The Septuagint and the New Testament: Apples & Oranges
Apples & Oranges
To XOFC:
You continue to mention Westcott & Hort in the context of the Septuagint. But the historic and original Septuagint is the name given to the Old Testament written in Greek.
But Westcott & Hort worked on the NEW TESTAMENT in Greek & English. So how can they claim that either Codex Sinaiticus or Codex Vaticanus support their New Testament, when their New Testament would have to rely on ancient manuscripts of the NEW testament, and NOT the Old Testament ???
Our Reply:
What you have said is right. The true Septuagint - [If it ever existed] - WAS the Old Testament in Greek. But Codex Sinaiticus or Codex Vaticanus do not contain ONLY the Old Testament.
They also contain portions of the New Testament. If you look in the Notes of the Westcott & Hort Greek New Testament, you will see where they reference the portions of Codex Sinaiticus or Codex Vaticanus that are the New Testament portions (which are corrupt, according to Hoskier). But it was very impressive - in the late 1800s (1881) - when Westcott & Hort announced the creation of their [fake] Bible to the world - for them to be able to claim that their "new" Bible was "Based on" THE Septuagint.
That claim, made the Bible of Westcott & Hort, sound old, and and Seem authentic. People wanted to believe them, and so telling them that their Bibles were based on the Septuagint (which is what Westcott & Hort did) - was a clever deception.
But you are right that the actual term "Septuagint" applies only to the Old Testament, and so today - members of the Eastern Orthodox Church should be very careful NOT to be deceived about their New Testament, and accept the False claims that IT (the N.T.) is "based on the Septuagint".
The fact is that the Eastern Orthodox Church did NOT use the Septuagint for its Old Testament OR its New Testament. That is simply a falsehood. Don't take our word for it. Go out and try to find where the EOC has historic records that can demonstrate that it either claimed to use the Septuagint or ACTUALLY used the Septuagint.
If the Septuagint ever existed, it has been lost to history. The Eastern Orthodox Church has a history of Bible Manuscripts that are VERY DIFFERENT from the Roman Catholic Church. Historically, the Manuscripts of the Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church have been Tampered with, and the text changed. The history of the Eastern Orthodox Church is very different from the Roman Catholic Church.
The History of Greek Texts used by the Eastern Orthodox Church written in ancient Greek are usually very reliable and accurate.
We do not have to worry about the "septuagint". The historic Greek Texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church are something to be proud of. In the case of the EOC, the rule of thumb is that the OLDER those Greek Manuscripts are, the Better they are.
It seems ironic, that in order to claim to be historic, Westcott & Hort had to use Bad & Rejected Greek manuscripts, - which - far from authenticating the Eastern Orthodox Church - were a repudiation (a spurning and rejection) of the long & proud history of EOC Greek Textual Accuracy, and yet that some people would be trying to use the FALSE texts of Westcott & Hort in order to convince people today of the "authenticity" of today's Eastern Orthodox Church.
IF people were truly interested in the Real Eastern Orthodox Church, they would accept the Textus Receptus, which are the Greek Texts of the New Testament, that are based on Byzantine Manuscripts written in ancient Koine Greek, that demonstrate that the Early Eastern Orthodox Churches truly DID have the true, real and authentic Books of the Bible that were written by the Apostles & Desciples of Christ. (The closest version in English to these texts is the 1611 King James Version).
Instead, many Eastern Orthodox in the U.S. are switching to the New King James Version.
But the so called New King James Version NKJV - is based on Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that are TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the historic King James Version.
The Bible of the NKJV and the Bible of the KJV are totally different, (even though the differences in some cases may seem small). The NKJV did not "update" the language. Instead they switched the Manuscripts !!!
This NKJV Bible is a false Bible. Its New Testament is based on the Fraudulent work of Westcott & Hort (through Von Soden), and its Old Testament is a departure from the Hebrew Texts and was actually invented in the 1900s.
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(XOFC Staff)