The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and modern English versions have this Greek text as the basis for their translation. The Old Testament, however, is a bit more complex. Originally it was written in Hebrew (and Aramaic for some small sections). Some time later a translation was made into Greek (the Septuagint) for the benefit of those for whom Greek was their mother tongue.

So originally, the Septuagint was a translation from the Hebrew or Aramaic Vorlage, but at some point in time it shed its subservient connection with its source to stand independently as Scripture in its own right. In modern research on the nature of the Septuagint as a translation, however, there is discussion about the intent of the translators: were they consciously producing liturgical documents that could stand apart from the source material, or were they producing something closer to an educational document, serving ‘as a semantic bridge, bringing the reader to the real object of study’?^[1]
The latter, school-setting inception history is likely, evident from the textual-linguistic make-up of the LXX, however this should not be confused with its reception history.^[2]

A shift in status of the Septuagint over time is clear. This is shown by the defence of the Greek Pentateuch against those who would ‘correct’ it given in the letter of Aristeas,^[3] and its status as Christian Scripture in the early church.^[4] It moved from a position of dependence on the Semitic source texts to ‘an independent, free-standing replacement of this Semitic parent text “without experiencing any modification of its textual-linguistic make-up”’.^[5] Throughout the Jewish Diaspora in the Hellenistic Period, and certainly by the time of the writing of the New Testament, the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures was the commonly-used version of the Jewish Scriptures.^[6]

When New Testament authors quote or allude to Old Testament texts, they often have a preference for using the LXX text over the Hebrew. The Septuagint, therefore, is an important source for understanding the theology of the New Testament writers, and, relevant to what we’re doing here, their hermeneutical approach to the Old Testament as the words of Scripture.

[2] Johann Cook, ‘Translating the Septuagint: Some Methodological Considerations’ in Translating a Translation: The LXX and its Modern Translations in the Context of Early Judaism (ed. Hans Ausloos et al.; Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2008), 21. ↩

[3] Sebastian Brock, ‘To Revise or Not to Revise: Attitudes to Jewish Biblical Translation’ in
Septuagint, Scrolls and Cognate Writings: Papers Presented to the International Symposium on the Septuagint and Its Relations to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Writings (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), 308. ↩

[4] Martin Hengel, The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon (trans. Mark E. Biddle; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2004), 44. ↩

[5] Cook, ‘Translating the Septuagint’, 21. ↩

[6] Karen H. Jobes and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000), 20. ↩

In Christian circles the assumption that the Old Testament is crucial for an understanding of Jesus and New Testament Christology is virtually undisputed. Use of Scripture is evident in the thought of the New Testament writers, shaping not only their interpretation of biblical history but present ecclesiology and eschatology. At many points allusions to this background of Jewish customs, Scriptures, and laws are made, presenting us with instances of so-called ‘echoes of Scripture’ in the language and applied theology of the New Testament.^[1] Other passages interpret the narrative thrust and poetic nature of those Scriptures to discern ‘analogical correspondences between the scriptural story and the gospel’.^[2]

The clearest points of interaction are where Scripture is quoted directly in the New Testament. In these cases the words of the Old Testament are used in a new context to illuminate the continuity between the broad narrative of Israel’s history and the life of the church, linked by the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus. In these particular cases of direct reference, the language of the Septuagint^[3] appears to pervade the New Testament, influencing the authors’ turns of phrase, often providing the direct source of wording for quoted Old Testament texts.^[4]

At many points, however, these ‘direct quotations’ are somewhat less than direct. On a number of occasions the source text is altered to a greater or lesser degree. There are of course many instances where there is no change to the original text, but many other instances display a change in word order, a substitution of one lexeme for another, or, for a given lexeme, a change in form (e.g. a change in person, mood, voice, aspect, or case). This last element is what we will focus on here: what is the import of any change in verb form from the original LXX context when quoted in some direct way in the New Testament?

[2] Hays, The Conversion of the Imagination, xvi. ↩

[3] I’m using the term ‘Septuagint’ (and abbreviation LXX) a little loosely to refer to the Greek Jewish Scriptures that were translated from Hebrew/Aramaic, although it was initially applied only to the translation of the Pentateuch. ↩

[4] Karen H. Jobes and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000), 23. ↩

My (recently completed) major final-year Moore College project looked at instances where the New Testament quotes the Old Testament but changes it in some way. In particular, I looked at places where the verb form is changed – like changing a past tense to a future tense, for example.[1]

These sections are often puzzling parts of the NT. (You know, those parts where you read a bit, look up the OT reference, but they’re not the same. On a number of occasions I’ve wondered what on earth was going on.)

My conclusions, in the end, were along a couple of major lines:

• The NT writers were creative and clever (and inspired). They changed OT texts slightly to make what they were saying in the surrounding context just that little bit clearer.
• For us: chill out a bit. Relax about the exact word(s). Just talk about Jesus.

For those who want to read further, or check that I’m not going heretical/liberal/nutty, here’s my plan for a bit of a series showing you what I discovered:

1. Introduction
2. Background — Why look at quotations?
3. Method — Which OT text(s)?
4. Jesus the promised Servant-Messiah
   • Luke 23:46; John 2:17
5. The arrival of the eschatological age
   • Matt 13:14 || Mark 4:12 || Luke 8:10 || Acts 28:26; Romans 9:33/10:11
6. Continuity of God’s people
   • Acts 1:20; 7:5, 40; 1 Cor 5:13
7. The church is the fulfilment of promises
   • Heb 10:16–17
8. Appendix — Verbal Aspect notes
9. Conclusion

Breaking news:

AFES have now registered me on their database, so it’s now possible to support me directly.

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This is one of those articles I wish I’d written, since it’s entirely and precisely about me.

Next year I’m going to be spending part of my week with the Christian Union at Macquarie University. I’m excited.

But I need your support. Become a partner with me in the gospel.

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Thanks heaps to all of you who support us in varied ways. Really.

This article is worth it if only for one line:

Steep is the descent into orthographic antinomianism.

But there’s other gold there too. Programmers, especially: go read it.

From a friend’s final-year project (read: thesis) at MTC:

Does anyone claim Halloween for their own? Like Christians do with Christmas, against the commercialisation surrounding it?

Are their Wiccan groups around who have billboards outside their meetings reading ‘the reason for the season‘?

How to write badly well.

Use it wisely, friends.