JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT SUPPLEMENT SERIES 60 Executive Editor David Hill JSOT Press Sheffield The Language of the New Testament Classic Essays Edited by Stanley E. Porter Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 60 CONTENTS Preface 7 Abbreviations 9 Introduction STANLEY E. PORTER The Greek of the New Testament as a Disputed Area of Research 11 ADOLF DEISSMANN Hellenistic Greek with Special Consideration of the Greek Bible 39 JAMES HOPE MOULTON New Testament Greek in the Light of Modern Discovery 60 CHARLES C. TORREY The Aramaic of the Gospels 98 MATTHEW BLACK Aramaic Studies and the Language of Jesus 112 JOSEPH A. FITZMYER The Languages of Palestine in the First Century AD 126 HENRY S. GEHMAN The Hebraic Character of Septuagint Greek 163 NIGEL TURNER The Language of Jesus and His Disciples 174 NeLAROnw thS Testamen eRYDBEC QuestiotnK i onf th Linguistie Contemporarc Levelys Languagand the Place Miliee ofu th e 191 MOÏSES SILVA Bilingualism and the Character of Palestinian Greek 205 Index of References 227 Index of Authors 234 PREFACE This anthology brings together a number of what I consider to be classic essays regarding the Greek language of the NT; that is, what kind of Greek is it: Semitic, koine, transitionary, and so on? Many positions have been advocated, refuted, and debated. This gathering of spokesmen is designed to give some idea of the history and progress of this continuing discussion. This collection of essays would not have been possible without the assistance of many people. Pride of position must go first to the distin­ guished contributors, many of whom are sadly now dead, but others continue to discuss the topic raised by these essays. Although I do not know many of them personally, through reading their many essays I certainly feel I know them better than I did previously. More than that I believe that I now have an idea of the kinds of questions which are uppermost in their minds and which have generated their interest and response. I am also impressed with the dedication and devotion they have displayed in their work on such an important topic, one which has a history of divisiveness and dissension. I would like also to thank all of the authors or their publishers who granted permission to reproduce the essays enclosed. To an individual, they were coopera­ tive, and in several instances especially encouraging that a collection of this sort was necessary. In the second place I wish to thank my translators, Dr Marika Walter and Dr Harold Biessmann, who took over the task of rendering two previously untranslated essays into idiomatic English: Adolf Deissmann's 'Hellenistic Greek' and Lars Rydbeck's 'On the Question of Linguistic Levels and the Place of the New Testament in the Contemporary Language Milieu'. The German was technical and difficult, and the time-constraints I dare say unreasonable. In the third place I wish to thank my excellent typist, Miss Melody Versoza. Quite frankly, I was astounded at the speed and accuracy with which she took these essays and brought them into conformity with appropriate manuscript form. In the fourth place I wish to thank two diligent reference librarians at Biola University's Rose Memorial Library: Mrs Beth Patton and Mrs Sue Whitehead. In my furious and frantic attempt to fill out as many bibliographical references as possible, they were equally dili­ gent and enthusiastic. Like sleuths groping for hidden clues, they did not give up until every last reference was exhausted. The completeness of the notes in several of these essays is really their responsibility. In the fifth place I wish to thank my publisher, Professor David J.A. Clines of the University of Sheffield, who encouraged me to publish this work when it was little more than an idea, and who accepted it as on-schedule whenever it came in. I wish the Press the best of fortune in the years to come. Finally, I wish to thank and dedicate this collection of essays to my parents, Stanley E. and Lorraine D. Porter, who have been a constant and continual source of encouragement and help. For what its worth, the fact that I do what I do is in large measure their doing. For this book, they alone have helped to offset a good portion of the necessary expenses. In a day and age in which theology is often of paramount—even exclusive—interest for those concerned with the biblical text, some have given quizzical looks when I have mentioned that I have been working on areas of NT Greek grammar. But allow me to quote (a little out of context) James Hope Moulton, who to my mind combined in an unparalleled way excellence in scholarship with true greatness of character: 'But the practical advantages of confining attention to what concerns the grammatical interpretation of a book of unique importance, written in a language which has absolutely no other literature worthy of the name, need hardly be labored here, and this foreword is already long enough' (Preface to second edition, Prolegomena, vol. 1 of A Grammar of NT Greek [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 3rd edn, 1908] xiv). Now you know my position. ABBREVIATIONS Aeg Aegyptus AGJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums Απ American Journal of Theology ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt ArOr Archiv orientalni ASTI Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Bib Biblica BIES Bulletin of the Israel Exploration Society (= Yediot) BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester BT The Bible Translator BTS Bible et terre sainte BWAT Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten Testament CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CII Corpus inscriptionum iudaicarum CIL Corpus inscriptionum latinarum CRINT Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum DBSup Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplément DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert EncJud Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971) ESBNT J.A. Fitzmyer, Essays on the Semitic Background of the NT EstBib Estudios biblicos EvQ Evangelical Quarterly ExpTim Expository Times GCS Griechische christliche Schriftsteller HeyJ Heythrop Journal HJPAJC Ε. Schürer (ed.), History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ HNT Handbuch zum Neuen Testament HTR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual IBS Irish Biblical Studies IDB G.A. Buttrick (ed.), Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible IEJ Israel Exploration Journal IR R. Hestrin (ed.), Inscriptions Reveal JA Journal asiatique JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JBR Journal of Bible and Religion JEOL Jaarbencht. ex oriente lux JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JPCI S. Klein, Jädisch-palästinisch corpus inscriptionum JPOS Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society JQR Jewish Quarterly Review JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JTS Journal of Theological Studies KAI H. Donner and W. Röllig, Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften LCL Loeb Classical Library MGWJ Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums MPAT J. Fitzmyer and D. Harrington (eds.), Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts NovT Novum Testamentum NovTSup Novum Testamentum Supplements NTB C.K. Barrett (ed.), New Testament Background NTS New Testament Studies OGIS Orientis graeci inscriptiones selectae Or Orientalia (Rome) GTS Oudtestamentische Studien PEFQS Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement PJB Palästina Jahrbuch PW Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft QDAP Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine RB Revue biblique REJ Revue des études juives RevQ Revue de Qumran RGG Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart RSR Recherches de science religieuse RSV Revised Standard Version Sef Sefarad SEG Supplementum epigraphicum graecum TGI K. Galling (ed.), Textbuch zur Geschichte Israels TynBul Tyndale Bulletin VT Vetus Testamentun ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZDPV Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästina-Vereins ZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft INTRODUCTION THE GREEK OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AS A DISPUTED AREA OF RESEARCH Stanley E. Porter Since the first significant studies of Semitic influence on the NT published in the mid-seventeenth century, there has not been a lack of interest in the Greek language found in the NT, although the issues involved are diverse and not easily defined.1 The topic includes treat­ ment not only of the Greek found in the NT documents themselves, but of the languages current in first-century AD Palestine. The essays in this collection address both of these questions because of their close dependence upon each other. The focus of this anthology is to present the major statements of the twentieth century regarding the kind of Greek found in the Greek NT. Before describing these selections in more detail, however, two caveats must be registered. First, any collection of essays reflects the idiosyncracies of its anthologizer. This collection attempts to present essays which speak for the major movements within this debate during the last one hundred years. Although I have selected the spokesmen who I believe should be represented, it is almost certain that someone else would have made a different selection. Second, it is not always possible or even advisable to include the best-known statements. Con­ sequently, although I believe that I have included incisive statements by some of the most significant authors on this topic, the major piece by each one, especially if this piece is already widely available, is not always included. I have tried to include complete statements, rather 1. For recent summaries of the debate see E.C. Maloney, Semitic Interference in Marcan Syntax (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981), pp. 7-34; and J.W. Voelz, 'The Language of the NT', ANRW II.25.2 (ed. W. Haase; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1984), pp. 894-930. than excerpts.