Did Jesus Refer to the Law as the LXX?

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R. Perkins
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Joined: January 18th, 2013, 9:55 pm

Did Jesus Refer to the Law as the LXX?

Post by R. Perkins »

(Analytical Greek New Testament; Mt. 5.18): ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν· ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, ἕως ἂν πάντα γένηται.

I was reading a journal paper tonight on the importance of original language use by ministers when I noted that, in referring to the preservation of the OT Law, Christ appealed to an ἰῶτα—which is obviously not a Hebrew or Aramaic letter. For some reason I had never noticed this and the thought struck me that He was referencing the LXX since He used a Greek letter.

Sooo, to the experts I ran 🤓! Am I off base or missing something here?

May take me a day or two to respond, but will do so ASAP. Thank you in advance (love this forum)!
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Did Jesus Refer to the Law as the LXX?

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Far far far from an expert here but the question assumes that the recorded sentence was originally Greek therefore used ιωτα
I didnt want to weight in on the discussion of languages spoken in Palestine, but for this issue we could be dealing with a translation of a Hebrew or Aramaic original spoken aloud by Jesus. The use of ιωτα may therefore be something the Greek readers would understand rather than giving a transliteration of the possible hebrew/Aramaic that they may not.
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Did Jesus Refer to the Law as the LXX?

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

The usual explanation is that Jesus said "yod" and that Matthew used the the closest Greek equivalent. To say that this refers to the LXX would be a mighty big stretch.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
R. Perkins
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Re: Did Jesus Refer to the Law as the LXX?

Post by R. Perkins »

Matthew Longhorn wrote: April 4th, 2019, 7:41 am Far far far from an expert here but the question assumes that the recorded sentence was originally Greek therefore used ιωτα
I didnt want to weight in on the discussion of languages spoken in Palestine, but for this issue we could be dealing with a translation of a Hebrew or Aramaic original spoken aloud by Jesus. The use of ιωτα may therefore be something the Greek readers would understand rather than giving a transliteration of the possible hebrew/Aramaic that they may not.
Thank you. To further complicate matters, as we know, Matthew is addressed to Jewish believers and quotes the OT more than the other gospels. I just found it interesting that Matthew records Christ as using this Greek letter when referencing the OT Law—which caused me to speculate that He was alluding to the LXX.

Thanks again👍.
R. Perkins
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Joined: January 18th, 2013, 9:55 pm

Re: Did Jesus Refer to the Law as the LXX?

Post by R. Perkins »

Barry Hofstetter wrote: April 4th, 2019, 7:46 am The usual explanation is that Jesus said "yod" and that Matthew used the the closest Greek equivalent. To say that this refers to the LXX would be a mighty big stretch.
Okay, I have indeed read this interpretation from a couple of exegetes.

Just running my musings by those w. far more knowledge than myself in this area.

Thank you Barry.
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