Excavations all
over the middle eastern world have
discovered various materials from stone,
metal, papyrus, wax, pottery on which
were written the Greek language called
“koine” or common Greek.
This is the Greek forced on to the world
by Alexander the Great when he conquered
the known world.
Before
Alexander the Greek language was an
assortment of various dialects
each one localized to a small area.
Alexander wanted a Greek language common
to all peoples. It was called
“koine.” This is the language of
the New Testament as well as volumes of
other writings that have been
discovered. Among them were old
discarded office records, books, legal
documents, bills of divorce, personal
letters, tax papers, family letters,
notes, diaries, etc.
Those
contemporary with the New Testament show
how people thought, their values,
customs, ideas as well as how they wrote
and used words. One of the great sources
of koine writings came from writings on
broken pottery which are called the
“ostraca.” These were less
expensive and were the main writing
materials of the poor.
The koine
Greek was more popular in Rome than was
Latin. Rome accepted all the
cult religions and was their center.
Rome’s policy was to allow their
subjects to have their own religion as
long as they accepted Emperor worship.
One of the titles of the Emperor was the
koine word, “kurios,” which means
“Lord.” It was a divine title of
the emperor! It was the main word
used by the LXX (Septuagint) translation
of the Old Testament when they
translated the Hebrew word, YHVH.
Paul said there were many “lords” but
for Christians there is only one Lord
Jesus Christ (1Cor. 8:5-6). Festus
referred to Caesar as “lord” when
planning to send Paul to Rome (Acts
25:26). Polycarp, John’s
disciple, was asked,
“What is the harm in saying, ‘Lord
Caesar.” He still refused
and like Jesus, was put to death by
Rome.
But we
are told that Jesus has been exalted and
given a name above every name and that
every knee will bow and
“every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father”
(Phil. 2:10-11 NAS).
