Objections raised to the books of the New Testament by the Jews and other enemies of the Christian religion. Did the Evangelists and the apostles use the Greek Septuagint when quoting the Old Testament? St Jerome’s view on the matter. His misplaced preference for the Jewish Hebrew text over the Septuagint

Abstract

This chapter presents the case for the books of the New Testament, it is worth the author while examining the main ways in which the authority of these books has been questioned and the reservations expressed in regard to the apostles who published them. Although the apostles preferred the Greek Septuagint to the Hebrew text, this is not to say that the Greek version is superior to the Hebrew as some scholars, Catholics especially, have been too ready to believe. Early Church writers all agree the Evangelists and the apostles were more concerned with meaning than with literalness when quoting from the Old Testament, as Jerome frequently says throughout his writings. However, it is more accurate to say that when the apostles and Evangelists taught people who were familiar with the Greek Bible, they used expressions from it when quoting because their sole concern was the meaning. Keywords:apostles; Catholics; Evangelists; Greek Bible; Greek Septuagint; Hebrew text; New Testament; Old Testament; St Jerome