CHART 9: THE GREEK SEPTUAGINT AND THE CHRISTIAN GREEK BIBLE Some of the signi cant contributions of the Septuagint to the New Testament setting are: (1) The New Testament writers had a Greek theological vocabulary to work with as they wrote their books in Greek For example, the Hebrew word Torah, which referred only to God’s Law, had been translated nomos in the Septuagint, even though in those days nomos referred to the whole range of codi ed custom, not exclusively to God’s Law For almost two hundred years Jews reading nomos in the Septuagint gradually began seeing it as meaning only God’s Law in those passages where it should be so interpreted So by the time the New Testament writers did their composing, the word nomos very adequately served the theological purpose, and their readers identi ed the word with God’s Law, without having to make a mental adjustment to a secular word In other words, the Greek nomos theou (law of God), as in Romans 7:22, was perceived precisely the same as the Hebrew torah haElohim (law of God), as in Nehemiah 8:8 (2) When the New Testament canon was complete, the Septuagint Old Testament and the Greek New Testament formed a unity, the Greek Bible (3) The Greek Bible made God’s whole written revelation accessible to the whole world, where Greek was the lingua franca (4) This “modern version” of Scripture prepared the way for the Jews’ acceptance of God’s revelation in a language other than the revered Hebrew language The barrier of Scripture being rejected in a so-called unholy language was not a problem during the first centuries after Christ b Greek language By New Testament times Koine Greek was the international language, an ideal channel for communication in the world-wide program of the early church Christ, the apostles, and early disciples of Palestine spoke Greek (as well as Aramaic); the Scriptures were in Greek; and the audiences of the preached gospel throughout the Roman Empire understood and spoke Greek c Greek philosophy and mystery religion During the silent years the mind of the Greek thinkers was reaching out to discover the secrets of life and the universe Because of that, it might be concluded that the Greeks were a ready audience for the message of Christianity But they were not that prepared, as G T Manley writes: We must not, of course, exaggerate the preparedness of the GraecoRoman world for the acceptance of Christianity It needed three centuries of intensive evangelization and heroic witnessbearing to overcome the pride and self-satisfaction begotten of so mighty and dazzling a civilization But its external order, its deep spiritual aspirations, and its groping after truth, all assured the presence in it of good soil when the Sower came with His seed which is the word of God.17 The answers to the questions of the searching Greeks were in the Hebrew ... truth, all assured the presence in it of good soil when the Sower came with His seed which is the word of God.17 The answers to the questions of the searching Greeks were in the Hebrew ... word In other words, the Greek nomos theou (law of God), as in Romans 7:22, was perceived precisely the same as the Hebrew torah haElohim (law of God), as in Nehemiah 8:8 (2) When the New Testament. .. was the lingua franca (4) This “modern version” of Scripture prepared the way for the Jews’ acceptance of God’s revelation in a language other than the revered Hebrew language The barrier of Scripture