“ What English Translation of the Apostolic Scriptures Should I Use ? ”

Within the Messianic movement of our times, the search to reclaim the Jewishness of Yeshua and His Apostles has rightly led to an investigation of the text of the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament), and particularly whether they were originally written in Greek or in a semitic language such as Hebrew, Aramaic, or a dialect of Aramaic known as Syriac. The popular mistrust of anything “Greek” among messianics has led some to suggest that we should receive the Syriac translation of the Apostolic Scriptures (known generally as the Peshitta) as closer to the original autographs than what is witnessed in the extant Greek manuscripts. Fantastic claims abound. For instance, Andrew Roth, who made his own translation of the Peshitta, boasts: “The hidden New Testament Bible that has been lost to the Western Church for over 1800 years is now rediscovered.” But is this really the case? Do the extant manuscripts of the Syriac Peshitta honestly give a more ancient and more accurate witness to the Apostolic Scriptures? Should we receive an English translation of the Syriac Peshitta as more trustworthy than the English translations based upon the Greek manuscripts?