Thesis 23/36: The Word of God

DOCTRINES OF SCRIPTURE
Doctrine 23 / 36: The Word of God

The King James Translators wrote in their prefatory work the following statement demonstrating their thoughts on the Bible. "But now what piety without truth? What truth (what saving truth) without the word of God? What word of God (whereof we may be sure) without the Scripture? The Scriptures we are commanded to search. Joh. 5:39. Isa. 8:20. They are commended that searched & studied them. Act. 17:11 and 8:28, 29. They are reproved that were unskillful in them, or slow to believe them. Mat. 22:29. Luk. 24:25. They can make us wise unto salvation. 2 Tim. 3:15. If we be ignorant, they will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. Tolle, lege; tolle, lege; Take up and read, take up and read the Scriptures."

God has revealed Himself to man with two types of revelation. General Revelation is given to all men. It includes the creation's demonstration that there must be a Creator. It includes the conscience that all men are given so that they know there is good and evil. But General Revelation is limited in regards to the specificity of the message. Special Revelation is when God reaches down and interacts with man in some special or detailed way. He talked with Adam in the Garden. He talked with other ancient fathers verbally. Sometimes He spoke to them in dreams, and sometimes He used His prophets to carry His message to the people. The greatest of His Special Revelation came when He took upon Himself human flesh and dwelt among men. "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son..." (Hebrews 1:1-2). This message of Jesus Christ was then given to them that saw Him, in order for them to carry it on to others. God gave those men special signs and wonders to confirm the message that they were preaching (Hebrews 2:3-4). These men, the apostles and prophets, recorded their teachings in writing. These writings, inspired by God, were compiled by the early church into what is now known as the Bible, the foundation of Christians (Ephesians 2:20).

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable..." (2 Timothy 3:16). God moved men to write His word by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). What He wanted people to know for millennia to come, he had these men record. And the textual criticism of the New Testament demonstrates that what exists today is the same as what existed 2,000 years ago. The word of God, what God spoke, must be believed and obeyed. To disregard what the Bible says, is to disregard what God says. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

"Every word of God is pure" (Proverbs 30:5). "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). God has put great weight on His word. He has promised to keep His word and protect it. Some people would assume that He means that He would protect the message or the general gist of His word. However, as those verses show, He will keep every word. They are His words that are important, not only the message. And truly the message will change if the words change. The reason this is important to bring up is because there are a variety of different translations and versions of the Bible. However, only the train of thought that brings one to the Authorized Version, the King James Version, will be able to maintain that God will preserve each of His words.

The issue of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is overflowing with misunderstandings and ignorant claims made from both sides of the issue. Some think that the people that use the KJV do it solely because it is old-fashioned, and they do not want to change. Some think that the people using the modern translations are simply not Bible-believers, and that they are just people that will change the Bible to fit what they want it to say. While that may be true about people in both of those camps, the issue is not about those things. The issue with the modern translations is not simply an issue of changing a couple of words to update the language, as is commonly thought. There are words, phrases and even complete verses or passages missing from the modern translations (Matthew 17:21; 18:11; 23:14; Mark 16:9-20).

The KJV's translation is superior to the modern translations for three overriding reasons as taught by Dr. D. A. Waite. (Dr. Waite teaches a Four-Fold Superiority, including the "Superior Technique" while referring to Formal vs. Dynamic Equivalency. Since that is an issue dealing with fewer of the modern translations than the other two, it is not given as much significance here.) They are: Superior Texts, Superior Translators and Superior Theology. A brief summary of the three are given below.

Superior Texts: This is the heart of the Bible versions debate. The fact that there are 17 verses missing from the New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Version (NASV), and Revised Version (RV) is not because the language fit better with them missing. Rather, these verses are missing because they are not found in the Greek texts underlying their translations. The KJV was translated from the Textus Receptus, so-called because it was the Received Text throughout the age of the church. However, in 1881, a new Greek Text was released by Westcott and Hort in England, along with it was a new Revised Version translated from that Greek text. Their Greek text has been revised numerous times since then, but the latest versions are still being translated from those Greek texts. The sources behind their Greek text were mostly from two ancient manuscripts, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. These two manuscripts are older and beautiful, but they do not agree with each other in many places, and have been corrected by numerous editors over the centuries. The Received Text is based on more than 95% of the extant Greek manuscripts. The Received Text is superior in that it has the readings that the church has used throughout the centuries, where the Critical Text, based on Westcott and Hort's, has readings that are brand new to the church.

Superior Translators: The scope of this paper limits the ability to do justice to the translators of the KJV. However, they were men that believed the Bible was the inspired word of God as was seen in their preface. They were preachers and missionaries of the gospel. They were men of prayer. Their intellectual capabilities were also beyond those of the general academia today. Not only were they well taught in the universities, but many of these men grew up engrossed in foreign languages. They would read and write in these other languages, and their familiarity with the language was much greater than simply academic. These men were tutors for kings and for queens. About 50 of these men got together in six different cities in England, beginning in 1604. For the following 7 years, these men translated the Bible. They had such a system so that every verse that was translated was looked at by, at the very minimum, 14 different sets of eyes. In 1611, they finished the work, and the version that was authorized to be translated by King James I, was appointed to be read in the churches.

Superior Theology: This superiority deals with the stronger message that is portrayed in the KJV. The deity of Christ is challenged by the Jehovah's Witnesses. Their Bible that they use, the New World Translation (NWT), follows the NIV in a few verses which have a change that weakens the doctrine of the deity of Christ. "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body..." (1 Timothy 3:16 NIV). The KJV reads, "God was manifest in the flesh." The context is Jesus Christ, but it is not a big deal that Jesus appeared in a body. History is obvious that there was a man in a body by the name of Jesus. However, when it reads, God was manifest in the flesh, that changes things. There are other doctrines that also change or are weakened in the modern Bibles. Fasting for spiritual power is omitted (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29). Some would argue that while these things are obviously important, you can still be saved from the NIV and other modern versions. While this is true, it is important to remember that the Scripture was given that the man of God may be perfect, not just to the starting point (2 Timothy 3:17).

"Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."