This is a continuation of the series I started in December called “Bible Brackets”.  Please read the following 2 first if you haven’t already.

Filling Out Your Theological Bracket - Part 1
Decisions, Decisions - Bible Brackets Part 2

This is a very intriguing subject to me.  We’ve all read the red-letter words of Jesus in our bibles for many years.  And when we envision Jesus in our head, we see the guy on the right speaking something like this, “For God so loved the world….“  Well… that’s not exactly how it went.  First of all, I think most scholars would agree that Jesus looked nothing like the man on the right.  Some scientists studied several skulls of middle aged Jewish men during the time of Jesus, and reconstructed an average face, and they came up with the guy on the left.  Not really the picture in your mind’s eye, is it?  And technically, that’s not really what he said either.  Because, as surprising as it might be to many Americans, Jesus did not speak English.  Everyone that has seen “The Passion of the Christ” probably figured that out when they showed up in the theater and found themselves reading subtitles.  But did you think about what Language it was that he was speaking?  Many people might know that the New Testament was written primarily in Greek, so that might be a good guess.  But no, not likely.  The common language of Galilee during Jesus time was Aramaic.  Aramaic is an ancient Semitic language related to Hebrew.  So most scholars believe Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic when he was being quoted in the Scriptures, but that He also spoke Greek and Hebrew when necessary.

“So what?”, you might say.  Why do I care what language Jesus spoke?  Well, it just gives us a little more background information on how the bible came into being.  So here’s how it went.  Using a well-known quote, we’ll look at John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…”

1) Jesus did not write any of the bible.  Jesus did not write down his conversation with Nicodemus.

2) Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus in Aramaic.

3) The disciple John somehow heard the story, and probably about 60 years later,  translated the story into Greek, and wrote it down in his gospel.

4) Then depending on what Bible you are reading, the Greek manuscripts were translated into English many centuries later.  For example, the most popular English version, the NIV, was translated around 1970.

Add to this the notion that the ancient Jewish culture was not really big on direct quotes.  You can probably understand why considering there were no reporters carrying around notepads or audio recording devices in their pockets.  In fact, the Greek language did not use quotation marks at all at that time.  So all the quotation marks you see in your New Testament were placed there centuries later when it was translated into English, using the translator’s best judgment.  Ancient Jewish culture was more concerned with conveying a message, rather than with direct quotes.

So, in conclusion, as we read our English bibles, we are trusting a specific group of men whom we probably know nothing about, to tell us what their best guess is at the meaning of the story that John wrote in Greek, about what he heard that Jesus spoke in Aramaic.  Is that clear as mud?

Knowing this, does it make some of the arguments we have over interpretations, the use and meaning of specific words seems kind of silly?  Does it make the people that think they have it all right while everybody else is wrong, seem kind of silly?  Just wondering.