Sam is outlining his Moore College 4^th yr project from last year…

My (recently completed) major final-year Moore College project looked at instances where the New Testament quotes the Old Testament but changes it in some way. In particular, I looked at places where the verb form is changed – like changing a past tense to a future tense, for example.

These sections are often puzzling parts of the NT. (You know, those parts where you read a bit, look up the OT reference, but they’re not the same. On a number of occasions I’ve wondered what on earth was going on.)

My conclusions, in the end, were along a couple of major lines:

• The NT writers were creative and clever (and inspired). They changed OT texts slightly to make what they were saying in the surrounding context just that little bit clearer.
• For us: chill out a bit. Relax about the exact word(s). Just talk about Jesus.

Over the next few weeks Sam is going to post up the work he did.

I’m excited. Hermeneutics is just about my favourite theological topic.