How Did Paul, Peter, and James Communicate?

If Paul primarily spoke Greek and Peter and James spoke Aramaic, how did they communicate? Scholars have long debated this issue, and in this video, I discuss the possible role of translators, scribes, and multilingualism in the early Christian movement. I also reference the work of Candida Moss and insights from fellow New Testament scholars. Want to dive deeper into these discussions? Join us at the Biblical Studies Academy for expert-led courses and engaging discussions.

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[christopherdaffron]

I assumed that Paul as an educated Jew from that region was able to communicate in both lingua franca languages of that region, Greek and Aramaic.

[halporter]

I always assumed that Paul was fully fluent in Aramaic as well as Greek.

[MartinLutherKingPiccoloJr]

This is the equivalent of debating, "In the Lord of the Rings Universe, how would the Vanyar from Aman speak with the Avari of Middle-earth if they met?" It is fun to speculate, but we really have no clue [I assume they would be able to vaguely understand one another since all Elvish languages are derived from Primitive Quendian, which both of their ancestors originally spoke]. The New Testament claims Paul was a Pharisee. Therefore, must he not have known at least Biblical Hebrew or at minimum heard some Hebrew/Aramaic Targums being preached while he studied in Jerusalem? This is a more likely inference from the text. We cannot insert imagined translators when the text says nothing about them. As a zealous follower of Torah, why would we not expect him to know at least Biblical Hebrew?

[donsample]

I always just assumed that Paul was bilingual. I’m Canadian, lots of Canadians speak English and French. Go to Europe, and you will find that people speaking multiple languages is quite common.

[jmatrixrenegade]

Paul said he met James and Peter a few years after his "conversion" (however you want to frame it) & it seems like he had a sizable conversation with at least one of them. A translator makes sense.

[LittleChap-ru]

In one of his letters he talks about having been born in Tarsus but then moving to Jerusalem and had training there. Could Paul have been fluent in Aramaic and Greek?

[agnelomascarenhas]

Nice topic, looking forward to learn.

[johncollier]

I thought Paul claimed to have studied the Jewish scriptures for years in what's now roughly Syria, which would imply that he was fluent in Hebrew and/or Aramaic as well. Am I mistaken about that?

[edward]

I know Indians born in the UK who speak Hindi, although they speak English.
Paul was born in Tarsus, so he spoke Greek; however, he was also an Israelite, and considering Tarsus was a city for education, what shows Paul didn't speak Aramaic?

[donparker]

What about Professor Nina Livesey and how she argues in her new book, The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Context: Reassessing Apostolic Authorship,
that Paul probably did not exist and even if he did, he most likely did not compose any of the letters attributed to him? Could that explain how the conversations happened or rather didn’t happen at all?

[michaeldunne]

Thought Aramaic was commonly spoken by various classes across the Fertile Crescent, for the duration of the Roman, Parthian and Persian Empires in the Near East? If Paul was from Tarsus, thought there was high probability that he knew Aramaic along with Koine Greek. Now I wouldn't be surprised if there were differences in dialects complicating communication in Aramiac. However, I would assume that these Jewish religious figures had also attained a good understanding of Hebrew too (written Hebrew at least?).

[JacquesMare]

Greek, had at that time, already been the lingua franca for hundreds of years since Alexander the Great conquered the area.

Therefore, every Jew, Syrian, Arab, Egyptian or Persian who lived in that part of the Eastern Roman Empire was fluent in Greek and used it like we use English today.

Btw... English is not my native language, as a case in

[rhino]

Aramaic was the trade language of the time/area. I always figured he was bilingual, but he did have helpers. Slave-interpretere is inferesting

[sesanjoseph]

There is nothing in the gospels that suggested Paul cannot speak Hebrew or Aramaic

[frofa]

funny - this question would only come up in the US. Everywhere else people simply assume that Paul was like them, speaking (at least) two languages. After all, he lived and worked in Jerusalem and helped to persecute christians, so the most logical way to think about it is that Paul spoke Aramaic reasonably well. Problem solved.

[takiranayaki]

I'm guessing James, the brother of Jesus, had the ability to spoke in Greek since he was in yeshiva longer than his brothers and sister. One of the reason why ppl chose him to be the leader of Jerusalem congregation.

Peter was illeterate, while Paul had no time to learn Aramaic since he was a lower peasant in Anatolia, today Turkiye.

[bigcat]

In 2000 years I wonder if scholars will have debates about how immigrant labor in the US ordered drive thru.

[brotherjongrey]

Wasnt greek the lingua franka of the area?
.
These are not US citizens...geographically isolated. They weren't even soveriegn, they were a part of rome. Someone must have known Greek and also Aramaic.
For pauls letters to have made any sense as letters...
We should assume that they could understand the language.
How would people buy that these are letters if the ancient people didnt assume greek would be understood all over the helenistic world

[jamesforeman]

Why would Paul not have spoken Aramaic? I'm largely ignorant, but that makes no logical sense.

[seoigh]

The Galatians would have spoken some sort of proto-Celtic -- and the archeologic record of them doesn't begin to hint at any kind of polyglotism.