 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
-42-
God Hath Spoken
Preservation and Bible Translations
Let me offer some observations. First, if our modern versions of the Bible are based upon new revelations, then the Church for the last two thousand years has had an incomplete version of Scripture. And, if the Church today has better versions, why is it not a better church?
Second, why are there discrepancies in so many of the versions of the Bible? The answer is that many modern versions are not faithful copies of the Scriptures. Modern versions of the Bible are like modern church music: they are the product of a backslidden church.
Intellect is not the key to understanding the things of God. Men by wisdom do not know God. How many have been spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ! And, many of the men who sat on the translating committees of recent Bible versions were not converted men. They may have had their scholarly credentials, but they did not know Christ, and therefore, they were not Christian men. When Martin Luther translated the Word of God into the German language, he would not translate unless there were two or three other Christians present, for "where two or three are gathered together in my name," Jesus said, "there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
It is Neo Orthodox heresy to welcome everyone as a brother simply because he is in the same "profession." And, one reason why the modern translations are a far cry from the orthodoxy of the King James Version, is because many of the men who sat on the translating committees were not born again men. Another reason is because the majority serving on the translating committees thought it was scholarly to listen to and to appease the unbelieving liberals. Consequently, modern versions are a far cry from being faithful presentations of the Word of God.
Since the Bible is the Word of God, it must be inerrant; otherwise it is not the Word of God. The beginning of this book says "Holy Bible." What is holy about a book that is filled with errors? If the Bible is filled with contradictions, and all manner of errors, it is not the Word of God, because God makes no errors; and if we do not have the Word of God, we are of all men most miserable because 3800 times in the Old Testament we read, "Thus saith the Lord."
Although inspiration ceased with the apostles, the Bible we hold in our hands is both inerrant and infallible. This is because of the doctrine of the preservation of Scripture. When we say "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" we do not mean that God is giving Scripture today. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God:" when men wrote it, they wrote it not according to their whims, but as they were moved or "borne along" by the Holy Ghost. They wrote the very words of God.
King James called for fifty four translators, but we have a record of only forty eight. These translators were not inspired, but God superintended their work and preserved His Word. Question: "When men are subject to errors, how do we know that what we have is the Word of God?" Answer: Because of verse 7 in our text: "Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." "He...preserveth the way of His saints." (Prov. 2:8)
_____________________________________