II. It remains to characterize briefly the elements which the Hellenists contributed to the language of the N. T., and the immediate effects which they produced upon the apostolic teaching :
1. The flexibility of the Greek language gained for it in ancient times a general currency similar to that which French en^ys in modern Europe ; but with this impor- tant difference, that Greek was nf)t only the language of educated men, but also the language of the masses in the great centres of commerce. The colonies of Alex- ander and his successors originally established what has been called the Macedonian dialect throughout the East; but even in this the prevailing po-\ver of Attic literature made itself distinctly felt. Peculiar words and forms adopted at Alexandria were undoubtedly of Macedonian origin, but the later Attic may be justly regarded as the real basis of Oriental Greek. This flrst type was, how- ever, soon modified, at least in common use, by contact with other languages. The vocabulary was enriched by the addition of foreign words, and the syntax was modified by new constructions. In this way a variety of local dialects must have arisen, the specific characters of which were determined in the first instance by the conditions under which they were formed, and M'hich afterwards passed away with the circumstances that had produced them. But one of these dialects has been preserved after the ruin of the people among whom it arose; by being consecrated to the noblest service which language has yet fulfilled. In other cases the dialects perished together with the communities who used them in the common intercourse of life, but in that of the Jews the Alexandrine version of the O. Test., acting in this respect like the great vernacular versions of Eng-
land and Germany, gave a definiteness and fixity to the popular language which could not have been" gained without the existence of some recognised standard. The style of the Sept. itself is, indeed, different in different parts, but the same general character nuis through the whole, and the variations which it presents are not greater than those which exist in the different books of the N. T.
The functions which this Jewish-Greek had to dis- charge were of the widest application, and the language itself combined the most opposite features. It was es- sentially a fusion of Eastern and Western thought ; for, disregarding peculiarities of inflection and novel words, the characteristic of the Hellenistic dialect is the com- bination of a Hebrew spirit with a Greek body, of a Hebrew form with Greek words. The conception be- longs to one race, and the expression to another. Nor is it too much to say that this combination was one of the most important preparations for the reception of Christianity, and one of the most important aids for the adequate expression of its teaching. On the one hand, by the spread of the Hellenistic Greek, the deep, theo- cratic aspect of the world and life, which distinguislics Jewish thought, was placed before men at large; and, on the other, the subtle truths which philosophy had gained from the analysis of mind and action, and en- shrined in words, were transferred to the service of rev- elation. In the fulness of time, when the great mes- sage came, a language was prepared to convey it ; and thus the very dialect of the N. T. forms a great lesson in the true philosophy of history, and becomes in itself a monument of the providential government of mankind.
This view of the Hellenistic dialect will at once re- move one of the commonest misconceptions relating to it. For it will follow that its deviations from the ordi- nary laws of classic Greek are themselves bound by some common law, and that irregularities of constnic- tion and altered usages of words are to be traced to their first source, and interpreted strictly according to the original conception out of which they sprang. A jiop- ular, and even a corrupt dialect is not less precise, or, in other Avords, is not less human than a polished one, though its interpretation may often be more diffic\ilt from the want of materials for analysis. But in the case of the N. T., the books themselves furnish an ample store for the critic, and the Sept., when compared with the IIebre\v text, provides him with the history of the language which he has to study.
2. The adoption of a strange language was essentially characteristic of the true nature of Hellenism. The purely outward elements of the national life were laid aside with a facility of which history offers few exam- ples, while the inner character of the people remained imchanged. In every respect, the thought, so to speak, was clothed in a new dress. Hellenism was, as it were, a fresh incorporation of Judaism according to altered laws of life and worship. But, as the Hebrew spirit made itself distinctly visilile in the new dialect, so it re- mained undcstroyed by the new conditions which regu- lated its action. While the Hellenistic Jews followed their natural instinct for trade, which was originally curbed by the IMosaic law, and gained a deeper insight into foreign character, and Avith this a truer sympathy, or at least a wider tolerance towards foreign opinions, they found means at the same time to extend the knowledge of the princii)les of their divine faith, and to gain respect and attention even from those who did not openly embrace their religion. Hellenism accomplished for the outer world what the Beturn accomplished for the Palestinian Jews : it was the necessary sttji between a religion of form and a religion of spirit : it witnessed against Judaism as final and imiversal, and it witnessed for it as the foimdation of a spiritual religion which shoidd be bound by no local restrictions. Under the influence of this wider instruction, a Greek body grew up around the synagogue — not admitted into the Jew- ish Church, and yet holding a recognised position with regard to it — which was able to apprehend the apostolic