10-23-2014, 10:19 PM
As someone who knows very little about most things and almost nothing about the rest, let me say a few things:
There is currently an almost poisonous argument about "The First New Testament" copy. What would that first copy look like?
"OH!!! That would be the first all Greek copy of the Scriptures..." Do you see the problem? Aramaic couldn't be the "First" because Aramaic is not Greek.
Uh-Oh...
Please look at the evidence presented on this site and draw your own conclusions. A lot of this material is persuasive. It may never rise to the level of PROOF for many but I believe it is naive at best to ignore what is plain in front of your face.
I follow "Lamb of God" arguments these days and have recently looked at the use of the Idiom. "You must be born again" appears to be Idiomatic (and Semitic in origin...) and such research is fruitful to see how these ideas must have been changed to fit into a Greek mindset.
There are problems!
Mark 6: 48 (RSV):
[48] And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them,
There's at least one PhD thesis in this one verse by itself but notice the term "...fourth watch". Jewish fighters had 3 watches at night. "Fourth watch..." is a Roman military term. What's a Roman military term doing in the middle of the Book of Mark? Someone might say that it's a Greek term as well but that evades the point. What does this mean from an Aramaic perspective?
I believe you came to the right place to find your answers. This IS a complex question if you are considering it for the first time.
CW
There is currently an almost poisonous argument about "The First New Testament" copy. What would that first copy look like?
"OH!!! That would be the first all Greek copy of the Scriptures..." Do you see the problem? Aramaic couldn't be the "First" because Aramaic is not Greek.
Uh-Oh...
Please look at the evidence presented on this site and draw your own conclusions. A lot of this material is persuasive. It may never rise to the level of PROOF for many but I believe it is naive at best to ignore what is plain in front of your face.
I follow "Lamb of God" arguments these days and have recently looked at the use of the Idiom. "You must be born again" appears to be Idiomatic (and Semitic in origin...) and such research is fruitful to see how these ideas must have been changed to fit into a Greek mindset.
There are problems!
Mark 6: 48 (RSV):
[48] And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them,
There's at least one PhD thesis in this one verse by itself but notice the term "...fourth watch". Jewish fighters had 3 watches at night. "Fourth watch..." is a Roman military term. What's a Roman military term doing in the middle of the Book of Mark? Someone might say that it's a Greek term as well but that evades the point. What does this mean from an Aramaic perspective?
I believe you came to the right place to find your answers. This IS a complex question if you are considering it for the first time.
CW