12-28-2011, 07:13 PM
Luc Lefebvre Wrote:I agree with you. In fact, in general it seems that Aramaic letters would have been translated upon arrival for the benefit of those who spoke Greek or were more familiar with that language in general, and then copies of both would be made and circulated. After all, it would be important to have the message be preserved and spread on as wide of a basis as possible!
Within the context of the letter of Acts 15, as Antiochi was in Syria and Aramaic was the native language of most of the Shlichim, I would say that it was indeed first in Aramaic and then copied, translated and traveled to the other Believers. Interesting to note on this is that there is an eastern tradition from the group that identifies themselves as the "Assembly of Jerusalem" who say that that particular letter is what became the Didache in Greek (in Aramaic they call it the Limuda) but I haven't seen much supporting evidence for this claim.
Shlama Akhi Luc:
I think this is a good time to share my opinion. Is this not the true meaning of the gift of tongues (I Corinthians 12:10), not an "unknowable" tongue as is taught in the Pentecostal Church, but in the case of an "unknown" language, the gift of languages is given to one who is multi-lingual? "To him that has, more shall given" as Yeshua taught. Yeshua taught that the believers would "speak in new languages". The small sect of Messianic Jews in what was then Syria, not Palestina, were sent out to lands of different ethnic peoples to share the Gospel. With the help of the Holy Spirit, some were able to learn a second language rather quickly. Others, like Paul of Tarsus spoke many languages fluently, which was a rare gifting. He wrote his letters in Aramaic after making contact with the peoples of various languages, which would surely have included Greek speaking peoples.
So all of the New Testament, including Acts was originally written in Aramaic and when Paul did his missionary journeys he was able to preach in Greek and other languages where necessary and have an interpreter where necessary. Then when his letters came to these places in Aramaic he would have already made sure that there was someone in the congregation that was bi-lingual. As said from the beginning of this post, this is only my personal opinion. It rings true to me, brother Luc, and I personally spent three decades in the Pentecostal church and Charismatic movement.
Shlama,
Stephen