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  • From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] the hellenization of isaiah
  • Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 05:22:18 +0000

Fred,

There are many partial manuscripts of the New Testament that pre-date
Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus (which are the earliest codices of
the entire New Testament, but not the earliest manuscripts of smaller
portions of the New Testament). Some manuscripts date to the second and third
centuries AD. There is, however, absolutely no manuscript evidence for Hebrew
originals of any New Testament document. Those who propose a Hebrew original
to Matthew do so on the basis of (1) The mention of a Hebrew original by
Papias in the second century AD; and (2) the assumption of Matthean priority
over Mark (which is generally not accepted by modern scholarship).

You seem to be working on the assumption that the New Testament was written
to the Christians in Judea. However, this ignores the basic addressees of
many New Testament documents. There is no indication in any New Testament
document that the document was written for Hebrew-speaking Christians in
Judea. On the contrary, most of the recipients seems to have been either
diaspora Jews or Gentiles. And since Greek was the international language of
the day, Greek was chosen as the language of communication. There is nothing
sensational, controversial, or illogical about this. The burden for showing
proof that any New Testament document was written in Hebrew lies with those
who claim it. All the evidence seems to suggest otherwise.

Also, I agree with Ted that ‘hellenization’ is not the correct term for this
discussion, as it has distinct cultural overtones with the original question
does not seem to be implying.


GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au




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