온 인류를 향하신 하나님의 구속사적인 계획은 그 분의 시간표 안에서 이방 선교의 문이 열리기를 기다리며 준비되고 있었다. 박창현 이 지적한 것처럼 예수와 수로보니게 여인과의 만남 (마가복음 7:24-30)은 복음이 이방인들에게 열린 유대교적 종교개혁의 시작이 었다. 디아스포라의 유대 공동체는 이방인들과의 긴밀한 접촉을 통해서 새로운 변화에 개방적이며 자유로운 사고 방식을 가졌으며 국제 공용어 인 헬라어를 구사하였다. 한편 디아스포라 유대인들의 예배와 토라에 따른 생활양식을 접한 이방인들 가운데 이스라엘 민족의 역사와 삶 속에서 고백되어지는 하나님을 “경외하는 사람들”이 등장하게 되었다. 무엇보다도 히브리 성서의 헬라어 번역본(칠십인역)으로 인해 이방인 들에게도 성경을 읽을 수 있는 기회가 열리게 되었다. 이 논문에서는 초기 기독교 선교에 미친 디아스포라 유대인들의 헬라어 성서 번역본의 역할과 영향, 그리고 한국 교회 선교역사에서 활약한 한글 성경 번역의 의미를 살펴볼 것이다.

This essay explores the theological view of the Early Church Fathers on the Septuagint. The Septuagint, commonly abbreviated LXX, was the first translation made of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek. Its origin of the translation is written in the Letter of Aristeas, a document that appeared in around 2C–3C B.C. The Torah was translated first, and other books of the Scripture including the Prophetic Books and Wisdom literature were included progressively. The Septuagint was the Bible used by Apostles and the early Christians. The use of the Greek Bible provided spiritual soil for the universal Christianity which successfully incorporated Jewish ideas into the teaching of Jesus in the Hellenistic settings. On the contrary, the Jewish religious leaders that would later form the Masorates rejected the value of the LXX as Canon by upholding only the Hebrew texts. In return, church fathers pointed out the intentional blurs of the Hebrew Old Testament, by claiming that, in the text, some of the passages representing the Messianic type of Jesus were altered or taken out. The essay analyses the writings of Justin the Martyr who defended the historical value of the letter of Aristeas and the supreme place of the Septuagint as Canon of the church. Irenaeus of Lyon also claimed the LXX as the Scripture of the “catholic” church. Most of the church Fathers including Clement of Alexandria supported the inspirational translation of the Septuagint, with firm faith on the legendary tradition gradually added to the Letter. While Origen was the first Christian scholar who compared the LXX with other translations including the Hebrew text then, it was Jerome who insisted canonical value of Hebrew text over the LXX. The outcome was his Latin Vulgate. Augustine, however, persistently opposed Jerome’s translation and use of the Hebrew text. The essay focuses mainly on the debates between the bishop of Hippo and the hermit of Bethlehem.