Greek. In N.T. times, a person who was not a Jew, but was part of the Greek-Roman world, and therefore civilized and not a barbarian. Mark 7:26; John 7:35; Rom. 2:9; Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11.

Also the international language of the N.T. world. John 19:20; Acts 21:37. The books of the New Testament were written in the common, everyday Greek, known as Koine, which differs from the language of Greek literature.

You are strongly recommended to add to your library the excellent revised edition of Harper's Bible Dictionary titled, The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition, edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature (NY: Harper Collins, 1996). It is currently the best one-volume Bible dictionary in English, and it is available at Border's Books, Christian Science Reading Rooms, http://www.borders.com, or http://www.christianbook.com.

Greeks, persons of Greek descent, language, and culture as opposed to non-Greek ‘barbarians.’ In a broader sense, persons, whatever their origins, who had come under the influence of Greek culture and who lived in the hellenized cities of the Roman Empire as opposed to the rustic, rural population could be called Greek. In the Bible, ‘Greeks’ may refer to pagans in contrast to Jews (2 Macc. 4:36; Acts 9:29). From a Jewish standpoint the expression ‘Jews and Greeks’ embraces all of humanity (Acts 14:1; Rom. 2:9-10; Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11; 1 Cor. 12:13). The expression ‘pious Greeks’ can be used for proselytes or God-fearers, Greeks who converted to Judaism or were interested in it (Acts 17:4).

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