A Bilingual Jesus: Assessing Evidence in the Gospels

This article examines issues of the historical Jesus’ linguistic proficiency, particularly in Greek, while providing an analysis of the use of other languages as well. Looking at recent studies on language use in Greco-Roman Palestine and new conceptualizations of multilingualism, the analysis seeks to clarify the languages used by Jesus. This study examines several case studies from the Gospels including the Aramaic sayings of Jesus, found primarily in Mark, a section of the Beatitudes in the Q material found in Lk 6:20–21, and the Lord’s Prayer in Q, with these theoretical frameworks in mind. It concludes that Jesus likely used Aramaic when addressing those who did not understand Greek. In addition, a sample of Jesus’ teaching in the Q double tradition material was analyzed to ascertain the possibility of its origin in Greek. This analysis concludes that there is no reason to assume that the material in Q was not composed in Greek originally, as there is no evidence of Semitic interference, whereas other parts of Jesus’ teaching, such as the Lord’s Prayer, were most likely uttered in Aramaic originally and translated into Greek.