Does the Septuagint Contain Inspired Revelation for Christians?

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-59
Author(s):  
Pieter J. Lalleman

Summary This article introduces the Septuagint as a complex Bible version which deserves more attention from evangelical biblical scholars. The author asks if differences between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text of the canonical books can occasionally be considered as the result of inspiration, and if so, whether the wording of the Septuagint should in certain specific places form the basis for modern translations of the Old Testament. The article pays particular attention to some scholars who have pleaded for the place of the Septuagint in the Church, such as Edward Grinfield, Georg Bertram, Mogens Müller and Benjamin Giffone, as well as to the handling of the Septuagint by the authors of the New Testament and by the Early Church. With Ross Wagner, the article concludes that some elements of the Septuagint represent God’s continuing revelation to his Church.ZusammenfassungDieser Artikel stellt die Septuaginta als eine vielschichtige Bibelausgabe vor, die mehr Aufmerksamkeit seitens evangelikaler Theologen verdient. Der Autor stellt die Frage, ob Unterschiede zwischen der Septuaginta und dem hebräischen Text der kanonischen Bücher zuweilen als das Ergebnis von Inspiration angesehen werden können. Und wenn ja, ob der Wortlaut der Septuaginta an gewissen Stellen die Grundlage für moderne Übersetzungen des Alten Testaments darstellen sollte. Der Artikel legt besonderes Augenmerk auf Theologen wie Edward Grinfield, Georg Bertram, Mogens Müller und Benjamin Giffone, die für die Bedeutung der Septuaginta für die Kirche plädiert haben, sowie auch auf die Verwendung der Septuaginta durch die Autoren des Neuen Testaments und die alte Kirche. Zusammen mit Ross Wagner zieht der Artikel die Schlussfolgerung, dass einige Elemente der Septuaginta Gottes fortwährende Offenbarung an seine Gemeinde darstellen.RésuméCet article présente la Septante comme une version complexe de la Bible qui mériterait plus d’attention de la part d’exégètes évangéliques. L’auteur demande si les différences entre la Septante et le texte hébreu des livres canoniques peuvent parfois être considérées comme le fruit de l’inspiration divine; et dans l’affirmative, si la formulation de la Septante ne devrait pas, en certains endroits, servir de base pour les traductions modernes de l’Ancien Testament. L’article porte une attention particulière à certains exégètes qui ont plaidé pour que la Septante ait sa place dans l’Église, comme Edward Grinfield, Georg Bertram, Mogens Müller et Benjamin Giffone, ainsi qu’à la manière dont les auteurs du Nouveau Testament et l’Église primitive traitèrent cette traduction. Avec Ross Wagner, l’article conclut que certains éléments de la Septante illustrent la manière dont Dieu s’est progressivement révélé à son Église.

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Dariusz Kasprzak

Neither the Apostles nor any Christian minister is admitted to use the priest’s title in the text of the New Testament. Nevertheless, in the New Testament we can perceive the development of the doctrine of the priest ministry in the early Church. Albert Vanhoye maintains that the lack of the term “priest” in the New Testament suggests the way of understanding of the Christian ministry, different from this in the Old Testament. It can’t be considered as a continuation of Jewish priesthood, which was concentrated mainly on ritual action and ceremonies. In the first century the Church developed the Christology of priesthood (Hbr) and ecclesiology of priesthood (1 P). Early Christians focused first on the redemptive event of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. Only then the religious communities adopted the priest’s title for their ministry.In the early years of the Church, all the ministries were regarded as a charismatic service among the Christian communities. In their services the early Christians followed Jesus Christ sent by God to serve. The Holy Spirit sent by God in the name of Jesus bestowed the spiritual gifts upon the Church (1 Kor 12–13). Consequently the disciples of Jesus and their successors could continue his mission. The Twelve Apostles’ ministry was the very first and most important Christian ministry. It was closely connected to the service of Jesus Christ himself. The Apostles were sent by the authority of Jesus Christ to continue his mission upon earth and they preached the Good News of the risen Christ. The Apostolicity was the fundamental base for every Church ministry established in different Christian communities. Successive ministries were established in order to transmit the teaching of Jesus Christ and to lead the community. For the early Christians the priesthood was not an individual privilege. It had rather the community character.


1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
R. Stuart Louden

We can trace a revival of theology in the Reformed Churches in the last quarter of a century. The new theological interest merits being called a revival of theology, for there has been a fresh and more thorough attention given to certain realities, either ignored or treated with scant notice for a considerable time previously.First among such realities now receiving more of the attention which their relevance and authority deserve, is the Bible, the record of the Word of God. There is an invigorating and convincing quality about theology which is Biblical throughout, being based on the witness of the Scriptures as a whole. The valuable results of careful Biblical scholarship had had an adverse effect on theology in so far as theologians had completely separated the Old Testament from the New in their treatment of Biblical doctrine, or in expanding Christian doctrine, had spoken of the theological teaching of the Synoptic Gospels, the Pauline Epistles, the Johannine writings, and so on, as if there were no such thing as one common New Testament witness. It is being seen anew that the Holy Scriptures contain a complete history of God's saving action. The presence of the complete Bible open at the heart of the Church, recalls each succeeding Christian generation to that one history of God's saving action, to which the Church is the living witness. The New Testament is one, for its Lord is one, and Christian theology must stand four-square on the foundation of its whole teaching.


Scrinium ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-159
Author(s):  
David C. Sim

The early Church Fathers accepted the notion of an intermediate state, the existence of the soul following death until its reunification with the body at the time of the final resurrection. This view is common in the modern Christian world, but it has been challenged as being unbiblical. This study reflects upon this question. Does the New Testament speak exclusively of death after life, complete lifelessness until the day of resurrection, or does it also contain the notion of life after life or immediate post-mortem existence? It will be argued that, while the doctrine of future resurrection is the most common Christian view, it was not the only one present in the Christian canon. There are hints, especially in the Gospel of Luke and the Revelation of John, that people do indeed live again immediately after death, although the doctrine of resurrection is also present. These two ideas are never coherently related to one another in the New Testament and it was the Church Fathers who first sought to  systematise them.



2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hennie Goede

Churches experience tension between the ministry needs of younger and older generations in the congregation. A focus on either one or the other brings polarisation in congregations between younger and older members. The profile of the Early Church as sketched in the New Testament, however, draws a picture in which both younger and older generations are ministered. This study investigates texts from the New Testament philologically which sketch this picture and attempts to draw conclusions therefrom which can provide possible solutions to the tension between the ministry needs of younger and older generations in congregations. From this philological study it appears among others that the congregation must consist in its nature of younger and older members and that ministry practices must do justice to both groups. They are indeed all part of the household of God and thus spiritual brothers and sisters of one another. A healthy relationship between younger and older generations in the church is built on reciprocal respect, love, humility, and willingness to serve. When congregations implement these aspects and others in their ministry practices, they move closer to the New Testament image of a church in which both young and old believers have a place to serve and to be served.Keywords: New Testament; younger and older generations; philological study


2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Jones ◽  
Andries G. Van Aarde

A kerygmatic perspective on ministries in the New TestamentThe article argues that the term “office” and its meaning, as found in the New Testament, cannot be applied without reserve to the understanding of office in the present-day church. From a Biblical and Reformed perspective, the logical place to look for clarity on this matter would be the documentation of the New Testament and the early church of the second and third centuries CE. This article investigates the origin of “office”, as well as the intention of office in the New Testament and writings of the early church. A basic assumption is that the understanding of office and church cannot be separated from one another. The article illustrates that Paul’s view of the church, ministries, kerygma and charismata, is of central importance for the understanding of the New Testament’s intention of ministries.


1962 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Edgar

The attempt to get behind the gospel record back to the authentic words and acts of Jesus has occupied many scholars of this generation. This has come about because of a scepticism regarding the historical value of the sayings as recorded, and has often concluded by assuming that the New Testament throws light only on what the early Christian community believed Jesus said rather than on what he did say. It is not the writer's intention to belittle the problem, but to suggest it may be approached from a fresh angle. This article seeks to show that in one respect at least the words of Jesus, as recorded in the gospels, are of a distinctive character, especially when compared with the editorial comments of the evangelists, and hence the form of the first may not be as dependent on the evangelists and the early church as sometimes claimed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Darlage

Studies of early modern Anabaptism have shown that many Anabaptists sought to model their communities after the examples of the New Testament and the early church before the “fall” of the church into a coercive, sword-wielding institution through the person of Constantine in the fourth centuryc.e.The Anabaptists claimed that one had to voluntarily choose to become a Christian through believer's baptism and suffer for his or her faith just as the martyrs of old had done in the face of Roman persecution. During the course of the sixteenth century, their Protestant and Roman Catholic enemies did not disappoint, as hundreds of Anabaptists were executed for their rejection of “Christendom.” To the “magisterial” Christians, Anabaptists were dangerous heretics because they denied the God-given power of spiritual and secular authorities.


1970 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 283-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Steen

The sarcophagus in the church of S. Ambrogio in Milan is dated to about 390. The lid of the sarcophagus shows scenes and symbols connected to the New Testament. On the front and rear sides, we find Christ represented among the Apostles. Figures from the Old Testament are shown on the two short sides. In this way, the narrative scenes are well arranged, and the arrangement differs from other early Christian sarcophagi in which scenes from the Old and New Testament are places together without any apparent connection between the scenes. Rows of city-gates run around all four sides, forming the background for the reliefs. The city-gates invite the beholder to read the images not as isolated scenes, but as parts of a connected whole. In this paper, I will argue that the iconography of the sarcophagus can be interpreted as a complete programme. The programme emphasizes the teaching of Christ and the Apostles’ teaching-mission given by Christ. Taking into consideration the monument’s funerary context, the programme of the sarcophagus focuses on the Word or the teaching of Christ as the way to salvation.


Author(s):  
Harry Maier

1 Clement is a letter attributed to Clement of Rome (fl. second half of the 1st century ce). It is from a single hand, comprising sixty-five chapters, written from a body of Christ followers in Rome to those in Corinth. It is a long and often rambling writing whose chief aim does not appear until chapters 39–44. Clement, on behalf of the Roman community, advises his audience to restore harmony to the Corinthian church through the reappointment of leaders some have deposed. Parts of the early church treated it as canonical. In Codex Alexandrinus it appears, together with 2 Clement, directly after the Book of Revelation, and in a Syriac manuscript both writings appear before the Apocalypse. Clement of Alexandria quoted the letter as a canonical text. It nowhere states it is from Clement but there are three warrants for accepting the attribution: in the 2nd century Dionysius of Corinth cited him as its author; the Shepherd of Hermas, a document many argue to be contemporary with the writing, identifies a Clement who has the responsibility of sending writings to other cities (Vision 2.4.3), arguably a direct allusion to 1 Clement; the possibility of association as a freed person with the aristocratic family of Titus Flavius Clement and his wife Flavia Domitilla, the latter of whom Eusebius of Caesarea records as persecuted by Domitian for Christian belief. Its chief importance is that it is the earliest preserved Christian letter outside the New Testament. As a text that is contemporary with, if not earlier than, several canonical writings, it offers a snapshot of emergent Christianity in Rome and Corinth. Since its discovery it has played a central role in debates concerning the earliest conceptions of leadership in the ancient church and it is here where most attention has been directed. Scholarly study has also centered on its uses of rhetorical conventions, philosophical traditions, liturgical formulae, and lengthy Old Testament quotations, as well as possible echoes of New Testament texts.


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