Many of you are aware of the most recent controversy over whether or not we have the living Word and words of God. For whatever it is worth here is a summary of what I personally believe. (I realize this statement may cost me meetings in the future - oops, it already has since this writing!) I welcome your response. 1. The word(s) "scripture(s)" is used scores of times in the Bible, and never refers to the autographs or "originals" one time - including 2 Tim. 3:16. 2. In 2 Timothy 3:15 Paul speaks of Timothy having had in his home the "holy scriptures" (O.T.) since he was a child. a. Timothy did NOT have the autographs or the original manuscripts (MSS). b. He had either a COPY or a TRANSLATION (since he probably spoke Greek). 3. In the very next verse "all scripture" is delcared to have been inspired. a. Either there are two different "scriptures" or the "writings" (graphe) Timothy had were inspired. b. I assume Paul wasn't referring to two different "scriptures" and if that is so he wasn't speaking of the "originals," yet what he had was both "holy" and "inspired." 4. The scriptures Paul referred to were "holy" - even if they were not the originals. 5. If God breathed on the scriptures Paul was referring to, that would mean that God not only "inspired" the autographs, but in some fashion continued to "breathe" on whatever Bible Timothy had. God is alive and is still breathing! 6. "Theopneustos" [inspired] (God's breath, spirit or life) can either be viewed in a very limited technical sense (which the Bible itself never does if the above is true) which confines it to the autographs (which would mean that Timothy had the original MSS), or it can mean that God hasn't stopped breathing on His Word and words, so that in preservation, His breath in some fashion is upon accurate copies and/or translations.** 7. The term "inspired" then can either be used only of the autographs (if you believe that God only breathed on the original Greek and Hebrew letters and words) or that in preservation, He continues to superintend over copies and translations. (I refuse to believe that God only meant to give us His living words in Hebrew and Greek or that God has stopped breathing). * 8. This has nothing to do with so-called "double inspiration" which some refer to regarding the King James translators. Neither the original writers nor the King James translators were inspired. Only the words [graphe]) were inspired! 9. If in a Bible college venue or formal theology class you want to restrict the word "inspired" to the autographs (although Timothy certainly didn't have them!), go ahead, but since God declares in Heb.4:12 that the word of God is "quick" (alive) I assume it still has God's breath or Spirit or life upon it, since only life can produce life. 10. The word is also spoken of as "incorruptible seed," and I do not believe that only refers to the "originals;" "seed" produces life. We don't have a "dry bones" Bible, we have a truly living Bible. Our Bible is NOT dead, the flower has not faded, and the sword is a sharp as when it was first whet. 11. When I hold up a King James Bible and declare that it is the preserved, infallible Word and words of God, I am inferring that it has God's breath upon it; otherwise it is dead like any other book. 12. All of this begs the question as to the authority, credibility, inerrancy and accuracy of the King James Bible. Do we have an infallible. inerrant Bible that we can honestly refer to as "the words and Word of God" (verbal and plenary). a. Ask those who believe that only the originals were inspired to hand you a copy of the Bible they claim to have and they can't do so, since they do not have the autographs. b. Ask me or any other Bible believer for a copy and they will hand you a King James Bible. 13. Of course we do not have all the answers as to the method of inspiration or preservation, but we are a people of faith and should not care what our critics or "intellectuals" say about us being obscurantists. The boldness of faith of Peter and John brought the accusation that they were ignorant and unlearned men from the same crowd. Acts 4:13 14. **Finally it should be noted that only the Traditional Texts (the Masoritic in the O.T. & the Textus Receptus in the N.T.) can produce a living Bible. The Westcott & Hort texts are corrupt and you cannot get good fruit from a corrupt tree or pure water from a polluted fountain. (James 3:11) Only the King James Bible in English is translated from those texts. (The King James translators used a word-for-word method of translation instead of the "dynamic equivalence" or paraphrase methods used by the other "versions." The concept of dynamic equivalence means that the translators tell you what they believe God meant to say instead of exactly what He did say. It is more a thought-for-thought concept than a word-for-word methodology.) Sincerely in the Savior, Pastor (emeritus) Paul C. Fedena P.S. I like Dr. Ian Paisley's statement (a Presbyterian, no less): "I believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of the living God and because the Authorized Version is a faithful translation of the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and the original Greek of the New Testament, it is the very Word of God in my mother tongue. Being a translation does not alter one iota of its integrity, inerrancy and infallibility as God's Word. I believe the Authorized Version preserves the Word of God for me in the English tongue and that it contains NO ERRORS." (emphasis mine) [quoted from the book "Why Cumbereth It The Ground" by Kenneth T. Brooks] P.P.S. I like what our Savior said even better and He was a Bible believer who never one time quoted from the "original MSS" or corrected the copies He had: Matthew 4:4 "But He answered and said, It is written, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD." (emphasis mine) Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my WORDS shall not pass away." (emphasis mine) |