July 2, 2006
THE DEATH OF THE TESTATOR
Hebrews 9:16

   "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood" (Hebrews 9:16-18). Worded thus the King James translators made it impossible to see God's intended meaning. Another commented that they "involved this passage in hopeless obscurity by introducing the idea of a testament and a testator."
   Of the 33 times the Greek word appears, in 20 places they chose covenant. And most of the places where it reads testament, the thoughtful reader will see that covenant is intended. Although these two words are not perfect synonyms, little damage or confusion is introduced by the word testament. Yet this passage is very different for the translation "testator" combines to reinforce an understanding wholly foreign to the passage for it has nothing whatever to do with "wills" or "will making."
   The Greek word for testator appears but seven times in our New Testaments, four of which are in Hebrews. Luke 22:29 reads, "...I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me," where "appoint" really means "to make." In Acts 3:25 we read, "the covenant...God made with our fathers." In Hebrews 8:10 God spoke of "the covenant that I will make..." The phrase "while the testator lives" (9:17), refers not to men but to the living animal whose blood will seal or "make" the covenant binding. The final reference tells of God speaking of "the covenant that I will make..." (10:17). Our word, therefore, means to make or bind a covenant by means of sacrificial blood.
   The Old Covenant mediated by Moses and the New Covenant mediated by Christ required the necessity of a victim being slain for ratification. "If the blood offerings of animals sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God purge their consciences from dead works to serve the living God." And to effect this service of God, the ministry of Christ mediated the New Covenant. God took "away the first (the Old Covenant and its sacrifices), that He might establish the second (the New Covenant through the sacrifice of Christ)" (Hebrews 10:9).

Ivan L. Burgener