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Question 6
Daniel mentions being “scandalized” that Clement treats Judith like a real historical example alongside Esther, and that early Christians commonly used the Septuagint and quoted deuterocanonical books; how should this unsettle modern Protestant assumptions about “the Bible Jesus used,” and what does it expose about how tradition already shapes what we think is “obvious” Scripture?
Another way to ask: If early Christians used the Septuagint and quoted deuterocanonical books, how should that challenge the idea of “the Bible Jesus used”? What does this show about how tradition already shapes what we assume is the “obvious” Bible?

Direct Answer The transcript suggests modern Protestants may assume the Masoretic-based Old Testament and a strict “no Apocrypha” posture is the obvious biblical default, but early Christian practice complicates that. It exposes that what feels “obvious Scripture” to us is often shaped by later tradition and the Bibles we grew up with.

Support from Transcript:

  • David describes his shock when Clement quotes an Old Testament line differently, then he discovers Clement is “quoting from the Septuagint.”
  • He calls this “the first time I realized that the early Christians were using the Septuagint as the Old Testament,” and later realized it’s also “the Old Testament of the New Testament Christians as well.”
  • Daniel notes Clement’s Isaiah 53 section “definitely…follow[s] the Septuagint version.”
  • David says he was “scandalize[d]” because Clement lists “Esther, and then…Judith,” treating Judith “as being a real person like Esther.”
  • They add that early Christians are “always quoting” the deuterocanonical books, and even early Anabaptists (Martyrs Mirror, Menno Simons) quoted them frequently.
  • The broader theme is anachronism: later categories can get “read back” onto earlier Christians.
Discussion Follow-ups What assumptions about “the Bible everyone always used” might need re-checking? How can you acknowledge tradition’s influence without sliding into cynicism about Scripture itself?

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