User:In Citer/Page 6

What language was the New Testament written in
The question of what language the New Testament was originally written in is indeed important. Those who adhere to the belief that Jesus is acceptable for common use may adhere to a doctrine of an original Greek inspired New Testament. However, scholarly sources suggest that the New Testament was not originally written in Greek. As a matter of fact, the oldest manuscripts we have of the New Testament are over a few centuries older than the originals. There is a likelihood that during this time these manuscripts, which we have in Greek, most likely were translated and this view is supported by the Assemblies of Yahweh In McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia we learn under the article “New Testament”: "“The original copies seemed to have soon perished...Partly, perhaps owing to the destruction this caused, but still more from the natural effects of time, no manuscripts of the New Testament of the first three centuries remain”."

Since most scholars will agree that the writers of the New Testament books were capable of writing in Hebrew or Aramaic, and the fact that according to the scriptures the message was sent ‘to the Jew first, then to the Greek’, the New Testament gives precedent to originally being written in Hebrew or - a dialect of Hebrew – Aramaic. Although the original manuscripts could be called ‘inspired’ Meyer writes that “there is no such thing as an inspired translation”. Mistakes are sometimes made in translation and these are passed down to each subsequent translation. An example of a perceived mistake by a translator translating the Hebrew original manuscripts is found in Revelation 19:16. The scripture here says that the Messiah has a name written on His thigh. This lacks sense, but when considering the original Hebrew language the root problem becomes clear. As explained by the Assemblies of Yahweh: "“The word thigh in the Hebrew is ‘ragel’ (#7271 in Strong’s) while it should be banner “dagel” (#1714). Evidently a sloppy scribe omitted the little extension on the top of the dalet and made it into a resh, changing from a Hebrew Rēsh Hebrew 'Dālet ד (d) to a Hebrew Rēsh (r)." This was discussed by Professor Charles Torrey. Professor Charles C. Torrey, a prominent and notable scholar maintained that all the evangels were originally written in Aramaic and that our extant text is a translation. Further, in the book entitled ‘The Quest of the Historical Jesus’ by renowned scholar, Dr Albert Schweitzer says: “The fact is that from the language of the New Testament it is often difficult to make out whether the underlying words are Hebrew or Aramaic” The following is a quote from Robert Taylor’s Diegeses, published 1869: "“It is a false representation, or what would be called in common parlance – a lie, upon the title-page, where it is represented, that the New Testament is ‘translated out of the original Greek’ seeing there never was any original Greek’."

As a result the Name Yahweh and Yahshua should have appeared in the original Hebrew or Aramaic texts. There is scriptural evidence to suggest that the apostles were using these Hebrew names such as in Acts 18:12-16. Due to the decision by Jews to no longer pronounce the Name, the message of Yahshua – that Yahweh is salvation – would have angered many. Dr George Howard of the University of Georgia considers the possibility that the Tetragrammaton was retained in the first documents of the Greek translation just as it had been retained in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures