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Question 5
Henry Barclay Sweet (who disliked the Septuagint) still argued the Septuagint shaped “words and phrases” throughout the New Testament; what specific New Testament doctrines or debates do you think are most affected if key terms (like “church” or “agape”) were inherited from the Septuagint’s usage rather than invented as uniquely Christian language?
Another way to ask: If the Septuagint shaped many New Testament words and phrases, which key doctrines or debates might be affected the most? How might it matter if words like “church” or “agape” came from the Septuagint’s use instead of being brand-new Christian terms?

Direct Answer The transcript suggests doctrines and debates tied to major NT vocabulary—especially what “church” means and what “agape” means—are affected because these terms were not invented by Christians but carried established Septuagint usage into the New Testament.

Support from Transcript:

  • Bercot quotes Sweet: the Septuagint’s influence is such that the student is met “at every turn by words and phrases” needing reference to “the Greek Old Testament,” and the NT “would have been a widely different book” without it.
  • On “church”: the Greek *ecclesia* “actually is used 79 times in the Old Testament in the Septuagint,” so “Jesus and His apostles were not inventing a new term.”
  • That affects debates about whether the Church is a totally new concept or connected to God’s people in the OT (the transcript doesn’t spell the debate out, but the inference is built into his point that it was “already familiar to Greek-speaking Jews”).
  • On *agape*: commentators treat it as “a special word for Christian love,” but Bercot says that ignores Septuagint usage.
  • He adds other terms the Septuagint supplied: “grace, angel, bishop, Presbyter, Hades,” suggesting many doctrinal discussions about these words may depend on Septuagint background.
Discussion Follow-ups Which NT word studies might need rechecking if the baseline meanings are Septuagint-shaped rather than strictly “classical Greek” or uniquely Christian?

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