This is the problem with Martin Luther’s version of “sola scripture”: which version shall we follow?
The Septuagint was created by Jews and was utterly unambiguous. It is this version (or perhaps a related Hebrew version that the Septuagint was translated from) that Jesus cited.
The differences were pointed out to St. Jerome, who largely went with the Hebrew version he had been given by Jews, instead of the Septuagint, even pointing out the total absence of seven entire books. He was accused of denying the scriptural authority of those books, a charge he bitterly resented.
The Catholic church used the translation created by St. Jerome, but continued to use the seven books absent from St. Jerome’s Hebrew source, and continued to use the New Testament’s Greek verbatim, even where doing so created pretty big contradictions between the New Testament and the Old Testament passages it cites.
So which version should Christians follow
The important things to note:
1) The Septuagint was NOT a poor translation, as St. Jerome had been led to believe. We can read Hebrew texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls which corroborate that the Septuagint was a good translation, just from a slightly different source than the Jews now use.
2) The Septuagint was made by Jews for use by Jews before Christ. As such, any foretelling in the Septuagint was still prophetic.
3) The Septuagint, or perhaps the Hebrew text on which it was based, was the version cited by Christ, so it should be regarded as authoritative for Christians, wherever the Septuagint and the Masoretic text differ. (How does a woman giving birth outside wedlock prove the majesty of God? The Septuagint tells us that the sign of the coming of the messiah will be a virgin giving birth!)
Therefore, no Christian should be troubled in their faith by claims that the New Testament’s prophecy fulfillments were mere a misunderstanding or deliberate misreading of the Tanakh (”Old Testament”).
However,
Since Jews do not recognize the authority of the Septuagint, it is useless to attempt to persuade Jews to convert to Christianity based on portions of the Tanakh found only in the Septuagint, or using wordings unique to the Septuagint.
THIS is what many historical Church leaders were stating when they argued against basing doctrinal arguments solely on the books “missing” from the Jewish Tanakh. They were NOT advocating that Christians should regard them as inferior books for their own spiritual growth, nor that they be removed from the bible (they weren’t removed), nor from the mass (again, they weren’t removed).
“This is the problem with Martin Luther’s version of “sola scripture”: which version shall we follow?”
Not a problem at all with Sola Scriptura. The Scriptures contain all necessary for salvation and godliness.
The best translation of God’s Word is the one you read and exercise faith in its promises.
Thank you for that posting. Very good information there.