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3 Definitions

Old Testament

For Old Testament we have terms and definitions in 3 topics. The topics are Bible Study, Jewish History and Judaism.



Old Testament (Bible Study)

Old Testament is the Christian term for the Jewish scriptures. Testament is the Latin word for will, as in last will and testament; it translates the Greek word diatheke, which means covenant. We use the word testament because God’s covenant, like a will, is unilateral. The term comes from 2 Corinthians 3:14, where Paul refers to the Hebrew scriptures as the old covenant. In the first century—and in the preceding centuries—there were two canons of scripture among the Jews.
The Palestinian Canon
The Palestinian canon is in Hebrew and Aramaic, was used by Jews in Palestine. Modern Jews and most Protestants accept only the Palestinian canon.
The Alexandrian Canon
The Alexandrian canon appears in the Septuagint, contains everything in the Palestinian canon, plus a few additional books. We call the additional books the apocrypha. The Septuagint was used by the very large Greek-speaking Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, and by Jews scattered throughout the Roman Empire, who spoke Greek, and who held their synagogue services in Greek. The early Church inherited the Septuagint from the synagogue, and used it so effectively in evangelism that the Jews eventually disowned it. In the fourth century, St. Jerome, a biblical scholar whom the bishop of Rome had commissioned to produce a new Latin translation of the Bible, wanted to remove the apocrypha from the Old Testament, thus abandoning the Alexandrian canon for the Palestinian canon, but the Church did not heed his advice. During the Reformation, Martin Luther took up Jerome’s position. Today, the eastern Churches and the Roman Catholic Church still recognize the apocrypha as Scripture. Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Methodists accept the apocrypha as a worship resource and for instruction in faith and morals, but do not base any doctrine upon it.
All Christian Bibles list the books of the Old Testament in the order that they appear in the Septuagint.


Old Testament (Jewish History)

The name traditionally given by Christians to the Jewish biblical writings that together with "the New Testament" constitute the Christian Bible. For most Protestant Christians, the Old Testament is identical to the classical Jewish Bible, while for classical (Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, etc.) Christianity, the Old Testament also includes "the Apocrypha."


Old Testament (Judaism)

The name traditionally given by Christians to the Jewish biblical writings that together with "the New Testament" constitute the Christian Bible. For most Protestant Christians, the Old Testament is identical to the classical Jewish Bible, while for classical (Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, etc.) Christianity, the Old Testament also includes "the Apocrypha."


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