What language was spoken at the time of Christ – Greek or Aramaic?
In Judea at the time of Christ Aramaic was the dominant language (hence the filming of The Passion of the Christ in Aramaic), but most people were bi-lingual; Aramaic, Latin, and Greek were all common. Greek was considered the “international language” of the day (kind of like English is today) and proved to be the most fitting language for the books of the Bible because they were intended for an international audience. Here’s a few interesting points from a Greek textbook called “New Testament Greek For Beginners” by J. Gresham Machen: “When the Romans, in the last two centuries before Christ, conquered the eastern part of the Mediterranean world, they made no attempt to suppress the Greek language. On the contrary, the conquerors to a very considerable extent were conquered by those whom they conquered. Rome herself had already come under Greek influence, and now she made use of the Greek language in administering at least the eastern part of her vast empire. The language of the Roman
