DID JESUS SPEAK GREEK?

“It’s Greek to me” is a common expression, meaning we can’t understand what is being said. Did Jesus ever say “it’s Greek to me?” He may well have since he spoke Aramaic (a cognate language with Hebrew).

But he might have heard some Greek in Palestine. Why? Because Alexander the Great (356 – 323 B. C.) conquered the “world” of his time. He not only conquered it militarily and geographically, he conquered it with Greek language, culture, philosophy, drama, athletics, dress, etc. For Alexander, Greek culture and philosophy were superior to all others. His teacher was the famous philosopher, Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.). Alexander wanted to convert the world as well as conquer it.

So did Jesus. Jesus did not use military power to conquer the world. Instead, he used persuasion and example. Jesus did not force people to speak Aramaic or Hebrew. Nor did he impose absolute Jewish laws and tradition. Instead, he wanted to convert people to believing in a universal, inclusive, and gracious God. But he didn’t speak Greek, the “universal” language of his time.

But Jesus’ followers did speak Greek. They spoke Greek because Christianity rapidly spread westward across Asia Minor (Turkey today) and Greece and Italy and southwestward across northern Africa. The early Christian leaders decided Christianity was to be a universal religion (see Bible: Acts of the Apostles 15: 1 – 21). You did not first have to become a Jew before becoming a Christian. Consequently, Christianity spread rapidly throughout the non -Jewish world.

That is why the New Testament originally was written in Greek. Most of the world’s Christians were Greek-speaking. So the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which record the life and teachings of the Aramaic-speaking Jesus were already Greek translations from Jesus’ original language.

Did Jesus speak Greek? Possibly a few words picked up from the trade-routes going through his area and possibly from the Decapolis (the ten “Greek” cities) near him. But as far as we can tell, he read Hebrew in the synagogues (see Bible: Luke 4: 16 – 20) and spoke Aramaic to the multitudes.

But the majority of his early followers spoke Greek. So they could say with affirmation, “It’s Greek to me,” meaning they understood it. Even though Jesus didn’t speak Greek, the impulse of his Spirit has permeated a great number of the world’s languages (518) and about 2.2 billion of the world’s people.

Alexander has met his match. So has every other would-be conqueror.