  Several of the key terms, such as Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees as "hypocrites", is derived directly from Greek without any comparable term in Aramaic or Hebrew.  Several of the Apostles had Greek names (e.g., Andrew and Philip), but others, like John, Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas, had Aramaic or Hebrew names. There has been no discovered book in the New Testament written in Aramaic or Hebrew that predates the Greek versions. The Gospel of John even seems to take advantage of the Greek "Socratic method" in repeating questions and then providing the important information as answers to the questions.<ref>For example, John 3:4 states, “How can a man be born again?  Is it even possible?”  (Answer, yes, by the Spirit and water.  John 3:5-8).</ref>  One website provides an interesting presentation of the view that Jesus taught in Greek.<ref>See, e.g., http://www.triumphpro.com/did_jesus_and_the_apostles_speak_greek.htm</ref>
 
For teaching purposes, the powerful Greek language would have been useful.  Greek was in common use by Jewish people in Palestine, thanks in part to the conquest by Alexander the Great.  Greek was even widely used in Jewish ossuaries to bury the dead.  Commerce took place often in Greek, and Jesus had been in business as a carpenter.  He surely knew the language.  Several of the key terms, such as Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees as "hypocrites", is derived directly from Greek without any comparable term in Aramaic or Hebrew.  Several of the Apostles had Greek names (e.g., Andrew and Philip), but others, like John, Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas, had Aramaic or Hebrew names. There has been no discovered book in the New Testament written in Aramaic or Hebrew that predates the Greek versions. The Gospel of John even seems to take advantage of the Greek "Socratic method" in repeating questions and then providing the important information as answers to the questions.<ref>For example, John 3:4 states, “How can a man be born again?  Is it even possible?”  (Answer, yes, by the Spirit and water.  John 3:5-8).</ref>  One website provides an interesting presentation of the view that Jesus taught in Greek.<ref>See, e.g., http://www.triumphpro.com/did_jesus_and_the_apostles_speak_greek.htm</ref>
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Here is a comparison of Greek and English:
 
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Regardless of whether Jesus taught in Greek, the oldest manuscripts of the Gospels were written in Greek.  But it is a form of Greek known as "biblical Greek."  Biblical Greek was a product of the confluence or combination of the Jewish and Greek cultures in Palestine in the 1st century A.D.  Biblical Greek is different from classical Greek that preceded it, and different from Hellenistic Greek that came later.  The New Testament has 550 Greek words that scholars could not find anywhere else, and some of the Greek syntax in the New Testament is odd.  Anti-Christians once used these facts to criticize the New Testament and the religion of Christianity, and even mock us.
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The oldest manuscripts of the New Testament are in "biblical Greek," or "Koine Greek."  Biblical Greek was a product of the confluence or combination of the Jewish and Greek cultures in Palestine in the 1st century A.D.  The New Testament has 550 Greek words that scholars could not find anywhere else.
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Then in the 1800s archaeologists discovered Greek papyri manuscripts that had been buried in the hot sand in Egypt, which preserved them beautifully.  These manuscripts included all kinds of literary and legal documents, in Greek.  Nearly all of the unusual New Testament Greek words were found used in ordinary writings in these manuscripts.  After examination of these Egyptian manuscripts, the preeminent German scholar Adolf Deissmann concluded what Christians had known all along:  the New Testament was written in the Greek language of the common man in the 1st century A.D., and there is nothing to criticize about it.
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In the 1800s archaeologists discovered Greek papyri manuscripts that had been buried in the hot sand in Egypt, which preserved them beautifully.  These manuscripts included all kinds of literary and legal documents, in Greek.  Nearly all of the unusual New Testament Greek words were found used in ordinary writings in these manuscripts.  After examination of these Egyptian manuscripts, the preeminent German scholar Adolf Deissmann concluded what Christians had known all along:  the New Testament was written in the Greek language of the common man in the 1st century A.D., and there is nothing to criticize about it.
    
'''Mystery:  Did Jesus teach in Greek?'''
 
'''Mystery:  Did Jesus teach in Greek?'''
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