I have not spoken
in secret,
in a dark place
of the earth;
I did not say
to the seed
of Jacob,
'Seek Me in vain';
I, The LORD,
speak righteousness
I declare things that
are right.
Isaiah 45:19
The Holiness that is God, His attribute of Holiness that He has surrounded Himself with as one of the attributes that are present are due to His being Holy; therefore He has not left man without the ability to know Him for He has revealed Himself; and His written word is one way by which He has done so. Reading His word will not cause us to "Seek Him in vain." Yet, with so many confusing problems; i.e., corruptions, variants and many translations that are available, it is difficult to know which one is right, which one is declaring and revealing God, His precepts, His commandments, and His Gospel a Gospel that is leading is not only to salvation, but to have the truth in how we are to know Him, His Savior, and how we are guided by His word. Are you confused or have you just acquiesced?
Remember this: All religions have their holy book. The followers of the various religions read and practice what their holy book admonishes them to do, and their religion is considered the "right one." As Christians we have a book, the Bible as written by some 40 men that we say are inspired of God and is the Word of God, written for His children and we hold close to our hearts His word, and we follow what His word has to teach us. Therefore, with so many variations, translations being thrust upon the Christian, each saying they have a better translation we must come to know if that is true: which one is the better translation? Many if not most Churches and Church leaders will not discuss the fact that there are corruptions, variations among the manuscripts and that scholars of the Bible have promoted one group of manuscripts over another. Their silence is a problem, maybe it is fear, fear if they truly spoke of such problems that some would leave the Church, some would leave Christianity in favor of another religion, or no religion at all. There is a lack of trust in God, that He will maintain His promise to always have His word preserved even if man distorts His word in their efforts to translate the available manuscripts: "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:3-4). God has not spoken in secret and God will deliver you; this is His promise and God never goes back on His promises.
Taking a look briefly and come to an understanding of those corruptions and variants is important and will aid us to grow in our faith and be able to present to those who would ask as to why we believe that our Bible is God's word, even over all the other religious books. Let us then examine those problems of corruption and variants: In the many thousands of manuscript copies we possess of the New Testament, scholars have discovered that there are some 150,000 "variants."This may seem like a staggering figure to the uninformed mind. But to those who study the issue, the numbers are not so damning as it may initially appear. Indeed, a look at the hard evidence shows that the New Testament manuscripts are amazingly accurate and trustworthy. To begin, we must emphasize that out of these 150,000 variants, 99 percent hold virtually no significance whatsoever. Many of these variants simply involve a missing letter in a word; some involve reversing the order of two words (such as "Christ Jesus" instead of "Jesus Christ"); some may involve the absence of one or more insignificant words.
Really, when all the facts are put on the table, only about 50 of the variants have any real significance - and even then, no doctrine of the Christian faith or any moral commandment is effected by them. This is true except where Gnostic renderings have been inserted in the manuscripts and some of the manuscripts have diminished the Gospel and Jesus Christ. These we must examine and determine if they are correct or false. For more than ninety-nine percent of the cases the original text can be reconstructed to a practical certainty. Even in the few cases where some perplexity remains, this does not impinge on the meaning of Scripture to the point of clouding a tenet of the faith or a mandate of life.Thus, in the Bible as we have it (and as it is conveyed to us through faithful translations) we do have for practical purposes the very Word of God, inasmuch as the manuscripts do convey to us the complete vital truth of the originals.
Having a Bible in our language is not to be disparaged as wrong, in fact God has never not spoken to people in their language, examine the account in Acts; therefore we do need a Bible we can read and this demands that it be in our language; but what about all those versions of the Bible. In regard to Bible versions many contemporary Christians are behaving like spoiled and rebellious children. They want a Bible version that pleases them no matter whether it pleases God or not. "We want a Bible version in our own idiom," they clamor. "We want a Bible that talks to us in the same way in which we talk to our friends over the telephone. We want an informal God, no better educated than ourselves, with a limited vocabulary and a taste for modern slang." And having thus registered their preference, they go their several ways. Some of them unite with the modernists in using the R.S.V. or the N.E.B. Others deem the N.A.S.V. or the N.I.V. more "evangelical". Still others opt for the T.E.V. or the Living Bible. But God is bigger than you are, dear friend, and the Bible version which you must use is not a matter for you to decide according to your whims and prejudices. It has already been decided for you by the workings of God's special providence. If you ignore this providence and choose to adopt one of the modern versions, you will be taking the first step in the logic of unbelief. For the arguments which you must use to justify your choice are the same arguments which unbelievers use to justify theirs, the same method. If you adopt one of these modern versions, you must adopt the naturalistic New Testament textual criticism upon which it rests. This naturalistic textual criticism requires us to study the New Testament text in the same way in which we study the texts of secular books which have not been preserved by God's special providence. In other words, naturalistic textual criticism regards the special, providential preservation of the Scriptures as of no importance for the study of the New Testament text. But if we concede this, then it follows that the infallible inspiration of the Scriptures is likewise unimportant. For why is it important that God should infallibly inspire the Scriptures, if it is not important that He should preserve them by His special providence?
Where, oh where, dear brother or sister, did you ever get the idea that it is up to you to decide which Bible version you will receive as God's holy Word. As long as you harbor this false notion, you are little better than an unbeliever. As long as you cherish this erroneous opinion, you are entirely on your own. For you the Bible has no real authority, only that which your rebellious reason deigns to give it. For you there is no comfort no assurance of faith. Cast off, therefore, this carnal mind that leads to death! Put on the spiritual mind that leads to life and peace! Receive by faith the True Text of God's holy Word, which has been preserved down through the ages by His special providence and now is found in the Masoretic Hebrew text, the Greek Textus Receptus, and the King James Version and other faithful translations!
I believe it is safe to say; "You want to have a Bible that you know is trustworthy and is actually teaching us and guiding us accordingly to the words of the original writings. You want a Bible that has real authority, one that has been preserved down through the ages; do you not? This examination is demanded and commanded by God so that His people will be protected: "Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds" (Proverbs 27:23). Cast away your fear, do not be apathetic and just accept what is and has been for you truth and if there is a problem with what you have come to believe, will you change? Unless we examine the various versions we will never know. I invite you then, to take this "safari" into the world of textural criticism and do not accept just what you have been accustomed. It is exciting and it will deepen your faith in God and in His Savior Jesus Christ. This will begin next week in my blogs.
One who turns away
his ear from hearing
the law, Even his prayer
is an abomination.
Proverbs 28:9
The Righteous Considers All Things
Richard L. Crumb
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