06-22-2008, 05:14 AM
Shlama Akhan Dave,
I guess the question isn't really if 2Peter was translated from the Greek as much as it is if Peshitto 2Peter was translated from the Greek. From all tradition and internal evidence, it seems to have been. Perhaps the original 2Peter was written in Aramaic. I wish we could find it.
Think for a moment about the history of the book of Tobit. Written in Aramaic, the original of Tobit was lost for centuries. The Greek translation, existing in three different recensions, was our primary source until 1955, when fragments of the book in Aramaic (4 manuscripts) and in Hebrew (1 manuscript) were recovered from Cave IV at Qumran.
The book never made it into Jewish Canon, partly because the only copy existing at the time to the Rabbis was the Greek translation.
Perhaps 2Peter, 2John, 3John, Jude and Revelation were originally penned in Aramaic. No one has claimed they have the unbroken line of manuscripts for those works. They might show up in the desert one day, but I would bet that they read differently, albeit closely, to the "Western 5" found in the Peshitto.
Perhaps the CoE may have made the same mistake in rejecting 2Peter, as the Rabbis made in rejecting Tobit, because they thought it was a Greek work when in fact it was an Aramaic work. Only time will tell.
+Shamasha Paul
I guess the question isn't really if 2Peter was translated from the Greek as much as it is if Peshitto 2Peter was translated from the Greek. From all tradition and internal evidence, it seems to have been. Perhaps the original 2Peter was written in Aramaic. I wish we could find it.
Think for a moment about the history of the book of Tobit. Written in Aramaic, the original of Tobit was lost for centuries. The Greek translation, existing in three different recensions, was our primary source until 1955, when fragments of the book in Aramaic (4 manuscripts) and in Hebrew (1 manuscript) were recovered from Cave IV at Qumran.
The book never made it into Jewish Canon, partly because the only copy existing at the time to the Rabbis was the Greek translation.
Perhaps 2Peter, 2John, 3John, Jude and Revelation were originally penned in Aramaic. No one has claimed they have the unbroken line of manuscripts for those works. They might show up in the desert one day, but I would bet that they read differently, albeit closely, to the "Western 5" found in the Peshitto.
Perhaps the CoE may have made the same mistake in rejecting 2Peter, as the Rabbis made in rejecting Tobit, because they thought it was a Greek work when in fact it was an Aramaic work. Only time will tell.
+Shamasha Paul