The Issue of Jesus’ multilingualism and Mark-within-Judaism

Abstract

The available evidence suggests that Jesus was portrayed as a Jewish sage, like the early Rabbis, and in his literary portrayal, he is presented as one able to speak Greek. The Aramaic phrases found in Mark and elsewhere are used in addressing God and in healing individuals who would have not spoken Greek. This implies Jesus was like other sophists, in that he was able to speak Greek. It is quite likely that his mother language was Aramaic and that he used this daily to some degree. Mark does not attempt to portray Jesus as proficient in Hebrew, something that is corrected by the later Gospel of Luke, when he portrays Jesus as reading the scrolls of the Prophets in a synagogue.