The importance of the Septuagint for the early Christian mission was inestimable. Every pioneer missionary knows how difficult it is to create the vocabulary necessary to express new religious ideas. In the case of the earliest Christian mission, that labor had already been done. It had been done by the Jews of Alexandria. By the Septuagint, the great ideas of the Old Testament—and upon these ideas Christianity was based—had already been put into a Greek form. The Christian Church needed only to develop what had been begun. The Church made good use of her opportunity. The influence of the Septuagint upon the religious vocabulary of the New Testament writers was profound. The Septuagint had provided a vocabulary which was understood already by great masses of people—by the Jews of the dispersion and by the hosts of the "God-worshipers" who attended the synagogues. Naturally the Christian missionaries used the words which people could understand.
3. CONCLUSION
The Judaism of the dispersion was a wonderful preparation for the gospel. Israel ought to be regarded with gratitude and sympathy. But the ultimate object of gratitude is God.
The Church was founded in a time of opportunity. The Roman Government had brought peace. The Greek language had welded the nations together. The dispersion of the Jews had prepared the way. These things did not come by chance. The nations were instruments in the hand of God. But instruments for what? A mighty, age-long plan! Centuries of preparation! At last the Saviour came. But did he come for naught? Or is he Saviour of you and me?
In the Library.—Edersheim (revised by White), "History of the Jewish Nation," pp. 45-79. "The Jewish Encyclopedia": Reinach, article on "Diaspora." Hastings, "Dictionary of the Bible": Schürer, article on "Diaspora," extra volume, pp. 91-109.