Five Misrepresentations of the Confessional Text position by Mark Ward in "The Septuagint and Confessional Bibliology" in The Authority of the Septuagint:

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Five Misrepresentations of the Confessional Text position by Mark Ward in "The Septuagint and Confessional Bibliology" in The Authority of the Septuagint:

1. MW once again claims that we are "fraternal twins" to IFB KJVO (p. 169). We have repeatedly stated that KJVO is completely incompatible with WCF/2LBCF 1:8 and is a position we repudiate. To say we are *only* "fraternal twins" to KJVO is, in fact, a deceptive and pusillanimous obfuscation.

2. MW reviews only three of our four plenary lecturers in the 2024 RBS conference, completely overlooking Christian McShaffrey's lecture on Apologetics. Co-editor Ross was at the conference and should have noticed this oversight. MW apparently made this omission because McShaffrey does not hold a PhD degree. This, however, is not a standard for participation in the RBS or holding to the CB position. McShaffrey is an established OPC pastor, the stated clerk of his presbytery, a member of the executive committee (& secretary) of the RBS, and a respected writer and spokesman for the Confessional Text position. MW, however, imposes his own arbitrary standard (he only reviews speakers who hold the PhD, p. 170), and so inexplicably omits consideration one of the four plenary speakers for the conference he was reviewing.

3. MW claims that our 2024 conference on the LXX represented a distinct shift or turn in emphasis for CB by focusing on the OT, though we have from the beginning had a whole Bible (OT and NT) emphasis and concern. The assertion that this is a new emphasis of CB is simply wrong.

4. MW states that CB holds that there are singular extant “perfect manuscript copies” of the Bible (p. 178). This is never an argument we have made, but MW continues to repeat this charge. He provides no citations to demonstrate that this is our view, because no such citations exist.

5. MW makes no serious reference to or any interaction with perhaps the key emphasis of the CB movement. We are contending for retrieval of the classic Protestant position regarding the text of Scripture, held by men like Owen and Turretin, including the rejection of the LXX's use to "correct" the Hebrew text (what Berntson calls in his article in this book the "older view" of the Protestant orthodox.

JTR