The Septuagint

               
Did Jesus and the apostles quote from the Septuagint?

Why would He? Why would He ignore the very Word (Logos, the Hebrew text) that He inspired and quote the Septuagint as the authority? (2Tim.3:16) When Jesus said "search the scriptures, was He meaning the Septuagint (a translation) or the Mosaic text? The Word that He inspired! The Septuagint is ONLY a translation of the God-breathed / inspired Hebrew Old Testament text. Our modern Bibles today are translations of the Greek New Testament. The Greek Text is the inspired, God-breathed Words. The translations do not correct or alter the inspired Greek or Hebrew, they only place them into the English of our time. You never change (Deut.12:32, Prov.30:5, Rev.22:18) what the New Testament and Old Testament writers wrote under the infallible inspiration of God. (2Tim.3:16-17, 2Peter.1:20-21) These are "God-breathed Words!" 

The "Septuagint" does not hold the same status as the Mosaic text, which was "given by the inspiration of God." (2Tim.3:16) It is only a translation! Peter declared that the scriptures were written "not by the will of man" but by "holy men of God... as they were moved (inspired) by the Holy Ghost." (2Peter.1:20-21)

                        

1. The Spirit of God gave the pattern for copying God's Word
      This pattern has never changed and will never be denied by those who are lead by the inspiration of the Holy
      Ghost. (Rom.15:4, 1Cor.10:11, 2Tim.2:13, Matt.5:17-19) Simply because the Holy Spirit inspired the patterns in the
      first place! 
      a. The pattern was given to the tribe of Levi 
           Moses wrote this law, "and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of
           the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years,
           in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before the
           Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather
           the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they 
           may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:"
            (Deut 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11, 2Chron.15:3; 34:15, Mal.2:7)
     b.  The pattern continues into the New Testament
           Today the Church (the born again believer) is the "holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to
           God by Jesus Christ...a royal priesthood, an holy nation." (1 Peter 2:5-9, Rev.1:6; 5:10)            
          (1)  Christ our High Priest.
                 Wherefore, "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our
                 profession, Christ Jesus." (Heb.3:1)
          (2)  We are the Priesthood 
                 But "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew
                 forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." (1Peter.2:5-9) with the
                 same responsibilities (Deut 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11, 2Chron.15:3; 34:15, Mal.2:7) with the Word of God. 
          (3)  No strangers (unbeliever's)
                 The stranger5 (the unbeliever / unsaved - Eph.2:1-196) that cometh nigh shall be put to death." (Num 1:51-52)
    c.  The legend of the Septuagint is a violation of this God-inspired pattern
          According to Legend, here were "72 translators, 6 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, who worked in separate 
          cells, translating the whole, and in the end all  their versions were identical."  (Encyclopedia Britannica) 
             (1)  Six from each tribe
                   This is a violation! Only the tribe of Levi were given this responsibility. The "stranger" (the unsaved,   
                 unredeemed, heathen) would be put to death for violating God's pattern (Num.1:47-54, Eph.2:1-19) Why   
                 would God bless and anoint these 72 translators, and their violation of His pattern in the very Word they
                 were translating? These 72 translators "polluted" the Holy Word of God. (Neh.7:63-65; 8:2) (The Hebrew   
                 Text) 

                 Note: Why then would God anoint His Church to exalt the "Septuagint" to be "equal to 
                 the Hebrew Old Testament text?

         (2)  The "origin is involved in much obscurity. 
                 It derives its name from the popular notion that seventy-two translators were employed on it by the direction
                 of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and that it was accomplished in seventy-two days, for the use of the   
                 Jews residing in that country. There is no historical warrant for this notion. It is, however, an established fact
                 that this version was made at Alexandria; that it was begun about 280 B.C., and finished about  200 or
                   150 B.C.; that it was the work of a number of translators who differed greatly both in their knowledge of  
                 Hebrew and of Greek; and that from the earliest times it has borne the name of "The  
                 Septuagint", i.e., The Seventy. (From Easton's Bible Dictionary)


What then was the Bible of the 1st.Century Church?

There were the  Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, and there was the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew into Greek.) However, there was no New Testament because it had not been written yet. (The Jews had the "Torah")

1. The New Testament began as letters (epistles) to the Churches
      There were only manuscripts (letters, epistles) to the Churches. Many of them were not written until 55 - 70 A.D?  
      Revelation was the last one. (90 A.D?) God was in the process of establishing His New Testament. (Covenant)
      There was no committee, no editorial board, no gathering of all the Theologians, or Scholars that would decide
      what would be the New Testament. It would be the Providence (divine guidance guiding human destiny) and
      Sovereignty (supreme, unlimited absolute independent) power of God through the "Priesthood" of the believer.
      (Deut 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11, 2Chron.15:3; 34:15, Mal.2:7)
      a. Faithful and trustworthy scribes
           Many trustworthy copies of the original New Testament Manuscripts were
           produced by faithful scribes. (Hand written because there was no printing
           press until 1450 A.D.)3
     b.  By true believers
           These copies / manuscripts (made by these faithful and trustworthy scribes)
           were read and recopied by the true believers down through the centuries.  
           This is where the manuscripts came from. The Priesthood, the people who
           have been given charge of God's Word.

           Note: "The untrustworthy...(copies)...were not so generally read or so
           frequently recopied...and consigned to oblivion."3 This was the providence
           of God!  (Jer.1:12)

          Today the same will eventually happen with all the modern translations that
          have given preeminence to the corrupt Greek Text of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. God will Sovereignly and 
          Providentially preserve His Word and Sinaiticus and Vaticanus will fall by the way side.

2. They had the traditional Hebrew text (Moses)
      This was the infallible Word of God which Jesus confirmed when He "came unto His own" (John.1:11, Gal.3:16,
       Rom.15:8) The New Testament had not been written yet.
      a. The Torah and the traditional (Moses) Hebrew text 
           The "term Torah is also used to designate the entire Hebrew Bible. Since for some Jews the laws and customs
           passed down through oral traditions are part and parcel of God's revelation to Moses and constitute the “oral
           Torah."  The Torah is also understood to include both the Oral Law and the written Law. Rabbinic commentaries
           on and interpretations of both Oral and written Law have been viewed by some as extensions of sacred oral   
           tradition, thus broadening still further the meaning of Torah to designate the entire body of Jewish  
          laws, customs, and ceremonies. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
       b. The oral law is inspired by man
           It has been added into the Hebrew text by man. Jesus said they have "made the commandment of God of none
           effect by your tradition." (Matt 15:6-7, Col.2:8)
      c. The Church today is doing the same
            There are many "Oral Laws" in our Church structure today of "philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of   
           men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Col 2:8)

             Note: The inspired Word of God (the traditional (Masoretic) Hebrew text is designed to bring us to Christ. Man's
           oral laws, philosphies and traditions are "not after Christ." (Col.2:7-8, Matt.15:6-7) Don't base your doctrine (and  
           especially your end-time doctrine) on the Torah and Jewish tradition.
                        .           
2. The Septuagint was not the official Bible of the 1st.Century Church
      The "Apostles did not quote from the Septuagint invariably and thus encourage the notion that the Greek
      translation was equal to the Hebrew Old Testament in authority. Instead, they walked  the middle way between
      these two extremes. Sometimes they cited the Septuagint verbatim, even when it departed from the Hebrew in
      non-essential ways, and sometimes they made their own translation directly from the Hebrew or used their
      knowledge of Hebrew to improve the rendering of the Septuagint"2
     a. Remember
          The apostles were writing  by the "inspiration of God" (2Tim.3:16) which makes their writing infallible when they
          "made their own translation directly from the Hebrew."2
     b. Remember
          The Septuagint is only a translation and is not equal to the Hebrew Old Testament in authority. The writing of
          the apostles is the infallible Word of God.

                     

Origen, Jerome and the Septuagint

In the 3rd century AD  Origen attempted to clear up translation errors that had crept into the text of the Septuagint by copyists'. These varied widely from copy to copy. Other scholars also consulted the Hebrew text in order to make the  Septuagint text more accurate. But it was the Septuagint, not the original Hebrew, that was the main basis for the Old Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and part of the Arabic translations of the Old Testament. It has never ceased to be the standard version of the Old Testament in the Greek church, and from it (the Septuagint)  Jerome began his translation of the Vulgate Old Testament. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

1. Septuagint, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Apocrypha
      a. The "Septuagint"
          The "text of the Septuagint is contained in a few early, but not necessarily reliable, manuscripts." (Encyclopedia Britannica)
     b.  Sinaiticus / Vaticanus
          The best known of these are the Codex Vaticanus (B) and the Codex Sinaiticus (S), both dating from the
            4th century AD, and the Codex Alexandrinus (A) from the 5th century. There are also numerous earlier papyrus
          fragments and many later manuscripts.The first printed copy of the Septuagint was in the Complutensian Polyglot
            (1514–22). (Encyclopedia Britannica)
    
2. Who was Origen? (202-325 AD.) 
      a.  Origen
            He was the "most important theologian and biblical scholar of the early Greek church." 
      b.  Origen and Clement.
            These were "two of the most  prominent fathers...chief representatives 
           of the School of Alexandria, the great melting pot of Greek philosophy and Judaism." 
      c.  Origen - a preacher
           Because of his reputation, Origen was much in demand as a preacher.
      d.  Origen was a early (foremost) Christian Theologian   
            A celebrated Christian writer teacher and Theologian of antiquity.8  Yet Origen was a "Tare" amongst the
            wheat.
     e.  Origen was a "Platonist"
          He believed that Jesus was "subordinate to the father in power and dignity."9  He taught that Jesus
           was created, not eternal.10 Origen believed that if Satan fell by will, even he can repent. Encyclopedia Britannica, "Origen"   
      
             Note: Origen's denial of the Deity, disqualifies him as the Priests before the Lord because he would "pollute"
           the "Holy Word of God." (Neh.7:63-65)  Therefore, how could God be inspiring Origen when he is in violation
           of His pattern? (2Tim.2:13)

      f.  Influenced by a semi-Gnostic writing, Origen believed that Hell cannot be an absolute 
          since God cannot abandon any creature.  
     g. After his death, opposition steadily mounted, respectful in the Greek Christian
          Methodius of Olympus' criticism of his spiritualizing doctrine of the Resurrection
     h. A wealthy Christian named Ambrose, whom Origen converted from the teachings of the
          heretical Valentinus and to whom he (Origen) dedicated many of his works, provided him 
          with shorthand writers. This resulted in a "stream of treatises and commentaries that began 
          to pour from Origen's pen."11 and altered manuscripts in accordance with his belief's.

          Note: This was easily done because there was no printing press yet. There was no mass produced Bibles.
          The copying was up to the honesty of the scribe!

Conclusion

The Septuagint should not be held up as an "equal" to the traditional (Masoretic) Hebrew Text of the Old Testament. Think on this principle. "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Eph 5:11-12) "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14-15) History has revealed the "Septuagint" to be placed together with Origen, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Jerome and the Apocrypha, making it to be in fellowship with darkness. These are the corrupt manuscripts were reject by Erasmus and they are responsible (the foundation) for all the doubtful footnotes concerning Christ's Deity and His bodily Resurrection in our modern translations today. (Review: Phase.1)

Notes
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1.  (from Easton's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
2.  The King James Version Defended. Edward F. Hill. ( A Christian View of the Biblical Text." Chapter Four, page.94 )
3.  The King James Version Defended. Edward F. Hill. ( A Christian View of the Biblical Text." Chapter Four, page.106 )
4.  A tradition that translators were sent to Alexandria by Eleazar, the chief priest at Jerusalem, at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC), a patron of literature, first appeared in the Letter of Aristeas, an unreliable source. (Encyclopedia Britannica) 
5.  Strong's OT:2114 - a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery:KJV - (come from) another (man, place), fanner, go away,
(e-) strange (-r, thing, woman).  
6.  NT:3581 - apparently a primary word; foreign (literally, alien, or figuratively, novel); by implication a guest or (vice-versa) entertainer: KJV - host, strange (-r).(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
7. 8, 9, 10. Funk & Wagnalla, Vol.19. p,441
11. Encyclopedia Britannica, (Origen)
12. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, pp.434-435