The Great Bible Debate -
This is part 2 of 4. Click here to go to part 3
As I mentioned in my previous lesson, the corruption of God's Word began a long time ago -
The process of producing the work of the AV (also known as the KJV) that we can now hold in one hand and reference as the Word of God came about through a long process. How this came about has been the subject of much study over the years. Before we begin to approach the subject, though, we need to remember that God has promised that he would preserve his Word for his saints:
Psalm 12:6-
The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. [7] Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Isaiah 14:24-
The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: [25] That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. [26] This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. [27] For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
When dealing with the issue of Which Bible, one has to understand that God has promised (as I stated above) that he would preserve His words. This begs the question: How? How do we tell which of the multitudes of bibles out there (assuming English translations for now) are the ones (or one) we should use?
The answer is: Manuscript Evidence
Manuscript Evidence -
"OK", you say, "so just exactly what does that mean?"
To answer, let's first take a scriptural principle and apply it here. The principle behind "Manuscript Evidence" is the concept of Witnesses. Let's look at a few scriptures regarding the establishment of truth by the use of witnesses.
Numbers 35:30
Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
Deut. 17:6
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
Deut. 19:15
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
Matthew 18:16
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 10:39
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
2 Cor. 13:1
This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
These are only a few of the many verses in the scriptures that deal with witnesses. Obviously, God considers establishment of truth by witnesses to be extremely important. In other words, truth is established by two or more people (or as we shall see) documents saying the same thing. If two witnesses can't agree on a matter, then nothing is established, right?
Amos 3:3
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
Mark 14:56
For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
Matthew 18:19
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
1 John 5:8
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
From the above, we can gather that God considers witnesses and the agreement of the witnesses to be not only critical, but pivotal in establishing truth. Knowing this, would it not make sense that He would use a similar method to keep it clear which bibles were His and which ones were not?
As it turns out, this is indeed the case.
How the Bible was assembled
This is a fairly lengthy topic which is beyond the scope of this study. In the meantime, however, skip to the next section which deals with the present state of the scriptures.
During the early years of the church, God spoke to certain of his saints directly and they wrote down exactly what he said. Once each work was complete, the disciples began to make exact copies of the scriptures to be distributed to the saints. This process originally began in Antioch.
The Results -
After approximately 2000 years, the situation with the scriptures appears very confused. We literally have Bible Versions coming out of our ears; a plethora of new ones appear on a yearly basis. However, to the serious student of scripture a very clear trend emerges which underscores all else; again, manuscript evidence tells the complete story and points the way to where God's English Bible really is. Here's the picture as it is today.
Miscellaneous Notes
*Lucifer (Isa. 14:12) does not appear in the modern versions. Variants of "Morning Star" are substituted making it easy to confuse this fallen angel with Jesus!
Isaiah 14:12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isaiah 14:12 (NIV)
How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
Isaiah 14:12 (GW)
How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the ground, you conqueror of nations!
*Why are bibles based on X and B so corrupt? They were produced using Dynamic Equivalence (Which means the author paraphrases [changes] the wording to suit his preference) whereas the AV and all 5000 of the other manuscripts were translated using Formal Equivalence (Where the best word-
*Interesting point: All the modern versions are Copyrighted. The AV is the ONLY English bible that can be duplicated without paying a royalty to someone. What is the purpose of this ... to glorify God? Placing a copyright on anything is claiming ownership of the work. Notice that no one can claim ownership of the AV because it is God’s Word.
Sources
Final Authority by Dr. William P. Grady
New Age Bible Versions by Gail Riplinger
We’re just getting warmed up. Click here for part 3!