Clivedurdle

As I remember it, the basic assumption is that Jesus spoke Aramaic/Hebrew, but the above is evidence of a clear Greek speaker.

Why in a Greek world is it thought that Jesus did not speak Greek?

Or are we looking at a character in Greek stories and plays?

Clivedurdle

And I recently was at a conference in Barcelona where I had simultaneous translation ffrom Catalan to English.

Was the trial scene with Pilate firstly accurately translated probably between Latin and Aramaic, did they both speak poor Greek, and how do we know the transcribers got it right, or maybe it is all a literary invention? They were arguing about what is truth!

Clivedurdle

And what are all these spirits in John 3? Are they capitalised in Greek?

judge

There is no reason in the text to assume that Nicodemus was confused about "above" vs "again". In fact the text says he wondered how he would enter his mothers womb a second time. There is no evidence in the text that Nicodemus thought anything but born again.

Likewise Jesus, in the text, makes no allusion to anything being from "above".
Jesus doesn't say.."No, I dont mean again I mean above".

Here are the words again. "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

The greek gospel of John seems OTOH to have been translated from Aramaic. See here for example.

Thor Q. Mada

Whatever language he could speak is not important. It is clear however he couldn't write.

Toto

Clive - the Jesus of the gospels, a mythic character, spoke in Greek. Why do you think this has anything to do with a Jewish individual who was the historic core of this mythic character, if in fact he existed? gJohn was written several generations after this person was described as having lived.

Toto

Irony and word play are lost on you.

judge

However the greek version has him speaking Aramaic.

Mark5.41

41He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!" ).

Petergdi

Complete nonsense. It is clear - especially in Mark - that Jesus' spoken language was Aramaic. While he may have known Greek also, the story is clear that he spoke Aramaic. The date of the gospel of John is hard to know exactly. I would put it much earlier than you.

Peter.

Petergdi

Judge is right that there is no hint in the text that the "born from above" meaning was intended. In fact it makes no sense, while being born anew makes plenty of sense and fits in well with the NT theme of needing to receive the Kingdom as a little child.

Peter.