New Testament

==Language==
{{main|Language of the New Testament}}
The major languages spoken by both Jews and Greeks in the [[Holy Land]] at the [[Cultural and historical background of Jesus|time of Jesus]] were [[Aramaic of Jesus|Aramaic]] and [[Koine Greek]], and also a colloquial dialect of [[Mishnaic Hebrew]]. It is generally agreed by most scholars that the [[historical Jesus]] primarily spoke [[Aramaic of Jesus|Aramaic]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary|title=Aramaic|quote=It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Israel in the 1st century AD. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73).|page=72|isbn=978-0-8028-2402-8|editor=Myers, Allen C. |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|publisher=William B. Eerdmans|year=1987}}</ref> perhaps also some [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Koine Greek]]. The majority view is that all of the books that would eventually form the New Testament were written in the Koine Greek language.{{sfn|Metzger|Ehrman|2005}}<ref>Aland, K.; Aland, B. (1995). ''The Text of the New Testament''. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-8028-4098-1}}.</ref>

[[Early centers of Christianity|As Christianity spread]], these books were later translated into other languages, most notably, [[Latin]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], and [[Coptic language|Egyptian Coptic]]. Some of the [[Church Fathers]]<ref>Koester, Helmut (1982). ''Introduction to the New Testament, Volume 2''. Philadelphia. p. 172.</ref> imply or claim that Matthew was originally written in [[Hebrew Gospel of Matthew|Hebrew]] or [[Aramaic Matthew|Aramaic]], and then soon after was written in Koine Greek. Nevertheless, some scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew known today was composed in Greek and is neither directly dependent upon nor a translation of a text in a [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]].<ref>Davies, W. D.; Allison, Dale C. (1988). ''A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Vol. 1''. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 33–58.</ref>

=== Style ===
The style of [[Koine Greek]] in which the New Testament is written differs from the general Koine Greek used by Greek writers of the same era, a difference that some scholars have explained by the fact that the authors of the New Testament, nearly all Jews and deeply familiar with the [[Septuagint]], wrote in a Jewish-Greek dialect strongly influenced by Aramaic and Hebrew{{sfn|Machen|1998|p=5}} (see [[Jewish Koine Greek]], related to the [[Septuagint#Language|Greek of the Septuagint]]). But other scholars say that this view is arrived at by comparing the linguistic style of the New Testament to the preserved writings of the literary men of the era, who imitated the style of the great Attic texts and as a result did not reflect the everyday spoken language, so that this difference in style could be explained by the New Testament being written, unlike other preserved literary material of the era, in the Koine Greek spoken in everyday life, in order to appeal to the common people, a style which has also been found in contemporary non-Jewish texts such as private letters, receipts and petitions discovered in Egypt (where the dry air has preserved these documents which, as everyday material not deemed of literary importance, had not been copied by subsequent generations).{{sfn|Machen|1998|p=4}}