Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith…

The writer of Hebrews pointing to the fact the Jesus Christ is one greater than Moses, calls to his readers attention Psalm 95:7-11. But in doing so the writer of Hebrews does not invoke the penman of the Psalm, King David, but rather writes,

“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.”

Hebrews 3:7-8

Why would the writer of Hebrews present the author of Psalm 95 as someone other than David? Did the writer of Hebrews not know that David was the one who put pen to paper and wrote Psalm 95? Was the writer of Hebrews attempting to be less precise? Is “as the Holy Ghost saith” a Hebraism? It is an oriental hyperbole? The answer to all of these questions is, no.

The words of Psalm 95 are the words of the Holy Spirit and are more commonly called, the words of God. We could say the same of the whole of Scripture. Paul says in 2 Timothy that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. We could also use the words here in Hebrews 3, “All Scripture is what the Holy Ghost said.” Seeing that all of Scripture is only the Old and New Testament, then the New Testament is only what the Holy Ghost said.

If the words of Scripture are properly and precisely what the Holy Spirit said, how then do modern evangelical textual critical principles determine what words are the Holy Spirit’s and what words are not? I mean, they are His words, so how is it that oldest, shortest, and hardest show that the Holy Spirit said X?

Ultimately put, evangelical textual scholars are not looking for the New Testament. They are looking for what the Holy Spirit has said. This is the correct focus and such a focus should shift the scholars focus from mere historical manuscripts to the transcendent nature of words spoken by God the Holy Spirit.

So, what criterion are used in the CBGM to determine which words are the Holy Spirit’s? How do they know any of the words in the entire manuscript tradition are the Holy Spirit’s words? What proof, what evidence, what component of reason eclecticism provides a means for knowing what words are the Holy Spirit’s words?

How many text critical books, from evangelicals or otherwise, offer a robust treatment of how a textual scholar locates and recognizes the words of the Holy Spirit? Who among textual scholars speak of the manuscript tradition as the words of the Holy Spirit?

What authority does the textual scholar possess and from where does this authority come to critique, add, and subtract from their eclectic Greek Critical Text year after year only to call it the New Testament? Where has God given the academic and the scholar the right and privilege to determine what words are the Holy Spirit’s and the additional right and privilege to tell Christ’s Bride what those words are?

The writer of Hebrews has no problem referring to an ancient text which is at least a copy of a copy of a copy of the original as what the Holy Ghost said even without holding oldest, shortest, and hardest as criteria. Can you believe it? It’s almost like you can know what words are the words of the Holy Spirit without so much as a peripheral glance at modern evangelical textual criticism and its varied and multifarious conclusions.

The writer of Hebrews knew this but it is readily apparent that the vast majority of modern evangelical textual scholars do not.