His Very Words, Part 1
A Fresh Look at New Testament Terms
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I’ll start with a quick overview of the Bible’s origin before sharing a fresh list of New Testament terms that will lead us into awe of His beautiful words and encourage us on our journey.
Original Languages
The Old Testament was originally recorded in Hebrew with a few spots of Aramaic in the books of Daniel and Ezra. The New Testament was originally recorded in Hebrew by Jewish disciples of Yeshua (Jesus), except for Luke who was Greek (however, Luke gathered the Hebrew writings).
The Hebrew writings were then translated into Greek because it was the language spoken throughout the Roman empire during the first century. This Greek translation was subsequently used to translate the Bible into more languages including English.
Just as with English, the Hebrew language that underlies all translations is filled with words and idioms understood only in the Jewish culture. We must study to understand them. You may find some of these studies at ShaleFragments.com/In His Dust.
Early Manuscripts
No original documents exist of the Scriptures but only thousands of copies called manuscripts. These manuscripts were copied by hand repeatedly over 1,400 years for the New Testament and longer for the Old Testament. The thousands of early New Testament manuscripts are consistent with one another and, therefore, are reliable. Later manuscripts show inconsistencies after biases were inserted. Therefore, it is important to study translations based on the earlier manuscripts.
Translations
There are different types of translations. A literal translation is one that translates word-to-word rather than thought-to-thought or in paraphrase form. A literal translation keeps the English words in the same order as the Greek words. Each Greek word is given an English word closest to its meaning. This is often very difficult to do.
Key English words used in the New Testament were often transliterated from the Greek by the translator rather the choosing the best English word. A transliteration is the creation of a new word using the closest corresponding letters of a different alphabet. For example, the word baptism comes from the Greek baptizmo which means immersion. When the Church of England translated the Greek texts, they were in a quandary because they did not immerse. So, they created the word baptize. Unfortunately, these transliterated terms have often masked the true meaning of the original Hebrew word and its intent, creating misunderstanding, confusion, and even division in the body of Messiah.
Other key English words have been coined over time, such as church and cross. The average person associates these terms only with Christianity. Since words can be powerful bridges or barriers, shedding the baggage associated with these terms and using clearer words descriptive of their true meaning will help us to make the Gospel clearer when sharing with those who don’t yet know Yeshua and His love.
With the help of Dr. Dwight Pryor of The Center for Judaic Christian Studies, Kevin Geoffrey of Perfect Word Ministries, and my own study, I have given a fresh look at 25 commonly-used New Testament words. Each word is followed by the Greek word from which it was translated or transliterated, followed by the Hebrew word from which the Greek was translated, and finally the word that most clearly conveys the original Hebrew intent. I have added my own thoughts underneath each word.
Each of the 25 words below can be used for one Bible study as you discuss them among one another and search for corresponding verses.
To continue reading the entire document, please print the 3-Page PDF here.
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Blessings and love in Him,
Beth Ann