Does anyone know what language the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were originally written in?

Greek. Particularly, Koine Greek, the dialect of those times.

PS. Of course we have no originals. It is presumed/accepted by most to have been written in the Greek.

As Rick says,Greek.Maybe this link will be of interest:

http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/jesuslanguage.htm

We know it was not in English

Since no original exists, we don't honestly know, it is always assumed


And as my one church buddy told me, if the King James Version was good enough for Christ, it was good enough for him

I can chuckle at that - as long as folk realize that it's said to get one.

Some don't realize that we Christians did not have a "Bible" until about 300 years after Christ.

If anyone's interested, here is an article on the formation of the New Testament:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm

And back to the Greek issue: One is hard pressed to find a historian, philologist or other - of any faith or lack of it - who would disagree about what language the Gospels were written in.

54,000 hits here (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=%22what+language%22gospels+written&btnG=Search)about it. I bet there's not 1 in 500 that disagree.

Thanks everyone. By the way (RickJ), what difference is there between Koine Greek and any other forms of Greek?

All languages change over time. It's like Old English as opposed to Modern English.

The Greek of 2000 years ago was not the same as it is today. "Koine Greek" or "Biblical Greek" is what they call the Greek of that day.

I am no Greek scholar, so can't cite the differences, but that's it in a nutshell.

Here are some helpful links on the subject. (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=%22what+is%22+AND+%22koine+greek%22+OR+%22biblic al+greek%22&btnG=Search)