So why are there so many misunderstanding and false beliefs associated with the New Testament?
One of the reasons is that the New Testament was mostly written in Koiné Greek….that has caused some big misunderstanding and false beliefs. The Septuagint and the New Testament was written in Koiné Greek. Koiné Greek was derived or evolved from the Attic Greek language.
Attic Greek is the Greek dialect of the ancient region of Attica, including the polis of Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige dialect of the Greek world for centuries and remains the standard form of the language that is taught to students of ancient Greek. Attic was considered a prestigious language which is why Koiné means common.
There are many differences between Attic Classical Greek and Koiné Greek, mostly a lot to do with syntax and the inconstancies of Koiné Greek which was almost like a slang language of the common folk. Koiné has shorter sentences, more parataxis and less hypotaxis, and a sparing use of participles, and an increased use of prepositions. The study of the Koiné Greek language was hampered by the fact that it was not a set language…slang. Koiné Greek is not considered a dead language because it evolved into modern Greek, but Koiné Greek fell out of use around the 6th century so the understanding of it faded. But over time, more and more literature of this time period was recovered and by the 19th century a better understanding of Koiné Greek emerged.
Unfortunately by this time most of the Bibles had been translated using some faulty information and understandings. Stuff that was so set in, that resource material never went back to correct them. As it is now understanding Koiné Greek pretty much takes a college course.
One of the biggest errors is with Yeshua’s name….Christ is named Ἰησοῦς in the New Testament. Ἰησοῦς is not translated from Yeshua and it does not translate to Jesus. No one knows were the name Jesus came from and Ἰησοῦς is not a name, it is a Greek word that means healer. Which is why you will not find any one in Greek or Roman history named Ἰησοῦς. Even though it is known that Christ’s name was a common name, you will not find anyone named Ἰησοῦς.
So why did the Apostles name Yeshua with a Greek word? No one knows for sure, some speculate for the same reason that they took God the Father's name out of the Old Testament ….to sacred for distribution??? Either way Christ's name can be pronounced as Yeshua or Yehshua, kind of like Ed and Edward.
So, why didn’t the Apostles write the New Testament in Hebrew? Strangely enough the Jews were losing their ability to read Hebrew. Which is why Ptolemy II Philadelphus the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt and the son of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, ordered the Hebrew Bible translated to Greek, (Septuagint) for the Library of Alexandria.
So the Apostles wrote the New Testament in a Pagan language….Koiné Greek and some Aramaic. The problem with that was that there was no reason to expect a Pagan language to have words that would reflect Christian morality. So the Apostles would have to take Greek words and modify their meaning and context. A common example is that if a Roman sinned it meant his arrow missed the target, no moral meaning. And several words describe different types of sexual activities that were not seen as wrong in the Roman culture, but were sins in the Christian religion. So they had to change the meaning and context of various words. Some examples and for instance....the + shaped wood that Christ was nailed to....the Greek did not have a word for this so they had to improvise, so it ends up as pole or stack which is misleading. And devils and hell are not in Greek mythology so they had no words for them so again they had to improvise and then there is the word and concept of church...etc.
Then over the centuries for different reasons theological words and phrases started to appear to support newer beliefs, like Trinity, Original Sin, and fornication. These terms directly skewed the meaning of the scriptures and the understanding of what was actually going on. For example one of the definitions of fornication is that two unmarried people having sex is a sin….this misrepresent most of the Jewish and Christian history and the Bible. Because no where in the Bible is a wedding ceremony required. Two unmarried people coupled up and stayed together and this formed a marriage for most of history.
The Protestants should know this because they were the first to require a wedding to be married and that was in the 1500’s. The Catholic Church did not require a wedding until after the Protestants required it. So how many people believe that weddings were always required? And for how long did this false understanding exist? The power of false beliefs is staggering. Am I saying that weddings never occurred? No, although the first documented Christian wedding did not occur until the 9th century, most certainly voluntary weddings were occurring all along because it was part of the Gentile-Christian cultures. Pagan cultures were fond of weddings and Gentile-Christians were Pagans that had converted to Christianity and they brought some of their customs with them….this one being one of the best.
Around the 15th century the letter J came out in the English and some other languages along with some significant
changes that dramatically changed Hebrew and Greek translations....essentially all the words in the Bible that pertained to persons, places, and things that started with a Y sound were changed to J. Which for one incorrectly changed a lot of names.
So between the difficulties with the Koiné Greek and the developing misunderstandings and false beliefs, a modern Christian has to dig deep to find the truth. The good thing, these misunderstanding and false beliefs do not usually affect the understanding of salvation. On the other side of the coin, if you truly want to understand Koiné Greek you are going to have to buy some good books and do some deep study or take a college course. Because a lot of the common resource matter is inaccurate and the web is completely messed up on this topic.
But why go through the trouble? For one you can save yourself from hell and another you can save a lot of other people. You see a lot of these people that peddle false beliefs play word games with the Greek.....trying to get people to believe that OSAS is biblical, or hell is not real or only temporary or that Yeshua is not God. Not to mention the lingo of the cults. But if you know the Greek you can prove them wrong.....chew them up and spit them out. And you can look at the scriptures and see the truth for yourself. That in itself is a treasure.
One of the reasons is that the New Testament was mostly written in Koiné Greek….that has caused some big misunderstanding and false beliefs. The Septuagint and the New Testament was written in Koiné Greek. Koiné Greek was derived or evolved from the Attic Greek language.
Attic Greek is the Greek dialect of the ancient region of Attica, including the polis of Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige dialect of the Greek world for centuries and remains the standard form of the language that is taught to students of ancient Greek. Attic was considered a prestigious language which is why Koiné means common.
There are many differences between Attic Classical Greek and Koiné Greek, mostly a lot to do with syntax and the inconstancies of Koiné Greek which was almost like a slang language of the common folk. Koiné has shorter sentences, more parataxis and less hypotaxis, and a sparing use of participles, and an increased use of prepositions. The study of the Koiné Greek language was hampered by the fact that it was not a set language…slang. Koiné Greek is not considered a dead language because it evolved into modern Greek, but Koiné Greek fell out of use around the 6th century so the understanding of it faded. But over time, more and more literature of this time period was recovered and by the 19th century a better understanding of Koiné Greek emerged.
Unfortunately by this time most of the Bibles had been translated using some faulty information and understandings. Stuff that was so set in, that resource material never went back to correct them. As it is now understanding Koiné Greek pretty much takes a college course.
One of the biggest errors is with Yeshua’s name….Christ is named Ἰησοῦς in the New Testament. Ἰησοῦς is not translated from Yeshua and it does not translate to Jesus. No one knows were the name Jesus came from and Ἰησοῦς is not a name, it is a Greek word that means healer. Which is why you will not find any one in Greek or Roman history named Ἰησοῦς. Even though it is known that Christ’s name was a common name, you will not find anyone named Ἰησοῦς.
So why did the Apostles name Yeshua with a Greek word? No one knows for sure, some speculate for the same reason that they took God the Father's name out of the Old Testament ….to sacred for distribution??? Either way Christ's name can be pronounced as Yeshua or Yehshua, kind of like Ed and Edward.
So, why didn’t the Apostles write the New Testament in Hebrew? Strangely enough the Jews were losing their ability to read Hebrew. Which is why Ptolemy II Philadelphus the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt and the son of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, ordered the Hebrew Bible translated to Greek, (Septuagint) for the Library of Alexandria.
So the Apostles wrote the New Testament in a Pagan language….Koiné Greek and some Aramaic. The problem with that was that there was no reason to expect a Pagan language to have words that would reflect Christian morality. So the Apostles would have to take Greek words and modify their meaning and context. A common example is that if a Roman sinned it meant his arrow missed the target, no moral meaning. And several words describe different types of sexual activities that were not seen as wrong in the Roman culture, but were sins in the Christian religion. So they had to change the meaning and context of various words. Some examples and for instance....the + shaped wood that Christ was nailed to....the Greek did not have a word for this so they had to improvise, so it ends up as pole or stack which is misleading. And devils and hell are not in Greek mythology so they had no words for them so again they had to improvise and then there is the word and concept of church...etc.
Then over the centuries for different reasons theological words and phrases started to appear to support newer beliefs, like Trinity, Original Sin, and fornication. These terms directly skewed the meaning of the scriptures and the understanding of what was actually going on. For example one of the definitions of fornication is that two unmarried people having sex is a sin….this misrepresent most of the Jewish and Christian history and the Bible. Because no where in the Bible is a wedding ceremony required. Two unmarried people coupled up and stayed together and this formed a marriage for most of history.
The Protestants should know this because they were the first to require a wedding to be married and that was in the 1500’s. The Catholic Church did not require a wedding until after the Protestants required it. So how many people believe that weddings were always required? And for how long did this false understanding exist? The power of false beliefs is staggering. Am I saying that weddings never occurred? No, although the first documented Christian wedding did not occur until the 9th century, most certainly voluntary weddings were occurring all along because it was part of the Gentile-Christian cultures. Pagan cultures were fond of weddings and Gentile-Christians were Pagans that had converted to Christianity and they brought some of their customs with them….this one being one of the best.
Around the 15th century the letter J came out in the English and some other languages along with some significant
changes that dramatically changed Hebrew and Greek translations....essentially all the words in the Bible that pertained to persons, places, and things that started with a Y sound were changed to J. Which for one incorrectly changed a lot of names.
So between the difficulties with the Koiné Greek and the developing misunderstandings and false beliefs, a modern Christian has to dig deep to find the truth. The good thing, these misunderstanding and false beliefs do not usually affect the understanding of salvation. On the other side of the coin, if you truly want to understand Koiné Greek you are going to have to buy some good books and do some deep study or take a college course. Because a lot of the common resource matter is inaccurate and the web is completely messed up on this topic.
But why go through the trouble? For one you can save yourself from hell and another you can save a lot of other people. You see a lot of these people that peddle false beliefs play word games with the Greek.....trying to get people to believe that OSAS is biblical, or hell is not real or only temporary or that Yeshua is not God. Not to mention the lingo of the cults. But if you know the Greek you can prove them wrong.....chew them up and spit them out. And you can look at the scriptures and see the truth for yourself. That in itself is a treasure.
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