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You Can Trust the Word of God II Timothy 3:15-17
Is the Bible we hold in our hands the Word of God, as God delivered it through the prophets and the apostles? How can we know? How can we be sure? Hundreds of years before the invention of the modern printing press, the holy books were copied by hand. Did the scribes mutilate the text? Did they add to it and take away from it? The assured results of scholarly inquiry say that the ending of Mark is lost; that the Gospel of Mark stops in the middle of the story of the resurrection, at verse 8 in chapter 16. They also say that the story of an angel coming down at stated intervals, to stir up the water at the pool of Bethesda, recorded in John 5-4 is certainly spurious; that a copyist wrote the explanation on the margin of the book he was copying, and the next scribe placed the note in the text itself. The passage about the Trinity in I John 5:7 is also interpolation, they say. If these passages are glosses, what about other passages? If some are false, how shall I be able to pick out the truth? I must have an answer to these questions or else I have no foundation upon which to build faith in the revealed Word of God. I must know that the Word is God’s Word, and not man’s interpolation. We have a sure and certain answer. The same Lord God, who inspired the holy prophets and apostles to write the Word did, through infinite and multiplied ways, preserve the true Word. That we possess the true text is demonstrable fact. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away." Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." No further proof than these two Scriptures are needed to establish the fact that God has divinely preserved His word. See also I Peter 1:22-25 – We are saved and purified by the Word of God, and the word of God Peter was referring to and the word of God we read are all copies. If one reads the spate of books and articles written today against our King James Version, disclaiming its authority, one would suppose that when the original autographs perished that the Word of God perished with them, and that our copies of the originals are destitute of divine authority. This is not so! God has faithfully preserved His word through the ages, in accurate copies and translations of the original autographs. The preservation of the Scriptures is just as important as the inspiration of the Scriptures. If only the original autographs were inspired, (which eventually perished) then no one today can claim to have the Word of God, or even to preach it. We are told in II Timothy 4,2 to "Preach the Word." One cannot preach the Word if he does not have the Word! It is the purpose of this article to show that although we do not believe that the translators were inspired, we do believe that the Textus Receptus, from which the King James Version was translated was indeed the inspired Word of God. Consequently, I can hold in my hand the King James Version and say without hesitation that it is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. First, let us consider the Biblical Doctrine of Preservation. There are two very important doctrines pertaining to the Word of God: The first is the inspiration of the Scriptures. The second is the Preservation of the Scriptures. What good is the doctrine of inspiration without the doctrine of preservation? Even if the Scriptures were divinely inspired in the originals, if God did not preserve His inspired Words, then only those who lived at the time of their writing ever saw them. The preservation of the Scripture is just as miraculous as the inspiration of the Scriptures. God’s Word was indeed given by divine inspiration in the original autographs. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness", (II Tim. 3:16). Is there a clear doctrine concerning preservation? Was God’s inspired Word also divinely preserved? Can we really be assured of an infallible, and final authority beyond the original autographs? There are more Scriptures teaching the doctrine of preservation than there are propagating the doctrine of inspiration. "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29) God promised word level preservation of His Holy Scriptures forever. The History of Believers Did Isaiah believe God would preserve His Holy Word beyond the original autographs? He said, "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." (Is. 40:8) This could not be true-unless God has infallibly preserved His Word. Did Peter believe what God promised concerning preservation? "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (I Pet. 1:24,25) Peter said he was preaching the same Word of God Isaiah had preached centuries before. God’s preserved Scriptures communicate the life, light, truth, and power of the original Holy Scriptures. "Being born again, not- of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." (I Pet. 1:23) How can we be born again, if we do not have the incorruptible Word of God? If we do not have the infallibly inspired Word of God today, then no one can be saved and no one is saved according to I Peter 1:23, because we are born again through the instrumentality of the Word of God. Note the expression, "By the Word of God." If one rejects the Bible as the Word of God, he places himself at a distance from the means of salvation. Since men are still being saved, the Word of God must still be around somewhere, even though some of the (pseudo) scholars can’t seem to find it. Did Daniel believe his writings of God’s Word would he preserved in a supernatural manner? "But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Dan. 12:4) God promised Daniel that his words would be preserved, until the last generation of Jews upon earth saw it fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ said, when quoting a divinely preserved translation of Deuteronomy 8:3: "it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ever word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matt. 4:4) How can we live by every Word of God, if we don’t have an every Word Bible? If God did not preserve His inspired Words, then we have no reliable source of truth. Secondly, let us consider the preservation of the Old Testament text. Christ promised that the Old Testament text would be preserved. During His earthly life, the Lord Jesus Christ appealed unreservedly to the very words of the Old Testament text (Matt.22:24-45; John 10:34-36), thus indicating His confidence that this text had been accurately transmitted. Not only so, but He also ex- pressed this conviction in the strongest possible manner. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matt. 5:18) "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to- fail." (Luke 16:17) |