THE “BIBLE” = A “BOOK”
The
following is a quote from a Christian, who, I believe, is born again and has a
genuine concern about translating the words of God into languages other than
English, and providing those words to people around the world, but is unwilling
to recognize the King James Bible as God’s FINAL AUTHORITY here on earth, and
is confused about WHAT the
word “BIBLE” means.
Quote:
"God did not promise that He would give the Bible in one language and then everyone must come to that language. He promised to preserve it, but He also promised to give it to the whole world."
It's
important that we take note of Scriptural "distinctions" and keep our
facts straight: God never: "promised to preserve it”, i.e.
the BIBLE - God promised to preserve
His words.
Psalms 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.
While The Holy
Bible {A BOOK
that you can hold in your hands}, contains ALL of God's words/word - God never
promised that everyone would have a "Bible" in their own
language, or that He would preserve ALL of His "words" in ALL languages. And God never: "promised
to give it” (the Bible)
to the whole world." The Lord promised that "this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world".
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto
all nations; and then shall the end come.
There is a whole lot of
difference between "this gospel of the kingdom" and the whole Bible
{A BOOK that you
can hold in your hands}.
The “problem”
between those of us who are genuine King James Bible believers and those
Christians that are not, or who may not understand where we are coming from,
often is a matter of semantics or the “definition” of words. I will
illustrate:
The first thing that
Christians should know is what GOD’S ATTITUDE is towards His word:
Psalms 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple,
and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for
thou hast magnified thy word above
all thy name.
The next thing that
Christians should know is:
GOD’S WORD or WORDS
= Oral and/or Written “words”
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.
FIRST OCCURRENCE IN SCRIPTURE OF GOD’S “WORDS”
or “WORD”:
Job 6:10Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I
would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed
the words of the Holy One.
Job
Job
42:7
And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto
Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against
thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that
is right, as my servant Job hath.
Genesis 15:1 After these
things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Exodus
29 And Moses and
Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of
30 And Aaron
spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto
Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.
GOD’S PROMISES CONCERNING HIS WORDS
GOD
PROMISED TO PURIFY HIS WORDS
Psalms
12:6
The words of the LORD
are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified
seven times.
GOD PROMISED TO KEEP
HIS WORDS
Psalms
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.
GOD PROMISED TO PRESERVE
HIS WORDS - FOREVER
Psalms
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.
THE LORD PROMISED
HIS TRUTH WILL ENDURE TO ALL GENERATIONS
Psalms
100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth
endureth to all generations.
THE LORD PROMISED
THAT HEAVEN AND
Luke
CONCERNING PROMISES - GOD IS NOT
A MAN THAT HE SHOULD LIE
Psalms 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgment endureth for ever.
Psalms 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right;
and all his works are done in truth.
Psalms 145:17 The LORD is righteous in
all his ways, and holy in
all his works.
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man,
that he should lie; neither the son of
man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
THE ORACLES OF GOD = God’s Word/words
{Oral and or Written}
FIRST OCCURRENCE IN SCRIPTURE OF THE WORD “ORACLE” or “ORACLES”:
2 Samuel
Acts
Romans 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have
need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles
of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
1 Peter
”THE SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH” =
God’s Written “word” or “words”
FIRST OCCURRENCE IN SCRIPTURE OF THE WORD “SCRIPTURE”:
Daniel 10:21But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
Daniel
Matthew
Matthew
John 5:39 Search the scriptures;
for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of
me.
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he
was buried, and that he rose again the
third day according to the scriptures:
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the
holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of
God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Matthew 26:56 But all this was done, that the
scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the
disciples forsook him, and fled.
Mark
The fact is, upon a
thorough examination of the Scriptures, the word “BIBLE” is NOT
in the HOLY BIBLE.
This is NOT “semantics”. IF we are going to use “words” to
describe what we are talking about, then those “words” should be “precise”
and they should be “accurate” in order to convey exactly what we mean.
The following is the Bible believers’ definition of “THE HOLY BIBLE”.
THE HOLY BIBLE = ALL of God’s Inspired Word (Words), Oracles, and Scriptures – Preserved
Perfect, Holy, Infallible, Inspired, and without error in A BOOK
{you can hold in your hands}, previously known as “The Authorized Version” and
now known as “The King James Bible”.
God promised to “preserve”
and “keep” His words PURE [Psalms 12:6 & 7] and He has. God never promised that every single nation,
state, tribe, or people would have a preserved HOLY BIBLE.
The Holy BIBLE is A BOOK {that a person
can hold in their hands). When someone says they are a “Bible believer” and
then they start referring to the “ORIGINAL
AUTOGRAPHS” (“verbal plenary inspiration”), they are NOT referring to The
Holy BIBLE {A BOOK
that you can hold in your hands}, they are referring to some of the
word/words of God (a portion of the “Scripture of truth” or segment
of “the Oracles of God”), BUT they are not talking about The Holy BIBLE
{A BOOK that you can hold
in your hands – that contains ALL of the preserved words of God}!
The Holy BIBLE is A BOOK {that you can hold in your hands}; IT is
NOT the “Textus Receptus” (any text), the “Majority Text”, or the numerous
corrupt texts taken from Vaticanus or Sinaiticus (take your pick). The
Holy Bible is A BOOK {that
you can hold in your hands} – IT is NOT 5,500 Greek manuscripts
that contain God’s words with some errors (some mss more than others); or
11,000 Latin manuscripts that contain God’s words with lots of errors (some mss
more than others); or the Early Translations (Syriac,
Armenian, Georgian, Aramaic, Gothic, Coptic, Bohairic,
etc., etc.)
The Holy BIBLE is derived from some of the Greek
manuscripts of Scripture; some of the Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture; some of
the various Early Translations of Scripture; from some of the Greek
Lectionaries; and some of the Patristic (church “fathers’) quotations of
Scripture – but NONE of the sources from which The Holy Bible {A BOOK that you can hold in
your hands} was translated was the COMPLETE HOLY BIBLE {Preserved -
Perfect, Holy, Infallible, Inspired, and without any error.}
A person can have some
of the word (words) of God - without having The Holy Bible.
A person can have some of the Oracles of God – without having The
Holy Bible. A person can have some Scriptures -
without having The Holy Bible. They can have some
of The Holy Bible - without having the complete Holy Bible.
A person can have one of the numerous modern English translations (per-versions) - without having the complete
Holy Bible (Preserved - Perfect, Infallible, Inspired, and without
error). The Holy BIBLE is A BOOK that a person can hold in their hands; that contains
ALL of the word (words, Oracles, Scriptures) of God - Preserved Perfect,
Holy, Infallible, Inspired, and without error.
Historically, ONLY ONE
BOOK has ever met these criteria (for nearly 400 years), NO OTHER “book”
or “bible” ever has! Historically, ONLY ONE BOOK
has ever met this STANDARD – NO OTHER “book” or “bible” has even come
close! So the next time someone says they are A “BIBLE” believer – ask them for
their “DEFINITION” of the “BIBLE”, and see what they say. And if
they come up with “something” other than A BOOK
you can hold in your hands, you’ll know that they are not talking about the
SAME THING that you are referring to. And if they come up with a
modern translation (per-version),
that they themselves will admit is NOT preserved - Perfect, Holy,
Infallible, Inspired, and without error, you’ll know that they aren’t genuine BIBLE believers!
I’ve said all of this
to simply say: Translate THE HOLY BIBLE {A BOOK that you can hold in your hands} into as many languages as you possibly can. Get the Gospel to
as many countries and people, and in their language, as God will lead and
allow. However, if you are going to translate THE HOLY BIBLE {A BOOK that you can hold in
your hands} into another language, then USE THE HOLY BIBLE {A BOOK that you can hold in
your hands} for your “exemplar” (Foundation) and NOT some
inferior manuscripts that are NOT Preserved - Perfect, Holy,
Infallible, Inspired, and without error.
The BIBLE that is now known as the King James Bible was simply known only
as THE HOLY BIBLE for over 300
years; its critics started calling it
the “Authorized VERSION” in the 1700’s & 1800’s, but ordinary, every day
Christians (the kind of men & women that the Lord ate with, drank with, and
prayed with) called it THE HOLY BIBLE.
They believed what genuine Bible believers still believe today. Contrary to
what the critics “think” – belief and
trust in the King James Bible is NOT
a NEW doctrine or belief, it’s
a belief that was nearly abandoned by
nearly all Christians after they became enamored
of “Education”, “Schooling”,
and College degrees (after the scholars & the scribes convinced many
Christians that THE HOLY BIBLE was “JUST
ANOTHER TRANSLATION”!)
If you are going to
translate THE HOLY BIBLE into
another language, do what the early Protestant Missionaries did when they went
to China, India, Burma, the South Seas, Hawaii, etc.; and USE THE
HOLY BIBLE {A BOOK
that you can hold in your hands} to translate from, and if you don’t (or
won’t), don’t expect us to accept your “bible” as being anything other than a “poor
substitute” for the “real thing”, or a truly “corrupt”
translation from the perverted
modern texts of the “original tongues”!
Perhaps now you will understand why, those of us who are genuine BIBLE
{A BOOK that you can hold
in your hands} believers say: We believe the King James Bible is the HOLY
word of God {Preserved - Perfect, Holy, Infallible, Inspired, and without any error}
and that it is our FINAL AUTHORITY in all matters of faith and practice. And
should anyone think or believe that they have an equivalent or superior
"bible", I say "bring it on" and let us examine it
in the light of His glorious word.
Psalms 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and
all his works are done in truth.