Saturday, May 12, 2018

The New Testament, Written in Greek or Hebrew?

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the words mentioned are from Strong's Hebrew-Greek Dictionary
Some folks insist on the Hebrew pronunciation of the name of the Jesus. My understanding is the New Testament was written in Koine Greek. In the Greek the name of Jesus, according to Strong's Hebrew Greek dictionary, would be "Ἰησοῦς (or) Iēsous (pronounced) ee-ay-sooce' Of Hebrew origin [H3091]; Jesus (that is, Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites: - Jesus." 
It is of Hebrew origin but it was not written in Hebrew, it was written in Greek as Ἰησοῦς and pronounced Iēsous. It is transliterated to the English as Jesus.

I heard many years ago that the Book of Matthew may have originally been written in Hebrew but was later translated into Greek. However that may be in the King James Version the name of our Lord is Jesus. I don't read either Hebrew or Greek, only English. Those who insist on the use of the Hebrew version of the name of Jesus remind me of those who think the KJV is more accurate than the original manuscripts. (Although my understanding is there are no original manuscripts in existence. All are copies of the originals) 

So for any out there who may think that pronouncing the name Jesus in Hebrew is more spiritual, think again. There were those who used to think that (in hymnals) shaped notes were more spiritual that round, but that was not so either. As Dr. Strong mentioned there were others in the Bible who were called Jesus but only one called Jesus Christ. It is His name that God has given to men for salvation because He alone is called Christ. (See Acts 4:12 and Matthew 1:16) And it is because of who He is.


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