An examination of some problems of the language of St. Matthew's Gospel

In the first chapter of this work the language of St. Matthew's gospel is set in the context of general New Testament linguistic study in this century. The differing emphases of Semitists such as Torrey, Burney, Dalman and Black on the extent of Semitic influence on New Testament Greek are set side by side with the work of Hellenists such as Moulton and Deissmann in placing the New Testament language with the spoken Greek of its period. Account is taken of the contributions to this debate made by Lars Rydbeck in his isolation of a group of technical prose writers of the 1st century A.D. with linguistic affinities to the New Testament writers and by Klaus Beyer in examining New Testament Greek syntax on the basis of possible and impossible methods of expression in Aramaic and Hebrew. The problem of finding Aramaic contemporary in time and place to the New Testament writings is considered and the different kinds of Aramaic used by various scholars as source material for an Aramaic approach are assessed. The Aramaic discoveries from Qumran, in particular the Genesis Apocryphon, and the material from Murabba’at are regarded in this thesis as the Aramaic closest to that employed by Jesus and his followers, while the use of later Targumic material, especially in a confirmatory rôle, is not excluded. Among the various Targums used in this work the contribution to the Aramaic approach made by the discovery of Codex Neofiti I of a Palestinian Pentateuch Targum is regarded as important. The extent to which Hebrew and Greek were known in 1st century A.D. Palestine is also discussed and a tri-lingual situation is favoured on the basis of the latest archaeological discoveries. Continued in thesis ...