Greek or any other language New Testament edition or document(s) predating the Old Latin (Vetus Latina) translation?
Upvote:3
None of the original manuscripts (autographs) of the New Testament (or Old Testament) are extant.
Manuscripts
The oldest known New Testament manuscript is P52, a small-fragment of the Gospel of John (in Greek), often dated to about AD 125. Depending on the date you subscribe to for the authorship of John, that would put this copy about 25-60 years after the original was composed. For an ancient document, this is an insanely early copy.
By way of comparison, the earliest surviving copy of Tacitus is almost a millennium after he wrote it (see here), and the earliest surviving copy of Esther may be 1500 years after it was composed.
A chart of the earliest surviving copy/fragment of each book of the New Testament can be found in the Earliest Extant Manuscripts section here.
The earliest surviving complete New Testament is Codex Sinaiticus (see source above), from the 4th century.
--
Language
Most/all of the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and so efforts to determine what the original text said--or to get as close as we possibly can to what it said--prioritize the Greek over other languages. For some background on the relevant textual criticism, see my post here on BHSE.
There are historical arguments, linguistic arguments and possibly a surviving manuscript suggesting the Gospel of Matthew could have been originally composed in Hebrew. The aforementioned surviving Hebrew manuscript, however, is not nearly as old as the oldest Greek copies of Matthew, and is at best a severely corrupted descendant of a Hebrew original.
There are outlier arguments that Hebrews may have been originally composed in Hebrew or Mark in Latin, but generally the only New Testament document where there's any significant debate against the view that Greek is the original language is the Gospel of Matthew.
--
Conclusion
Greek will get us closer to the original wording than New Testament manuscripts in any other language.
More post
- 📝 Other than non-Trinitarian, what terms are there for Christians who don't believe in the trinity?
- 📝 How do Congregationalists explain 1st Tim 1:3 and Titus 1:5?
- 📝 Why do people expect coherence in the bible?
- 📝 Looking for works comparing Moses and St. Paul
- 📝 Did the Early Church Fathers believe in praying for the dead?
- 📝 Did Moses see the face of God?
- 📝 Why do we focus on faith in Jesus' death and resurrection vs other kinds of faith?
- 📝 When does the bread and wine become Body and Blood?
- 📝 In LDS (Mormon) theology, what is the Aaronic Priesthood and to whom is it conferred?
- 📝 Why didn't Syriac Christianity keep Aramaic as their liturgical language?
- 📝 Can God Change his mind?
- 📝 How can a Pope be chosen from outside the conclave?
- 📝 Does saying "Thank God!" count as using God's name in vain?
- 📝 Is Romans 1:26 a reference to female h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 Who do Catholics say the Mary in Matthew 27:56 is?
- 📝 Do Catholics psychologists have a moral obligation to treat h*m*sexuality as a perversion?
- 📝 Calvinists: How to avoid justification from eternity?
- 📝 Did Joshua worshiped the Ark of the Covenant?
- 📝 Essenes' Beliefs in Comparison to Christianity
- 📝 Conjoined twins and marriage and sex
- 📝 Which version of the Gospels do the authors of the Philokalia refer to?
- 📝 Do Unitarian Universalist churches acknowledge the possibility that the Quran may be the inspired Word of God?
- 📝 Why does Genesis record only 10 names from Adam to Noah?
- 📝 How God has eyes when there was no light?
- 📝 What Saints have given guided written meditations?
- 📝 Why is Jesus the Son called the Father in Isaiah 9:6?
- 📝 If Jesus ascended to heaven as Michael the angel why is he still called a man?
- 📝 Who is allowed to read the handbook of instructions in the LDS Church?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean by "this generation will certainly not pass away.." in Matthew 24:34?
- 📝 What is the function of dreams according to Christianity?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Greek or any other language New Testament edition or document(s) predating the Old Latin (Vetus Latina) translation?
- 📝 Are any Classical Hebrew translations of the New Testament based on ancient languages other than Koine Greek?
- 📝 Was casting out of demons done in the Old Testament by any Prophets or was it started in the New Testament?
- 📝 Does New Testament accounting language have any Old Testament backing?
- 📝 Are there any bundles of subsets of the New Testament that are common?
- 📝 According to Roman Catholicism, can the death penalty for heresy be squared with any New Testament teaching?
- 📝 Did Jesus or any of the New Testament authors ever quote a textual variant?
- 📝 Does the New Testament have any mention of Kolob and if not, how come?
- 📝 How were the books of the New Testament chosen?
- 📝 Does the Bible make any allusions to life on other planets?
- 📝 Are any Greek or Roman gods mentioned by name in the Bible?
- 📝 Who was St. Joseph's Father? The New Testament seems to give two answers
- 📝 What is the basis for the claim that the entire New Testament can be reconstructed apart from original and copied manuscripts?
- 📝 When was the New Testament divided into sentences and paragraphs?
- 📝 Why was the New Testament Written in Greek?
- 📝 Does the New Testament override the Old Testament?
- 📝 In what order were the books in the New Testament written?
- 📝 Did any other early church fathers besides Origen teach the pre-existence of souls?
- 📝 Does the New Testament mention Christians worshipping the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Besides Paul, were there any other enemies of the early church who converted to Christianity?
- 📝 Did Martin Luther ever remove books from the New Testament canon?
- 📝 Is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral present in Luther or in any other pre-Wesley theologians, Protestant or Catholic?
- 📝 What is the earliest systematic New Testament commentary?
- 📝 Do any Theistic Evolutionists deny the possibility of (intelligent) life on other planets for Biblical reasons?
- 📝 Did the New World Translation lead to any doctrinal changes?
- 📝 Do any prominent theologians point to Old Testament prophecies of there being two comings of the Messiah?
- 📝 Is there a scriptural basis for treating the non-Gospel books of the New Testament as scripture?
- 📝 What is the New Testament basis for the idea the God is a God of judgment and vengeance?
- 📝 What was the New Testament in the ancient Church of the East?
- 📝 Do any other denominations agree with the Jehovah Witnesses that Satan was cast to earth in 1914?