The Mystery of the OT Scriptures Used in the NT

When Jesus cried in John 19:30 ‘it is finished’ and bowed his head and gave up the ghost we might well nod and say amen. He is not using an aorist tense but the Greek perfect tense to teach us about his cross work and that a lot more benefits flow to the elect because of his death. Students of the Bible do not always get this understanding from an English translation. But the use of the Greek perfect tense informs us he was actually saying ‘it is finished and remains finished for all time’. There can be no addition to his death to bring salvation to his people. The benefits he won by dying as the substitute for his people so that they would not have to face the second death are beyond measure and marvellous. He cannot be sacrificed again, as in the blasphemous mass. Nothing else, apart from Christ alone, can be designated nor should be relied upon as the fount of our salvation. One cannot plead with Mary as the Scripture has spoken and stands forever as our only true guide. The OT is a book of promise, hope and encouragement. You would not expect the NT, in quoting an OT text, to necessarily retain the same verb tense. The future tense of the LXX is regularly replaced with an aorist to indicate an event has occurred in a moment of NT time. This will alter the exact equivalence of the LXX and the NT texts. The NT writers change the pronouns or other words to fit in correctly with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is no longer the domain of the Jews. Remember how Paul conducted himself when he got to Rome in Acts 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. The unconverted Jews focussed upon the Torah (Mosaic Law) and Temple worship 'to be seen of men'. This blindness and obstinacy led to the following events and was capped off by Paul’s dire word of warning which has become a blessing to the Gentile world. It plays out in Acts 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it. 29 And when he had said these words the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. Salvation is now for all nations, meaning for all the elect in every nation. Again, one hears in Rom 1:16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The words of Paul from Galatians 3:28 become so appropriate, in describing this NT truth. Paul says: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And who is of the seed or offspring of Abraham? Certainly NOT those who are of his physical lineage (e.g. the Ishmaelites, modern day Muslims via Ishmael, found in Gen 16:15, 17:23 and 25:12-18) and definitely not those who have a paper passport from 1948 and onwards. Paul reminds all readers in the next verse who is the seed of Abraham. Galatians 3:29 says: And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Christians and churches need to stop pandering to all the groups, usually para church, who bombard us with their ’missions to the Jews’. Sure, go to all, but do not make out to the vast, unsuspecting, uninformed Christian public that your work is from God in a special way, cos’ it aint! One will find as he or she reads through the following verses cited, that the variation in the Textus Receptus (or TR) text, as compared to the WH text, always favours the TR text to be the correct text. It is quite an amazing turn of events. This occurs when the TR variant: • Is the same as the quoted LXX or Septuagint text. • Makes perfect grammatical sense in NT Greek whereas the eclectic is just plainly wrong. • Does not lead to an erroneous position whereas the eclectic can. This point is tempered by the fact that this error does not stand out in an English translation because the English (and possibly other languages) does not adequately represent the Greek from which it was translated. Thus, no-one is the wiser when one reads the English translation of the eclectic variation. • Has more words than the eclectic text. The TR is always longer and one can see why when one reads through and checks the whole LXX verse with what is quoted in both NT texts. The TR simply uses more of the LXX text – thus it is longer! The nineteenth century text critics had only one cry ‘We are the experts’ so listen to us alone. These of course were unconverted men who have had a marked influence way beyond their pay grade. They have influenced all Bibles produced since 1881and still do so. Their vitriol and arguments have convinced the Christian world that in order to get closer to God’s word, one needs Bibles using their text and not the TR text which is the basis of the KJV. The liberals and ungodly cry against the KJV and wail so loudly that misguided Christians take up their chalice and cause. It does not stop here either. The clamour for the KJV’s blood is taken up with vigour by many supposed ‘Bible believing’ Christians. It is really sad and a symptom of our slide away from Bible truth. May God show mercy and turn many to His truth or back to His truth. The shrill sound of the text critics can now be met with a ‘no thanks mate’.