The Scriptures 2 Timothy 3
When the great author Sir Walter Scott was on his death bed he
asked his servant to read to him. Going to the shelves and scanning
over the books that Sir Walter Scott had written he said "
What book shall I read?" Sir Walter Scott said " Why
do you ask that question? There is but one book. Bring the Bible"
There is only one book for any man who is dying, but it is also
the book for any man who is living.. A great many folk do not
get interested in the Bible until they get to the end of their
lives or until they get into a great deal of difficulty. While
it is wonderful to have a book in which you can find comfort in
a time like that, it is also a Book for you to live- in the full
vigour of your life. It is a book to face life with today and
it is a book that furnishes the only sure route through this world
and on into the next. The Bible is different from every other
book.
There was an African Prince who came to England and was presented
to Queen Victoria. It was the height of the British Empire at
the time and this Prince asked a very significant question. What
is the secret of England's greatness?" The Queen got a beautifully
bound copy of the Bible and presented it to the Prince with this
statement" This is the secret of England's greatness. I wonder
if England's decline to a second rate nation may not be found
in the fact that she has got away from that Word.
William Ewart Gladstone was one of Britain's great Prime ministers
and probably one of the great legal minds that Britain ever produced.
He is remembered in this part of the world for bringing in Home
Rule. Nevertheless he said " Talk about the questions of
the day! There is but one question and that is the gospel. That
can and will correct everything. I am glad to say that about all
the men at the top in Great Britain are Christians" That
was away back in the 1880's. What a difference there would be
if that were true today.
Michael Faraday, perhaps the greatest Scientist of his day and
well known for his experiments on Electromagnetism and other things
said "But why will people go astray when they have this blessed
book of God to guide them?" Sir Isaac Newton who discovered
the laws of gravity in the previous century to Faraday said that
" If the Bible is true the time is coming when men shall
travel at fifty miles an hour" There are plenty of people
who have fulfilled that one. But Isaac Newton was a Christian
and a Bible believer. We could go on and on to tell you of Presidents
and paupers, of high and low who have found the value of the Scriptures
of truth.
It was the Protestant Reformation that put the Scriptures at the
centre of religious life afresh. And every movement that has gone
wrong in the history of the Church has gone wrong because a wrong
view of the Scriptures or some part of the Scriptures. What we
believe about God's Word then is absolutely crucial and central
to all that we believe. We want therefore to take a few minutes
this evening to examine the things that we believe concerning
the Scriptures and especially why we use the Authorised version
I The Authority of the Scriptures
The Bible is God's Word. That alone gives it the authority that
it needs. It is the Revelation of the living God to men. In 2
Timothy 3 verse 16 we read that All scripture [is] given by
inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: The word
inspiration in that text is a very interesting Word because it
is a word that literally means God breathed. The Scriptures is
a God breathed book. One great Scholar of the last century said
that:-
The Bible is none other than the voice of him that sitteth on
the throne.
Every book of it, every verse of it, every syllable of it,
every letter of it is the direct utterance of the Most High"
This is an amazing book and inspired book It is God breathed!
It is what God wanted to be written. It is the Word of God But
there are those who would pull us up right there. They would say
" Now come on. That is a big claim. Surely you would have
to admit that the Bible was written by men. Men like Peter, and
Luke and John and Matthew and Jeremiah. How then can you claim
that every letter is God's Word?" It is very simple. Of course
the Scriptures were written by men like Peter and Matthew and
James and John but God so ordered the lives and the experiences
and the circumstances of these men that they would write exactly
what God wanted them to write. Certainly when the Scholars examine
the writings they can detect a style that was Peters and a style
that was John's and in that sense they were their own writings
but God had fitted those men not only to write their words but
His words. That is how inspiration worked. It wasn't that they
had an angel sitting beside them whispering into their ear in
that sense but just simply God had chosen them fitted them, ordered
their lives given then a level of intellect that in these circumstances
would write His Word. But how do we know it is God's Word. We
have already seen the testimony of itself that it is the Word
of God. But let me give you a few of the reasons why we believe
it is the Word of God. We can only do so briefly and there may
be other things that we could say but can't in the brief time
we have in a message like this. Let me just give you a few pointers.
One of the Great pointers to the fact that it is the Word of God
is it's Unity. There is one theme that runs through the whole
of the Scriptures and that is Christ and His substitutionary death
on Calvary. The power of Christ, the grace of Christ and the love
of Christ is the whole theme of this Book Not only that but in
spite of the best efforts of men to prove otherwise there is not
one part that disagrees with another part. Now, that is amazing.
When you think of how different the human writers of the Bible
were in character and in circumstances and in every other way
it is amazing that there was any unity at all. The Bible is made
up of sixty six books written by some forty authors over a period
of 1,500 years. The first writer Moses died 1450 years before
the last writer John was born. Yet none of these writers ever
denounced criticised or condemned any of the inspired teachings
in the books of the others. . If you were to take the writings
of 40 people over 1500 years and written in different languages
in ordinary circumstances you would get a right hodge- podge of
ideas. Yet in the Bible the first book agrees with the last book
and every book in between. It all fits together in one purpose.
Surely that is an indication of the inspiration of this book.
Then think of the INDESTRUCTIBILITY of the Bible. The Bible has
been described as the greatest fact of all time. It stands today
even though it has been universally attacked down through time.
The very first thing we find the devil doing in the garden of
Eden is questioning the Word of God. The very first words he uttered
to Eve were Yea hath God said The famous French scientist
Voltaire thought, in the last century that he could disprove the
Bible. He set out with the express intention of proving that the
Scriptures were full of contradictions and errors. He boasted
that in one hundred years Christianity would be nothing but a
museum piece. As a result infidelity ran riot in France. People
through off every vestige of morality for they thought that the
scientist would prove the Bible to be false. Instead of that Voltaire
died screaming that he was abandoned by God and men. And not only
that but Voltaire's printing press became a place where the Scriptures
he thought he had destroyed were later printed and his house became
the depot for the Geneva Bible Society. . We see it's indestructibility.
In Matthew 24:35 it says Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away. That is a very important
statement in God's Word. It is so important that it appears three
times in the exact same form in the Scriptures. Here in Matthew
24 and then in Mark 13:31 and again in Luke 21:33 Gods words will
not pass away. It stands for ever even when the earth has gone
the Word of God will last
Then we think of its VERACITY Surely here is a great test to prove
whether it is God's Word or not. Has it ever been proved false.
No it hasn't. It is true! We think of the prophecies of the book.
Hundreds of years and sometimes thousands of years before an event
the Bible predicted what would happen. There is no other sacred
book of any other religion that ventured to make such predictions.
But the predictions of the Bible have come true and are coming
true even today. God is one who declares the end from the beginning.
This Bible tells us these things. Let us take the example of the
Jews. Throughout the Word of God we have predictions about how
the Jews would be dispersed throughout the nations of the earth
but then would gather to their own land in the last times. Deuteronomy
30 verse 3 says That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity,
and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee
from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered
thee. Up until 1949 the Jewish people were scattered throughout
the nations. Logically they should not have survived as a nation.
If we had have thought of a people living hundreds of years in
another land they ought to have become part of the culture and
fabric of that land. The fact they did not is testimony to the
power of God. But in 1949 God established the nation of Israel
again. In the last century people laughed when preachers preached
that such a thing would be so. But the Bible is true and it has
been proved true down through the centuries.
But there is one more thing that I will have to mention before
I move on and that is the VITALITY of the Bible. Perhaps the thing
that stands out more than anything else about the Scriptures is
the life changing, devil defeating, soul saving character of it's
message Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of
God The Lord Jesus said Search the scriptures; for in them
ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify
of me. The Bible is the only book that tells me how to be
born again and how to get to heaven. The Bible is a book that
tells me about Christ and about His substitutionary death on the
cross of Calvary. It is a life changing book . How many lives
this book has changed down through the years. It is God's book.
It is a Book that tells me I am a sinner but it is a Book that
tells me that there is a way back to God from the dark paths of
sin. How important it is that we take heed to God's word .
Every word written in the original language is God's Word.. We
need to take heed to it and listen to it and what it says to us..
II The Attack upon the Scriptures
But then not only should we think of the authority of the Scriptures
but let us take a few minutes to think of the attack on the Scriptures.
We have already mentioned how that down through the ages it has
been the purpose of the devil to attack and question and undermine
the Word of God. That attack has manifested itself in many different
ways but what I want to think about in particular tonight is the
attack that has been made through the publication of modern versions
of the Scripture. Today there is a multiplicity of versions of
the Scriptures in the English language. There is the Revised Version,
The American Standard Version, Good News for Modern Man, the Living
Bible, the Common Bible, The New English Bible, The New International
version, The New King James version, The 21 st century King James
version and many many more. So much so that people are confused
today as to which is the right version and where the Word of God
really is found ( And I believe it is part of the plan of the
devil to create confusion about these things).
But it is vitally important that we do know what God's Word is.
If the Scriptures are God's Word and show us the way of eternal
life then it is vital that we have the pure word of God in our
hands so that we do not go astray. There are three verses in the
Scripture that emphasise to us the danger of adding to or taking
from the precious Word of God Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 2 says
this Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the commandments
of the LORD your God which I command you. You are not to add
to the book and you are not to subtract from the writings of the
book. Then turn over to the writings of the wise man Solomon in
Proverbs 30 verses 5 and 6 Every word of God [is] pure: he
[is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou
not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a
liar. So we have a word from the first writer - Moses then
we have a word from what we might call the centre of the book
-from the wise man Solomon. Both tell us not to add or take away
from the book. Then one of the last things that God does before
he closes the cannon of the book is to give us a warning about
this same thing . It is found in Revelation 22 verses 18 and 19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things,
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life,
and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written
in this book. How important then that we do not in any way
mutilate the word of God, that we do not add to it and that we
do not take away from it. And God is interested in this Word.
God has preserved his word because God has said it shall not pass
away. But it has been the business of the devil down through the
ages to tamper with the Word of God. It would be a disaster for
the Christian to loose that word. It is the Christians great weapon
against the devil. When the Saviour was being tempted of the devil
in the wilderness he defeated the devil again and again with the
words "it is written" and he quoted the Word
of God. It is our weapon against the devil. Now it can hardly
be surprising if the devil will try in every way He can to destroy
the Word of God. The Word of God is our authority. It is our anchor
that keeps us from being blown about by every wind of doctrine.
The devil came to the woman in the garden of Eden and one of the
first things he said to her was Yea hath God said That
was an attack upon the Word of God and the devil is at the same
old business even yet. So we need to guard our Bibles and examine
every attempt to change them or alter them. That is what the devil
has always attempted to do and from earliest ages there has been
an attack on the Word of God.
III The Alteration of the Scriptures
Now the problem that we have today is that there are basically
two Bibles that are crying out to us today and saying " Use
me" " I have the truth of God" There is the Old
Version- the Authorised or King James Version of 1611 and on the
other side we have the modern versions which really started with
the Revised Version-which was completed in 1885. Since that we
have all sorts of versions. but they are basically all translated
from a similar Greek text. You can remember it by the fact that
if you are using a modern version , and I mean one that has not
got the title King James or Authorised Version at the moment,
you will be using a shortened Bible. You remember that the modern
Versions are shortened versions. They are shortened Bibles. You
say what do you mean? Well let me take the example of the New
International version which is currently the most popular modern
version. If you have your authorised version And turn to Matthew
17: 21. It says Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting. If you had the opportunity to look in a New International
Version you would find that this verse is completely missing.
It has been completely taken out and added only as a footnote
at the bottom of the page. Turn to Matthew 18: 11. In your Authorised
Version it will read For the Son of man is come to save that
which was lost. It is a wonderful verse and yet if you look
in the New International Version that text is missing. Turn to
Matthew 23: 14 Your Bible will read Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a
pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater
damnation. Now once again that whole verse is gone- just discarded
and relegated to a footnote. Now I could go on. I have a little
leaflet here that lists no less than 16 whole verses that the
New International Version leaves out. Now we can go further than
that because in the New International version just before you
come to Mark chapter 16 : 9-20 there is a two inch black line
through the centre of the page. In magazines and periodicals a
line like that usually indicates the end of the article or passage.
Then just below the black line in the NIV we read the following
( Most reliable early MSS omit Mark 16-20) . So the New International
Bible translators are strongly suggesting that this is not part
of the Word of God at all. If you ever get a chance to read Dean
John Burgon on the Last twelve chapters of Mark read it because
his arguments for the authenticity of those verses has never been
answered. Also David Otis Fuller quotes many of his arguments
in his book" Counterfeit or genuine" So not only is
there a leaving out of many verses but there is a strong question
mark put against a whole passage. Now let me go further because
in these new versions there is a clear tendency to undermine the
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as other doctrines. For
example in the Authorised Version 1 Timothy 3:16 reads And
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh, But where our Bibles say that God was
manifest in the flesh the New International version " He
appeared in a body" You can see the vital difference there.
Take another example. John 9: 35- 36 reads Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that
I might believe on him? The New International version changes
it to " Do you believe in the Son of Man? Who is he sir?"
The man asked. Tell me so that I may believe in him. " The
Word God is changed to Man and the word Lord is changed to "Sir".
The tendency in Modern versions is to undermine the deity of Christ
and that is hardly surprising if they are part of the devil's
attempt to undermine the Scriptures. I could go on to show you
other doctrines that are undermined and other parts of verses
that are left out but I think I have showed you enough to let
you know that modern versions are not just Bibles with updated
language but they are different in that they are shorter and changed.
Things have been taken away and footnotes have been added. You
remember the warning that was given as to adding to or taking
from God's word. So we are dealing with an altered Bible when
we talk about new versions
IV The Accuracy of the Translations of the Scriptures
But now let us come to the accuracy of the translations
of the Scriptures. One of the things you will notice in Modern
versions is that they are always referring to the oldest manuscripts
or the best manuscripts. You say but what if the modern versions
are right. There is a lot of scholarship that has gone into them
and a lot of eminent people seem to back them and use them. What
if they are right? Let us deal with the question as to whether
these new versions are accurate versions
We have seen that there is a difference between the Authorised
version and the majority of the modern versions we have today.
We would go as far as to label the modern versions the devil's
counterfeit of the Scriptures. You say 'That is strong."
Well, let me tell you why it is so. Let me go right to the heart
of the matter by dealing with the differences in the texts. The
basic thing is this that all the modern versions are translated
from a text based on a few obviously corrupt manuscripts whereas
the Authorised version is translated from a text which is backed
by well above 90% of the existing manuscripts. You see in order
to translate the Bible from the original language you have got
to get the original. The fact is that the manuscripts written
by Matthew or Luke or James or John do not exist anymore. So what
we have to do is look at the copies that were made from those
originals. There are manuscripts that contain books or parts of
books or whole New Testaments. Then you can take the evidence
of men who would have had the originals and they quoted them in
their writings. There is lots of evidence we can go by. Some years
ago the number of manuscripts that exist were counted as 5,255.
Well over 90% of the old manuscripts back the Authorised version
and are basically similar to one another. The trouble is that
when they were making the revised version in the 19th century
there were two older manuscripts in particular that had been discovered
and the revisers thought that since they were older they would
be more like the original. The problem was that when you looked
at these manuscripts they had lots of corrections in them. There
was evidence that they had been changed many times and corrected
many times and they left out verses and whole sections that most
of the other manuscripts had in. Added to that they did not agree
with one another. They had all the characteristics of faulty copies.
In spite of that the modernistic translators of the Revised Version
decided We will put these older ones together and make a new Greek
text to translate the Bible from. The trouble is what do you do
when they disagree? Well they had fancy names for the methods
they used but we would call it guesswork . By what ever means
they thought fit that they tried to get these contradictory faulty
manuscripts together and make one Greek text out of which they
could translate the Revised Version. The two men who were largely
responsible for producing this text were two Cambridge professors
by the names of Westcott and Hort. Now it is the text they produced
from trying to make sense out of these two old corrected and changed
manuscripts that forms the basis of the modern versions. The text
they use in modern versions today is called Nestle and Aland 26th
edition Greek New Testament and the United Bible Society's 3rd
edition Greek New Testament but they are basically Westcott and
Hort. They produced their Greek text by a kind of educated guesswork.
But what kind of men were doing the guessing. Let me tell you
what kind of men they were. Hort made this statement. He said
Evangelicals seem to me perverted rather than untrue
He didn't think much of saved people this man Hort. He thought
that people who preach the gospel and say you need to born again
are perverted people. He thought they were perverted, twisted
, evil people. Then he said this in 1860
The book that has most encouraged me is Darwin
He was encouraged by the theories of a man who felt we evolved
from some slime somewhere rather than being created by the mighty
hand of God. Then also in 1865 Hort writing to Westcott said
" I have been persuaded for many years that Mary worship
and " Jesus" worship have very much in common in their
causes and their results"
So Hort was a mariolater . He put Mary on the same spiritual
level as the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then Westcott who later became a bishop in the Church of England.
He said in 1890
No-one now, I suppose holds that the first three chapters of
Genesis for example, give a literal history. I could never understand
how anyone reading with open eyes could think they did".
Isn't that something from someone trying to determine what
really is God's Word. He feels that a lot of it is just a myth
and a fairy story. Yet it is the Greek text of these men that
forms the basis of the modern versions. Is it any wonder then
that when you compare the New International Version with the KJV
that you discover that @ 200 verses of the New testament are missing
in full or missing in part. Is it any wonder that whole sections
like the last twelve verse of Mark 16 are seriously questioned.
Is it any wonder that key verses that establish the Deity of Christ
are changed so that they no longer do so. Yet those who use the
modern versions have a shortened Bible. A changed Bible. It is
not a matter of just bringing the Bible up to date. It is a matter
that the modern versions have added to and taken from God's Holy
Word. Who is interested in corrupting the Word of God. The devil
is interested in corrupting the Word of God. These New Versions
are a serious attack upon God's precious Word. That is why we
don't use them. Not because we want to be old fashioned or different
but because the KJV has been blessed down through the years as
God's Word
CH Spurgeon said "The craving to alter the Word of God is
accursed. This is the crime of the present day. the Lord preserve
us from it" And if you are using one of the new versions
you are using a shortened Bible. You are using a changed Bible
and a corrupt Bible.
Of course a lot of people will say " Well the old version
has a lot of old words in it. You have 'thou' and 'thee' and the
'..est' and the '..eth' endings and then you have words that are
not in common use today. Then they look at the New Versions and
they say isn't it better to have these spellings and archaic words
brought up to date? Surely they would say ' It is better to have
the Bible in modern English than in the Old Shakespearean type
English. The interesting thing is this that when the versions
are measured scientifically for readability and understandibility
the Authorised Version of the Bible came near the top of the list
beating 23 of the 26 modern versions surveyed. The advertising
campaign for the New International version emphasised it's "clarity
and ease of reading" and called the KJV obscure and sometimes
confusing. When the two were measured scientifically however it
was found that the Authorised version was much more readable.
A child would need the dictionary less with the KJV than with
the New International Version. So this thing about readability
and understandability is just a big smoke screen. The natural
man cannot receive the things of God in any case because they
are spiritually discerned. Down through the years the most ordinary
people have been understand the Authorised version when they read
it reverently. There have been people who have not been too academically
bright in other things but they could quote you the Scriptures.
Too often what is wrong when people say they can't understand
it is a heart rejection of the message of the Scriptures. It's
not the version, it is the Scriptures themselves. It is not the
Bible that is wrong it is your own heart
III The Attitude to the Scriptures
But let me close by briefly challenging you about your attitude
to the Scriptures. Do you love the Scriptures? Do you read the
Scriptures and seek to memorise the Scriptures. You know the Psalmist
David said Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not
sin against thee The Word of God has a sanctifying influence
upon the child of God. In His Great High priestly prayer in John
17 Christ said Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth. If we want to live lives that are glorifying to God
and lives of peace and blessing then we need to be obedient to
the precious Word of God. You need not only to read it but to
heed it. Do you read the Word of God every day child of God. Shame
on you if you don't. But do you read it saying ' What has this
to say to me" It's not some dry theory that you are reading
. It is the precious Word of God. It has got to make a difference
in your life. and this Word will direct you to Christ. If you
are saved it will direct you to His feet that like Mary you might
sit at his feet and learn of Him. If you are not saved it will
direct you to the only Saviour. the only one who can forgive your
sins. Let us value the Word of God.
A sailing vessel was wrecked off the South Sea Islands. A member
of the crew along with some others was able to reach the shore.
He looked around and was horrified that he was on an Island notorious
for its Cannibals. He climbed up the hill to take a look He was
delighted to see the steeple of a meeting house. The former cannibal
village had been transformed. What other thing than the preaching
of the Word of God could have brought about such a change. Let
us value the Word of God and preach the Word of God today because
that is the only thing that will make a difference in our land.