What Language Did Jesus speak in: (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin)? +

Muslims sometimes claim the Gospels are translations of his words from Aramaic to Greek, which would introduce inaccuracies.

Let me show a Muslim posting to show how this can be useful:

Your cliam that Jesus (pbuh) was reffering to the Holy Spirit is simply wrong. According to the Aramaic Bible Society, the word "Paraclete" back then meant the "Praised One". Muhammad's name was "Ahmed". Both Muhammad and Ahmed in Arabic mean "The Honored One" or the "Praised One".

Also, there is a claim that the Bible is a "translation of a translation of a translation".  Something along the lines of Aramaic to Greek to the Latin Vulgate to English.  Of course, the Vulgate has nothing to do with modern translations, but some Christians don't know this, and most importantly this sounds impressive to Muslims.

Response:

You do not have to concede this Muslim claim.

We know that Jesus and his disciples lived in a multilingual world:
“And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew.”
--Luke 23:38

Also, there are a few short phrases in the Gospels that record Jesus speaking Aramaic, but always accompanied by a translation into Greek.  This would indicate that these were the exception rather than the rule.


Furthermore in John's revelation 22:13 Jesus describes himself as the "Alpha and Omega".  These are distinctly Greek words, and no translation is supplied.
Also the "Old Testament" that was in common use in Jesus' day was the  "Septuagint", was written in Greek.

This makes it likely that religious discussions would more than likely have taken place in Greek.

A modern equivalent of this would be that when computer technology is being discussed by people who speak English as a second language, the conversation will quickly turn into English.