Answers from the Word

This week, a friend asked, "Why do you use the Orthodox/Greek Septuagint Bible rather than the King James or other modern versions of the Old Testament?"

"...If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18-19

Once again, I would be happy to explain.

First, during the life of Jesus and the ministry of the Apostles, the Bible used by Christians and Jews was primarily the Old Testament Greek Septuagint because the New Testament hadn't been organized yet. The Old Testament Greek Septuagint (written c. 250 BC) was translated from Hebrew (nearly 300 years before Jesus was born) by Pharaoh Ptolemy II of Egypt. Thus, the Greek Septuagint was the Bible of Jesus, Peter, and Paul.

After Titus destroyed the Temple in 70 AD, the Jews avoided Christians who tried to convert them. To do this, the Jews eventually abandoned the Old Greek Septuagint that the Christians used to preach Jesus. Instead, the Jews created a new Bible of their own called the Masoretic Text. During their revision of Scripture, they eliminated many O.T. prophecies about Jesus and the Cross (nearly 16 references in all, according to some sources).

Justin Martyr, St. Augustine, and other early Church Fathers strongly objected to these scriptural changes. The New Jewish Bible (Masoretic Text) created a great conflict among Christians who preached to the Jews. Some Christians wanted to entirely abandon the Bible of Peter and Paul and use the new Jewish version. A few Christians wanted to keep the old Bible, but also use the new Masoretic Text when witnessing to the Jews. Other Christians wanted to keep the original Greek Septuagint and totally leave the Jews alone.

In 382, Pope Damasus ordered St. Jerome to create a new Church Bible. Against St. Augustine's adamant objections, Jerome translated Hebrew manuscripts and previous Latin documents into a new version of the Old Testament and the Gospels (Latin Vulgate) rather than using the original Bible of Peter and Paul (the old Greek Septuagint). Consequently, there are now distortions in Scripture between the New Testament (Greek) and the Old Testament (Jewish Masoretic Text). One obvious flaw is between Hebrew 10:5 and Psalms 40:6.

In Hebrews 10:5, St. Paul originally quoted Psalms 40:6 out of the old Greek Septuagint when He talked about Jesus Christ coming in a human body, "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me." (Hebrews 10:5 - KJV) However, the Old Testament no longer says what Paul first quoted after the Church later accepted the Jews' Masoretic Text, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened..." (Psalms 40:6 - KJV)

As you can easily see, there is a HUGE difference between the Greek Septuagint predicting that Jesus Christ would come in a human body (Hebrews 10:5 - KJV) and the Masoretic Text saying that someone got their ears cleaned out (Psalms 40:6 - KJV).

Second, as other Church scholars translated more New Testament books to complete the Latin Vulgate, their personal comments were directly added to the scriptural text rather than writing their opinions at the side or bottom of the page (as modern translators do). After several years passed, these added comments were accepted by unwitting readers as official Scripture. Unfortunately, the extra words were only the scholars' private statements or views.

One example of an addition to later translations is 1 John 5:7-8, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 - And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." (KJV) Most readers do not realize that much of verse 7 did not appear in Scripture until later copies of the Latin Vulgate, and verse 8 is totally absent from early Greek versions of 1 John, chapter 5, until the 14th century. Since the New Testament was written in Greek at the beginning of the Christian Era, then verses that suddenly appear later in the Latin Vulgate were added by someone else after the original Scripture was first authored.

Third, in the 1500s Martin Luther took the liberty of removing seven books from the Bible that had been in the Old Testament for 1,800 years. These books were part of the Bible (Greek Septuagint) when Peter and Paul were alive. They were even part of the Bible 300 years before Jesus was born. Luther also tried to remove Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Revelation from the New Testament. But when people strongly objected, he placed the four books at the very back of his German Bible (to show his disapproval about keeping what he wanted to scrap).

In conclusion, to answer my friend's question: Since most modern Bibles (including the KJV - translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1611 AD) have been altered by the Jewish Masoretic Text, with verses added from the Latin Vulgate that were absent from the original Greek, and lack entire books removed by Martin Luther; I use the Orthodox Bible (English version of the original Greek Septuagint and Greek New Testament that existed long before the later changes occurred). I choose to read what Jesus, Peter, and Paul read. But you must decide for yourself.