It is worth discussing because it illustrates the problem of personal opinion based on little or no facts passing as established truth and even "consensus of scholars" in academia. We laugh at the debates of scholars from 100 years ago yet the exact same types of debates are conducted today - slap fights between scholars over mere opinions.
It seems to me that the honest answer is to say that we simply don't know for sure if Jesus spoke in Greek or not, but evidence does exist that strongly suggests that he probably did.
That position is illustrated by this response from Google AI:
While the scholarly consensus maintains that Jesus primarily taught in Aramaic, a significant body of research argues that he likely possessed at least conversational proficiency in Koine Greek due to the multilingual nature of first-century Palestine.
The following scholarly sources and researchers support the argument that Jesus may have spoken Greek:
Key Proponents and Major Works
- Stanley E. Porter: A leading modern advocate for Jesus' use of Greek. He argues that Jesus likely had enough linguistic competence not only to converse but also to teach in Greek in certain contexts.
- Recommended Reading: The Language of the New Testament: Classic Essays (1991).
- Martin Hengel: His foundational work demonstrated that first-century Judaism was deeply Hellenized, making it "historically untenable" to separate the Greek Gospels from an Aramaic-speaking Jesus.
- Recommended Reading: Judaism and Hellenism (1974).
- G. Scott Gleaves: Contends that Greek was a dominant language in Roman Palestine and that Jesus "by necessity" used it in Galilee.
- Recommended Reading: Did Jesus Speak Greek? The Emerging Evidence of Greek Dominance in First-Century Palestine (2015).
- Nigel Turner: Argued that the Greek of the Gospels sometimes reflects a "Jewish Greek" dialect that may have been spoken by Jesus himself rather than being a translation from Aramaic.
- Joseph Fitzmyer: While emphasizing Aramaic, Fitzmyer acknowledged the widespread use of Greek in Palestine and the high probability that Jesus used it for certain interactions.
- John P. Meier: In his multi-volume study of the historical Jesus, he concludes that Jesus likely spoke Greek to a "reasonable degree".
Evidence Cited by Scholars
Scholars draw on several lines of evidence to support this possibility:
- Interactions with Non-Jews: Jesus' conversations with the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5), the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:26), and Pontius Pilate (John 18:33) almost certainly would have occurred in Greek, as Greek was the common language for communication between Romans and locals.
- Geographic Proximity: Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which was only a few miles from Sepphoris, a major Hellenized city where Greek was extensively used for trade and administration.
- Septuagint Usage: Many New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are based on the
Septuagint (LXX)
, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, suggesting Jesus and his disciples were familiar with this version. - The "Bar Kokhba" Letters: Discovery of first- and second-century documents, including letters written in Greek by Jewish revolutionaries, proves that Greek was used even by nationalist Jews in everyday life.
