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Theological Significance of the Use of the Septuagint Text of Genesis 4:1-16
in the New Testament
Having established the influence of the LXX on the New Testament texts examined
above, we move to examine the significance of that influence. Given that all the authors of the
above texts display an intimate knowledge of Judaism, 226 we can reasonably assume that they
would have been familiar with the MT. As such, it becomes reasonable to assume that the LXX’s
rendering of Gen 4:1-16 was chosen for a particular reason. Thatcher articulates the questions
that this raises.
Why did the LXX translators and the NT authors interpret the Genesis account in the
particular ways in which they did? Particularly in the case of the latter, why did the NT
authors refer to Cain and Abel at all? How and why did the story of these tragic brothers
from the ancient past become meaningful to early Christians? 227
We will now examine these questions in the hope of providing a reasonable explanation.
226
Cf. Morna D. Hooker, “Christ, the ‘End’ of the Cult,” in The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian
Theology, Kindle edition, Kindle location 2517-2518; Raymond E Brown, The Gospel and Epistles of John, 10;
Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel of Matthew, 7.
227
Tom Thatcher, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 72, no. 4 (2010): 736-737.