Saturday, January 30, 2021

Bruce McConkie on Hebrews 5:7-8 and the Errancy of Footnotes in LDS Editions of Scripture

Commenting on Heb 5:7-10, Bruce McConkie wrote:

 

These verses make clear reference to Christ and his mortal ministry and are in complete harmony with other scriptures which bear on the same matters, as also with the sermons of the early brethren of this dispensation who quote them as applying to our Lord.

 

However, there is a footnote in the Inspired Version which says, "The 7th and 8th verses allude to Melchizedek, and not to Christ." Standing alone, and because it is only part of the picture, this footnote gives an erroneous impression. The fact is verses 7 and 8 apply to both Melchizedek and to Christ, because Melchizedek was a prototype of Christ and that prophet's ministry typified and foreshadowed that of our Lord in the same sense that the ministry of Moses did. (Deut. 18:15-19; Acts 3:22-23; 3 Ne. 30:23; Jos. Smith 2:40.) Thus, though the words of these verses, and particularly those in the 7th verse, had original application to Melchizedek, they apply with equal and perhaps even greater force to the life and ministry of him through whom all the promises made to Melchizedek were fulfilled. (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 3:157)

 

Such shows that, contra some Protestant critics, McConkie (who played an important role in the current headings and footnotes in the LDS publication of the Scriptures) did not view the footnotes and other apparatuses as inerrant (cf. Bruce McConkie on the Fallibility of the Chapter Headings)


On the JST of Heb 5:7-8, see:


Is Hebrews 5:7-8 speaking of Melchizedek or Jesus?