Koine Greek

In the Bible

The Bible does not use the term "Koine" itself, but all twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written in this language. In the text it is simply called "Greek." According to John 19:20, the title on the cross "was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." In Acts 21:37, the chief captain asks Paul, "Canst thou speak Greek?" The Hellenistic Jews (the "Grecians" of the KJV) mentioned in Acts 6:1 were Jews who primarily spoke Greek.

Background

The word koinē (κοινή) means "common" or "shared" in Greek. When Alexander the Great conquered the East in the late fourth century BC, Greek spread from Egypt to Mesopotamia. In the process, a simplified common language emerged from a blending of dialects on the basis of the dialect of the Athens region (Attic); this was Koine. Even under the Roman Empire, Greek rather than Latin remained the common language of commerce and daily life in the eastern Mediterranean.

Significance for the Bible as a Whole

During the intertestamental period, Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Old Testament into Koine. This translation is known as the Septuagint. New Testament writers frequently followed the Septuagint when quoting the Old Testament, so Hebrew concepts from the Old Testament were carried into the New Testament through Greek vocabulary. Paul's letter to the church in Rome was likewise written in Greek. It is commonly held that this shared language enabled the gospel to spread quickly across ethnic and regional boundaries to the Gentiles. Most of the theological terms that the Korean church uses in their original form, such as agape, logos, kerygma, and diakonia, also come from this language.

Interpretation and Debates

• A special language or everyday speech?: Until the nineteenth century, some held that New Testament Greek, because it differed from classical Greek, was a special language, a "language of the Holy Spirit." In the early twentieth century, however, research on papyrus documents discovered in Egypt led to the widely accepted view that the style of the New Testament resembles that of everyday documents of the period, such as letters and contracts.
• Hebrew and Aramaic influence: The style of the New Testament contains Hebraic and Aramaic expressions. Scholars differ on the extent of this influence.
• The language of Jesus: There is broad agreement that Jesus Christ primarily spoke Aramaic. Views differ on whether He also spoke Greek.
• Distinguishing word meanings: In John 21:15–17, "love" is expressed with two verbs, agapaō and phileō. Some interpreters draw a sharp distinction between the two, reading them as divine love and human love respectively, while others regard them as near-synonyms used for stylistic variation.

In the Korean Church

The Korean church commonly calls this language Hellaeo ("the Hellenic language"). In seminary programs it is often taught as a core subject alongside Hebrew. In preaching, it is common to explain the meaning of Greek words with phrases such as "in the original language." However, voices in both academia and the church have cautioned against drawing firm conclusions about meaning from etymology or from a single word alone.