What proof do we have that an Alexandrian canon existed?
It is my understanding that no manuscripts of this supposed canon exist.
Further, it is my understanding that no one such as a Philo or a Josephus lists the books of the so called Alexandrian canon.
So, what proof do we have of this supposed canon actually existing?
If you don’t have any proof that this canon existed, why do so many of you constantly state as fact that it existed?
Technically, there were no official “canons” of the Old Testament up until the second century. Just traditions from various communities.
Jesus and the apostles were raised in the area which was educated in Greek. They used the Greek Septuagint. The best evidence is the Bible. When Jesus and the apostles give quotations from Scripture, the usage is structured after the Greek Septuagint. There are over 300 such quotations from Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament.
Now, later on, the Palestinian Jews wanted to put down this “Christian” phenomenon - it was gaining too much popularity. So they decided to form the first “official” canon. One of the criteria they used was to reject any books of which there were no extant copies in the original Hebrew. This was the primary way they were able to reject some of the Deutero’s because the Christians were using these books to prove their teachings about Jesus. (Sirach was called “The Book of the Church” or, “Ecclesiasticus”, because it was one of the main books used for catechetical instruction of new converts at the time).
So, the Jews got rid of the Deuteros for doctrinal reasons - they pointed to Christ as the Messiah - based on their reasoning that there were no copies available in Hebrew. Supposedly, this little defect put into question these books’ inspiration. Problem is we have since found the Dead Sea Scrolls which gives pre-Christian Hebrew copies of parts of the Deuteros.
Any way…bottom line is the Church simply continued the use of the Greek Septuagint that Jesus and the apostles used and quoted from often. There are even places in protestant Bibles where the apostles make refence to Old Testament stories, but you can’t find the story. Because it’s in the Deuteros.
