Biblical Languages
BIBLICAL LANGUAGES
Larry Walker
Christians believe that God has revealed himself through the Bible. Therefore, those who read the Bible can profit from learning as much as possible about the languages in which it was written, of which there are three—Hebrew, Aramaic (a cousin of Hebrew), and Greek.
The connection between language and thought is not a loose one; language is a product and reflection of the human soul. Language is not just a dress for thought to put on or off at pleasure, but the “body” of which thought is the “soul.” Each language that God ordained to transmit divine revelation had a “personality” that made it suitable for such a purpose. The two major languages of Scripture, Greek and Hebrew, represent two major language families: Indo-European and Semitic. Their contrasting linguistic traits combine to produce a thorough, progressive, propositional revelation of God. That revelation is characterized by simplicity, variety, and power.
No translation can replace the original languages of the Bible in primary importance for conveying and perpetuating divine revelation. Those languages should be learned not merely from the “outside,” with grammar and lexicon, but also from the “inside,” with proper appreciation for the uniqueness of each one.
HEBREW
The name “Hebrew” is not applied by the Old Testament to its own language, although the New Testament does use the name that way. In the Old Testament, “Hebrew” means the individual or people who used the language. The language itself is called “the language of Canaan” (Isa. 19:18), or “the language of Judah” (Neh. 13:24).
Origin and History
In the Middle Ages a common view was that Hebrew was the primitive language of humankind. Even in colonial America Hebrew was still referred to as “the mother of all languages.” Linguistic scholarship has now made such a theory untenable.
Hebrew is actually one of several Canaanite dialects which included Phoenician, Ugaritic, and Moabite. Other Canaanite dialects (for example, Ammonite) existed but have left insufficient inscriptions for scholarly investigation. Such dialects were already present in the land of Canaan before its conquest by the Israelites.
Until about 1974, the oldest witnesses to Canaanite language were found in the Ugarit and Amarna records dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B.C. A few Canaanite words and expressions appeared in earlier Egyptian records, but the origin of Canaanite has been uncertain. Between 1974 and 1976, however, nearly seventeen thousand tablets were dug up at Tell Mardikh (ancient Ebla) in northern Syria, written in a previously unknown Semitic dialect. Because they possibly date back to 2400 B.C. (perhaps even earlier), many scholars think that language may be the “Old Canaanite” which gave rise to Hebrew. By 1977, when another thousand tablets were unearthed, only about a hundred inscriptions from Ebla had been reported on. Languages change over a long period of time. The English used in the time of Alfred the Great (ninth century A.D.) seems almost like a foreign language to contemporary English speakers. Although Hebrew was no exception to the general principle, like other Semitic languages it remained remarkably stable over many centuries. Poems such as the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5) tended to preserve the language’s oldest form. Changes that took place later in the long history of the language are shown in the presence of archaic words (often preserved in poetic language) and a general difference in style. For example, the book of Job reflects a more archaic style than the book of Esther.
Various Hebrew dialects apparently existed side by side in Old Testament times, as reflected in the episode involving the pronunciation of the Hebrew word “shibboleth/sibboleth” (Judg. 12:4-6). It seems that the Israelites east of the Jordan pronounced the initial letter with a strong “sh” sound, while those in Canaan gave it the simple “s” sound.
Scholars have also identified features of Hebrew which could be described as reflecting the northern or southern parts of the country.
Family
Hebrew belongs to the Semitic family of languages; these languages were used from the Mediterranean Sea to the mountains east of the Euphrates River valley, and from Armenia (Turkey) in the north to the southern extremity of the Arabian peninsula. Semitic languages are classified as Southern (Arabic and Ethiopic), Eastern (Akkadian), and Northwestern (Aramaic, Syriac, and Canaanite [Hebrew, Phoenician, Ugaritic, and Moabite]).
Character
Hebrew, like the other early Semitic languages, concentrates on observation more than reflection. That is, things are generally observed according to their appearance as phenomena, not analyzed as to their inward being or essence. Effects are observed but not traced through a series of causes.
Hebrew’s vividness, conciseness, and simplicity make the language difficult to translate fully. It is amazingly concise and direct. For example, Psalm 23 contains fifty-five words; most translations require about twice that many to translate it. The first two lines with slashes separating the individual Hebrew words in the original read:
The Lord/(is) my shepherd/
I shall want/not
Thus nine English words are required to translate four Hebrew words.
Hebrew does not use separate, distinct expressions for every shade of thought. Someone has said, “The Semites have been the quarries whose great rough blocks the Greeks have trimmed, polished, and fitted together. The former gave religion; the latter philosophy.”
Hebrew is a pictorial language in which the past is not merely described but verbally painted. Not just a landscape is presented but a moving panorama. The course of events is reenacted in the mind’s sight. (Note the frequent use of “behold,” a Hebraism carried over to the New Testament.) Such common Hebraic expressions as “he arose and went,” “he opened his lips and spoke,” “he lifted up his eyes and saw,” and “he lifted up his voice and wept” illustrate the pictorial strength of the language.
Many profound theological expressions of the Old Testament are tightly bound up with Hebrew language and grammar. Even the most sacred name of God himself, “the LORD” (Jehovah or Yahweh), is directly related to the Hebrew verb “to be” (or perhaps “to cause to be”). Many other names of persons and places in the Old Testament can best be understood only with a working knowledge of Hebrew.
Grammar
Many figures of speech and rhetorical devices in the Old Testament are more intelligible if one is familiar with the structure of Hebrew.
Alphabet and Script
The Hebrew alphabet consists of twenty-two consonants; signs for vowels were devised and added late in the language’s history. The origin of the alphabet is unknown. The oldest examples of a Canaanite alphabet were preserved in the Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet of the fourteenth century B.C.
The old style of writing the letters is called the Phoenician or paleo-Hebrew script. It is the predecessor of the Greek and other Western alphabets. The script used in modern Hebrew Bibles (Aramaic or square script) came into vogue after Israel’s exile into Babylon (sixth century B.C.). The older style was still used sporadically in the early Christian era on coins and for writing God’s name (as in the Dead Sea Scrolls). Hebrew has always been written right to left.
Consonants
The Canaanite alphabet of the Phoenician and Moabite languages had twenty-two consonants. The older Canaanite language reflected in Ugaritic had more consonants. Arabic also preserves some Old Canaanite consonants found in Ugaritic but missing in Hebrew.
Vowels
In the original consonantal Hebrew script, vowels were simply understood by the writer or reader. On the basis of tradition and context, the reader would supply whatever vowels were needed much as is done in English abbreviations (“bldg.” for “building”; “blvd.” for “boulevard”). After the Christian era began, and after the collapse of the nation, the dispersion of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem led to Hebrew’s becoming a “dead language,” no longer widely spoken. Loss of traditional pronunciation and understanding then became more of a possibility, so Jewish scribes felt a need for permanently establishing the vowel sounds.
First, vowel letters called “mothers of reading” (matres lectionis) were added. These were consonants used especially to indicate long vowels. These were added before the Christian era as the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal.
Later (about the fifth century A.D.), the scribes called Masoretes added vowel signs to indicate short vowels. At least three different systems of vowel signs were employed at different times and places. The text used today represents the system devised by Masoretic scribes who worked in the city of Tiberias. The vowels, each of which may be long or short, are indicated by dots or dashes placed above or below the consonants. Certain combinations of dots and dashes represent very short vowel sounds or “half-vowels.”
Linkage
Hebrew joins together many words that in Western languages would be written separately. Some prepositions (be-, “in”; le-, “to”; ke-, “like”) are prefixed directly to the noun or verb which they introduce, as are the definite article ha-, “the” and the conjunction wa-, “and.” Suffixes are used for pronouns, either in the possessive or accusative relationship. The same word may simultaneously have both a prefix and a suffix.
Nouns
Hebrew has no neuter gender; everything is masculine or feminine. Inanimate objects may be either masculine or feminine, depending on the formation or character of the word. Usually, abstract ideas or words indicating a group are feminine. Nouns are derived from roots and are formed in various ways, either by vowel modification or by adding prefixes or suffixes to the root. Contrary to Greek and many western languages, compound nouns are not characteristic of Hebrew.
The Hebrew plural is formed by adding -im for masculine nouns (seraphim, cherubim), and -oth for feminine nouns.
Three original case endings indicating nominative, genitive, and accusative have dropped away during the evolution of Hebrew. To compensate for the lack of case endings, Hebrew resorts to various indicators. Indirect objects are indicated by the preposition le-, “to”; direct objects by the objective sign eth; the genitive relationship by putting the word before the genitive in the “construct state,” or shortened form.
Adjectives
Hebrew is deficient in adjectives. “A double heart” is indicated in the original Hebrew by “a heart and a heart” (Ps. 12:2) and “two differing weights” is actually “a stone and a stone” (Deut. 25:13); “the whole royal family” is “the seed of the kingdom” (2 Kings 11:1).
Adjectives that do exist in Hebrew have no comparative or superlative forms. Relationship is indicated by the preposition “from.” “Better than you” is expressed literally in Hebrew “good from you.” “The serpent was more subtle than any other beast” is literally “the serpent was subtle from every beast” (Gen. 3:1). The superlative is expressed by several different constructions. The idea “very deep” is literally “deep, deep” (Eccl. 7:24); the “best song” is literally “song of songs” (compare “king of kings”); “holiest” is literally “holy, holy, holy” (Isa. 6:3).
Verbs
Hebrew verbs are formed from a root usually consisting of three letters. From such roots, verbal forms are developed by change of vowels or by adding prefixes or suffixes. The root consonants provide the semantic backbone of the language and give a stability of meaning not characteristic of Western languages. The vowels are quite flexible, giving Hebrew considerable elasticity.
Hebrew verb usage is not characterized by precise definition of tenses. Hebrew tenses, especially in poetry, are largely determined by context. The two tense formations are the perfect (completed action), and imperfect (incomplete action). The imperfect is ambiguous. It represents the indicative mood (present, past, future) but may also represent such moods as the imperative, optative, and jussive or cohortative. A distinctive usage of the perfect tense is the “prophetic perfect,” where the perfect form represents a future event considered so sure that it is expressed as past (for example, see Isa. 5:13).
Style
Hebrew diction is characterized by a picturesque quality.
Vocabulary
Most Hebrew roots originally expressed some physical action or denoted some natural object. The verb “to decide” originally meant “to cut”; “to be true” originally meant “to be firmly fixed”; “to be right” meant “to be straight”; “to be honorable” meant “to be heavy.”
Abstract terms are alien to the character of Hebrew; for example, biblical Hebrew has no specific words for “theology,” “philosophy,” or “religion.” Intellectual or theological concepts are expressed by concrete terms. The abstract idea of sin is represented by such words as “to miss the mark” or “crooked” or “rebellion” or “trespass” (“to cross over”). Mind or intellect is expressed by “heart” or “kidneys,” emotion or compassion by “bowels” (see Isa. 63:15, KJV). Other concrete terms in Hebrew are “horn” for strength or vigor, “bones” for self and “seed” for descendants. A mental quality is often depicted by the part of the body thought of as its most appropriate embodiment. Strength can be represented by “arm” or “hand,” anger by “nostril,” displeasure by “falling face,” acceptance by “shining face,” thinking by “say.”
Some translators have attempted to represent a Hebrew word always by the same English word, but that leads to serious problems. Sometimes there is considerable disagreement on the exact shade of meaning of a Hebrew word in a given passage. A single root frequently represents a variety of meanings, depending on usage and context. The word for “bless” can also mean “curse, greet, favor, praise.” The word for “judgment” is used also for “justice, verdict, penalty, ordinance, duty, custom, manner.” The word for “strength” or “power” also means “army, virtue, worth, courage.”
Further ambiguity arises from the fact that some Hebrew consonants stand for two different original consonants that have merged in the evolution of the language. Two words which on the surface appear to be identical may be traced back to two different roots. For an example of this phenomenon in English, compare “bass” (a fish) with “bass” (a vocalist).
Syntax
Hebrew syntax is relatively uncomplicated. Few subordinating conjunctions (“if,” “when,” “because,” etc.) are used; sentences are usually coordinated by using the simple conjunction “and.” English translations of biblical texts generally try to show the logical connection between successive sentences even though it is not always clear. In Genesis 1:2–3:1, all but three of the 56 verses begin with “and,” yet the RSV translates that conjunction variously as “and” (1:3), “so” (1:27), “thus” (2:1), “but” (2:6), and “now” (3:1).
Hebrew style is enlivened by use of direct discourse. The narrator does not simply state that “such and such a person said that . . .” (indirect discourse). Instead, the parties speak for themselves (direct discourse), creating a freshness that remains even after repeated reading.
Poetry
Hebrew poetry uses a variety of rhetorical devices. Some of them—such as assonance, alliteration, and acrostics—can be appreciated only in the original Hebrew. But parallelism, the most important characteristic of Hebrew poetry, is evident even in English translation. Among the many forms of parallelism possible, four common categories exist: (1) synonymous, a repeating style where parallel lines say the same thing in different words; (2) antithetic, a contrasting style where contrary thoughts are expressed; (3) completive, with a completing parallel line filling out the thought of the first; (4) climactic, in which an ascending parallel line picks up something from the first line and repeats it. Numerous other forms of parallelism enrich Hebrew poetry. The possible variations of parallelism are almost endless.
Figures of Speech
Hebrew abounds in expressive figures of speech based on the Hebrew people’s character and way of life. Certain odd but well-known expressions found in English literature come from the Hebrew style, like “apple of his eye” (Deut. 32:10; Ps. 17:8; Prov. 7:2; Zech. 2:8) and “skin of my teeth” (Job 19:20). Some of the more striking Hebrew modes of expression are hard to transfer into English, such as “to uncover the ear,” meaning “to disclose, reveal.” Others are more familiar, like “to stiffen the neck” for “to be stubborn, rebellious,” and “to bend or incline the ear” for “to listen closely.”
Legacy
English and a number of other modern languages have been enriched by Hebrew.
Words
English contains a number of Hebrew “loan words.” Some of these have had wide influence (“amen,” “hallelujah,” “jubilee”). Many Hebrew proper nouns are used in modern languages for persons and places, such as David, Jonathan/John, Miriam/Mary, Bethlehem (the name of several towns and cities in the United States).
Expressions
Many common Hebrew expressions have been unconsciously accepted into English figures of speech, as in “mouth of the cave” and “face of the earth.” Some figures, such as “east of Eden,” have been used as titles for books and films.
ARAMAIC
A secondary Old Testament language is Aramaic, found in sections of the book of Daniel (2:4b–7:28) and Ezra (4:8–6:18; 7:12–26). Aramaic phrases and expressions also appear in Genesis (31:47), Jeremiah (10:11), and the New Testament.
Old Testament Use
Genesis 31:47 reflects usage of Hebrew and Aramaic by two individuals who were contemporaries. Jacob, the father of the Israelites, and Laban, the Aramean, referred to the same memorial or “witness heap” by their own language: Laban called it his own Aramaic expression, but Jacob used the Hebrew counterpart.
Aramaic is linguistically very close to Hebrew and similar in structure. Aramaic texts in the Bible are written in the same script as Hebrew. In contrast to Hebrew, Aramaic uses a larger vocabulary, including many loan words, and a greater variety of connectives. It also contains an elaborate system of tenses, developed through the use of participles with pronouns or with various forms of the verb “to be.” Although Aramaic is less euphonious and poetical than Hebrew, it is probably superior as a vehicle of exact expression.
Aramaic has perhaps the longest continuous living history of any language known. It was used during the Bible’s patriarchal period and is still spoken by a few people today. Aramaic and its cognate, Syriac, evolved into many dialects in different places and periods. Characterized by simplicity, clarity, and precision, it adapted easily to the various needs of everyday life. It could serve equally well as a language for scholars, pupils, lawyers, or merchants. Some have described it as the Semitic equivalent of English.
The origin of Aramaic is unknown, but it seems to have been closely related to Amorite and possibly to other ancient Northwest Semitic dialects barely known to scholars. Although an Aramean kingdom as such never really existed, various Aramean “states” developed into influential centers. A few short Aramean inscriptions from that era (tenth to eighth centuries B.C.) have been found and studied.
By the eighth century B.C., King Hezekiah’s representatives requested the spokesmen of the Assyrian king Sennacherib to “speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall” (2 Kings 18:26). By the Persian period, Aramaic had become the language of international trade. During their captivity, the Jews probably adopted it for convenience—certainly in commerce—while Hebrew became confined to the learned and to religious leaders.
Gradually, especially after the Babylonian exile, Aramaic influence pervaded the land of Palestine. Nehemiah complained that children from mixed marriages were unable to speak Hebrew (Neh. 13:24). The Jews seem to have continued using Aramaic widely during the Persian, Greek, and Roman periods. Eventually the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Aramaic paraphrases, called Targums, some of which have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
New Testament Use
In popular thought, Aramaic was the common language of Palestine during the time of Jesus. Yet that is by no means certain, and probably is an oversimplification of the linguistic situation of that time. Names used in the New Testament reflect Aramaic (Bartholomew, Bar-jonah, Barnabas), Greek (Andrew, Philip), and Latin (Mark), as well as Hebrew. There is no question that Aramaic was widely used, as were Greek and Hebrew. Latin was probably limited to military and governmental circles. Mishnaic Hebrew, a common kind of everyday Hebrew dialect was also used in Jesus’ day; Mishnaic Hebrew documents have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
What was the “Hebrew” referred to in certain New Testament passages (John 5:2; 19:13, 17, 20; 20:16; Rev. 9:11; 16:16)? The languages used for the inscription put on Jesus’ cross were “Hebrew, Latin, and Greek” (John 19:19-20). Later, the apostle Paul was said to speak “Hebrew” (Acts 22:2; 26:14). The exact dialect he spoke may be debated, but as a Pharisee he was undoubtedly able to read the Hebrew of the Old Testament. The Greek word for “Hebrew” is sometimes translated “Aramaic” and may be a general term for Semitic, or for a blend of Hebrew-Aramaic (as Yiddish is German-Hebrew). At any rate, Aramaic served as a transition from Hebrew to Greek as the language spoken by Jews in Jesus’ day. In that sense Aramaic connects Old Testament Hebrew with New Testament Greek.
GREEK
The Greek language is beautiful, rich, and harmonious as an instrument of communication. It is a fitting tool both for vigorous thought and for religious devotion. During its classic period, Greek was the language of one of the world’s greatest cultures. During that cultural period, language, literature, and art flourished more than war. The Greek mind was preoccupied with ideals of beauty. The Greek language reflected artistry in its philosophical dialogues, its poetry, and its stately orations.
The Greek language was also characterized by strength and vigor. It was capable of variety and striking effects. Greek was a language of argument, with a vocabulary and style that could penetrate and clarify phenomena rather than simply tell stories. Classical Greek elaborately developed many forms from a few word roots. Its complex syntax allowed intricate word arrangements to express fine nuances of meaning.
Ancient History
Although the antecedents of Greek are obscure, the first traces of what could be called antecedents of ancient Greek appear in Mycenaean and Minoan documents that use three different scripts: Minoan hieroglyphic (the earliest), linear A, and linear B (the latest). Linear B, generally considered “pre-Greek,” is written in a syllabic script found on clay tablets discovered on the island of Crete and on the Greek mainland (1400–1200 B.C.).
Mycenaean civilization and script ended suddenly with the Dorian invasions (1200 B.C.), and writing seems to have disappeared for several centuries. Later, about the eighth century B.C., Greek writing appeared in a different script. That script was based on an alphabet presumably borrowed from the Phoenicians and then adapted to the Greek speech sound system and direction of writing. Greek was first written from right to left like the West Semitic languages, then in a back-and-forth pattern, and finally from left to right. Several dialects appeared during the archaic period (eighth to sixth centuries B.C.): Dorian, Ionian, Achaean, and Aeolic.
During the classical period (fifth to fourth centuries B.C.), Greek culture reached its literary and artistic zenith. Classical (or Attic) Greek was characterized by subtlety of syntax and an expressive use of particles (short, uninflected parts of speech, often untranslatable). As the city of Athens attained cultural and political control, the Attic dialect also gained in prestige. With the Macedonian conquests, Attic Greek, combined with influences from other dialects (especially Ionic), became the international language of the eastern Mediterranean area.
Hellenism and the Koine Dialect
The conquests of Alexander the Great encouraged the spread of Greek language and culture. Regional dialects were largely replaced by “Hellenistic” or “koine” (common) Greek. Koine Greek is a dialect preserved and known through thousands of inscriptions reflecting all aspects of daily life. The koine dialect added many vernacular expressions to Attic Greek, thus making it more cosmopolitan. Simplifying the grammar also better adapted it to a worldwide culture. The new language, reflecting simple, popular speech, became the common language of commerce and diplomacy. The Greek language lost much of its elegance and finely shaded nuance as a result of its evolution from classic to koine. Nevertheless, it retained its distinguishing characteristics of strength, beauty, clarity, and logical rhetorical power.
It is significant that the apostle Paul wrote his letter to Christians in Rome in the Greek language rather than in Latin. The Roman Empire of that time was culturally a Greek world, except for governmental transactions.
The Septuagint
During the centuries immediately before Christ, the eastern Mediterranean had been undergoing not only Hellenization, but also “Semitization.” Both influences can be observed in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek was an epochal event. The Septuagint (the earliest Greek translation of the Old Testament) later had a strong influence on Christian thought. A necessary consequence of Hebrew writers using the Greek language was that a Greek spirit and Greek forms of thought influenced Jewish culture. The Jews soon appropriated from the rich and refined Greek vocabulary some expressions for ideas that were beyond the scope of Hebrew terminology. Also, old Greek expressions acquired new and extended meanings in this translation of the Old Testament by Greek-speaking Jews.
The Greek Old Testament has been very significant in the development of Christian thought. Often the usage of a Greek word in the Septuagint provides a key to its meaning in the New Testament. The Old Testament dialect of “Jewish-Greek” is at times seen in New Testament passages translated very literally; at other times, the New Testament translation of Old Testament texts is very loose.
New Testament Greek
Although most New Testament authors were Jewish, they wrote in Greek, the universal language of their time. In addition, the apostle John seems to have been acquainted with some Greek philosophy, which influenced his style. John used “Word” (Greek logos) in reference to Christ (John 1:1), and several other abstract expressions. John may have been influenced by the Egyptian center of Alexandria, where Greek philosophy and Hebrew learning had merged in a unique way.
The apostle Paul also was acquainted with Greek authors (Acts 17:28; 1 Cor. 15:33; Tit. 1:12). Thus Greek orators and philosophers influenced Paul’s language as well as Hebrew prophets and scholars.
Exactly which dialect of Hebrew or Aramaic Jesus spoke is debated. It is certainly possible that Jesus also spoke Greek. The fact remains that the Gospels were originally written as Greek texts. The records in Greek of Jesus’ teachings and accomplishments prepared the way for the gospel to spread throughout a Greek-speaking culture.
The dignity and restraint of koine Greek used by Christian writers was neither so artificial and pedantic as some classical writings, nor so trivial and vulgar as spoken koine.
Greek words took on richer, more spiritual meaning in the context of Scripture. Influenced by the simplicity and rich vividness of Semitic style, the New Testament was not written in a peculiar “Holy Ghost” language (as some medieval scholars believed) but in koine (common) Greek—largely by Semitic-thinking authors. Tens of thousands of papyri unearthed in Egypt in the early twentieth century furnish lexical and grammatical parallels to biblical language, revealing that it was part of the linguistic warp and woof of that era. Yet New Testament Greek was nevertheless “free,” often creating its own idiom. Christian writers influenced Greek thought by introducing new expressions in order to convey their message about Jesus Christ.
Semitic Influence
Because New Testament Greek combines the directness of Hebrew thought with the precision of Greek expression, Greek’s subtle delicacy often interprets Hebrew concepts. The Semitic influence is strongest in the Gospels, the book of Revelation, and the letter of James. Books like Luke and Hebrews exhibit a more typical Greek style. The New Testament epistles blend the wisdom of Hebrew and the dialectic philosophy of Greek. Sermons recorded in the New Testament combine the Hebrew prophetic message with Greek oratorical force.
In addition to direct quotes and allusions from the Septuagint, a pervasive Semitic influence on New Testament Greek has been noted in many areas. For example, the syntax of New Testament Greek contains many examples of Semitic style.
Vocabulary
The Greek New Testament vocabulary is abundant and sufficient to convey just the shade of meaning the author desires. For example, the New Testament uses two different words for “love” (for two kinds of love), two words for “another” (another of the same, or another of a different kind), and several words for various kinds of knowledge. Significantly, some words are omitted, such as eros (a third kind of love) and other words commonly employed in the Hellenistic culture of that time.
Moreover, Greek words often took on new meanings in the context of the gospel, arising from a combination of new teachings with an exalted morality. The writers did not hesitate to use such words as “life,” “death,” “glory,” and “wrath” in new ways to express new thoughts. Sometimes the literal meaning of a word almost disappears, as when the authors use “water,” “washing,” and “baptism” for Christ’s spiritually purifying power. New Testament vocabulary also contains words found elsewhere only in the Greek Old Testament, such as “circumcision,” “idolatry,” “anathema,” “Diaspora,” and “Pentecost.” Loan words from Hebrew or Aramaic include alleluia and amen (Hebrew), and abba, mammon, and corban (Aramaic).
For understanding the meaning of a New Testament word, then, a lexicon of classical Greek is helpful but not sufficient. One must also know how the word is used in the Greek Old Testament, in Hellenistic writings, and in the inscriptions and documents representing the language of everyday life. Papyrus documents provide many illustrations of the meaning of New Testament words. For example, the Greek word for “contribution” (1 Cor. 16:1), at one time thought limited to the New Testament, is commonly used with the same meaning in the papyri. Many Greek words once defined on the basis of classical Greek have been given sharper meaning in the light of their use in the papyri.
Grammar
As in other Indo-European languages, the meaning of Greek words is affected by the addition and alteration of various prefixes and suffixes (the process known as “inflection”). Although its system of inflection is simplified compared to classical Greek, New Testament Greek is more inflected than many languages. Greek meaning is thus much less susceptible to ambiguity than English.
In contrast to Hebrew, Greek has a neuter gender as well as masculine and feminine. The many and precise Greek prepositions are subtle, having various meanings depending on their context. New Testament Greek uses only about half of the particles used in classical Greek.
The Greek verb system, much more complicated than that of Hebrew, is capable of nuances of meaning difficult to express even in English. Each Greek verb has five aspects, which grammarians call tense, mood, voice, person, and number.
Tense
Greek verb tense deals primarily with “kind of action,” rather than “time of action” as in English. In Greek there are three basic kinds of action: “durative,” expressed by the present, imperfect, and (sometimes) future tenses; “simple” or punctiliar, expressed by the aorist and (often) future tenses; and “completed,” expressed by the perfect tense (results of past action continue into the present) and pluperfect tense (results are confined to the past).
Greek tenses are often hard to translate into English; the time of action as well as the verb stem’s basic meaning (such as whether it takes an object) must be subtly blended with the kind of action into a single idea.
Mood
The mood shows how a verb’s action should be understood. Is the action real? (Use the indicative mood.) Is the action demanded by someone? (Use the imperative mood.) Does the action depend on other conditions? (Use the subjunctive or optative mood.) Is the action basically descriptive of another substantive? (Use a participle.) Is the action basically substantive? (Use an infinitive.) In grammar, a substantive is a word or group of words functioning as a noun; the last two examples are not strictly moods, but they are used that way by grammarians. The moods give a Greek writer a rich choice of verbal expression.
Voice
A verb’s voice describes whether action is directed outward (active), inward (middle), or back upon the sentence’s subject (passive).
Person
The person of a verb tells who is doing the acting, whether I (first person), you (second person), or another (third person).
Number
Verb number shows whether the action is performed by one person (singular) or more than one person (plural).
Style
The New Testament contains a variety of writing styles in its use of Greek. The Gospels especially exhibit Semitic features. Matthew uses a style less picturesque than Mark’s and in some respects close to the style of Luke, Acts, Hebrews, James, and 1 Peter. Luke’s style varies from that of both Mark and Matthew; it is elegant. The rather simple style of John contains many Semitisms.
Among the apostle Paul’s letters, differences of style have been noted. The least literary and most direct in expression are his letters to the Thessalonians. The Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) have a style nearer to the koine than most of the other epistles—not so Jewish, and not so much influenced by the Septuagint as his other letters.
The letter to the Hebrews combines elegance with Jewish-Greek style. James’s letter, though high in cultural quality, is not as sensitive in style as Hebrews. Less elegant is 1 Peter, which is strongly influenced by the Septuagint and thus reflects Semitic style.
The letter of Jude contains elevated, somewhat ponderous diction, and shows the influence of Jewish style. 2 Peter, resembling Jude in its high style, is even more influenced by the Septuagint.
The book of Revelation has a generally simple style, but shows considerable Semitic influence in its use of parallelism and redundancy. Linguistic scholars have identified a number of apparent grammatical mistakes in the Greek of Revelation.
CONCLUSION
To Christians, the message conveyed by the Bible is simple and direct, yet capable of communicating to people in the most complex cultural circumstances. Although every human language has its limitations, the biblical languages have proved to be a remarkably adequate vehicle for conveying God’s message in all its power and richness.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bauer, Hans and Pontus Leander. Hebraischen Sprache, 1962.
Bergstrasser, G. Hebraische Grammatik, 1962.
Blass, F. and A. Debrunner. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 1961.
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Terry, Milton S. Biblical Hermeneutics, n.d.