In what language were the New Testament books written?

• A. Written in Greek.
• B. Written in Latin.
• C. Written in Hebrew.
• D. Written in Aramaic.

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that the New Testament was written in Greek, specifically Koine Greek, which was the everyday literary language of the eastern Mediterranean in the first century. This made the writings accessible to a broad audience across Jewish and Gentile communities who spoke and read Greek as a common language for communication, education, and trade.

While Jesus spoke Aramaic and the Hebrew Scriptures were originally in Hebrew (with some portions in Aramaic), the authors of the New Testament composed their works in Greek. The use of Greek also explains why the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament often appear in the Greek translation known as the Septuagint, which was widely used in the early church. You may notice occasional Aramaic phrases preserved in the text, reflecting Jesus’ linguistic context, but the books themselves are written in Greek. Latin did not serve as the original language of the New Testament, though Latin later became a dominant language in Western Christianity.