Building Christians Up From The Foundation & Unto Perfection
Hebrews 6:1-3
Hebrews 6:1-3
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Before you read: This article is part of a larger series that builds upon itself from the foundation up, with each study building on the last. If something in this article does not make sense to you or if you believe it to be incorrect, please ensure you have read the entire series before passing final judgment. Also, be sure to visit this page’s FAQ And Objections: Can the Bible Be Trusted
From our studies so far, we know that the Bible claims to be the word of God. We also know that it was not possible for men to write it on their own. Therefore, we must believe that the Bible, at least at one point, was the word of God.
But can the Bible be trusted? Even if it can, how can we trust those who have copied and translated the scriptures that God first gave to men? Can we know if the Bible was changed in any way? Why should we believe the Bible?
As for whether God Himself can be trusted, let me ask you… how do you know you can trust someone?
1.) They have been proven to be trustworthy in the past.
2.) They have a good reputation from others as being trustworthy.
3.) They have the ability to keep your trust. (You see that they can do something, so you trust them to do it.)
We already discussed some of the prophecies fulfilled in our last unit. So we can see that God could be trusted in the past.
There are many witnesses who claim that God is trustworthy, some even testifying to that fact at the cost of their lives. Others, more hostile in the secular world, also verify that the things in the Bible are true, as we mentioned in the last unit.
And as for God’s ability… well, His power and ability should be clear:
Romans 1:20
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
So, it shouldn’t be hard to trust the one who sends the messenger. But what about the messenger himself? What about the men who copied and translated the Bible?
A messenger can add to a message and change it, or he can take away from the message. If I send you a message saying, “The cat is white,” the messenger can take away the word “white” and add the word “black,” changing the meaning of the message to “the cat is black.”
This means the messenger has a great deal of power to deceive those he gives the message to. Since God uses men to bring His message to others (such as through the Bible), we must be sure that the messenger is worthy of trust.
In order to establish trust in the messenger, we should first consider who the sender is.
Genesis 18:18-19
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Acts 10:40-42
40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; 41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
It is God who has sent His witnesses to carry His message into the world. This God knows His messengers. He knows if they will be faithful to carry His word in truth. So, if we are to question the faithfulness of those who wrote the scriptures under His guidance, we should remember that God Himself has chosen them.
Isaiah 55:11
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Matthew 5:18
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
In these two verses, we are told something we should already know even without the Bible saying it. We are told that God’s word, His message sent by way of scripture, will not perish. It will prosper, and it will accomplish that for which it was given.
So, we know a few things about the one who sent the messenger. He knows whom to send. He knows how to preserve His message. His message will not fail. These are the first things we should consider when we question the faithfulness of those who wrote the scriptures.
There are many liars in this world, but there are also people who tell the truth. With all the lies sown by the enemy, there is still the thread of truth that runs, without fail, through time. Though, it may be harder to find with the clutter of lies that try to surround it.
Satan, knowing he cannot destroy the word of God nor stop it from spreading, only has one other option. He tries to hide it from people by throwing out as many lies as he can. False prophets, false witnesses, false religions, false spirits, false this and that. Because if he can’t stop it, he can at least try to keep people from finding it.
What does the Bible say to prove itself as the real needle in the pile of hay?
Proof of Prophecy
Deuteronomy 18:21-22
21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
The Bible says that we can know if the messenger is telling the truth IF the message is proven to be true. Now, this may sound simple, and it really is. If the small things the scriptures say come to pass, then you can trust the bigger things will as well.
And with prophecy in scripture, there are a lot of not-so-small prophecies that have come to pass as well. So, there is a history of accuracy in the prophecies of the Bible, accuracy that would be impossible without foreknowledge of the events.
Proof of Agreement
If there was one person writing the Bible, it wouldn’t be enough. As the Bible says, at the word of two or three witnesses, every matter shall be established. This is a good rule of thumb for any investigation.
Mark 14:56
56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
The Bible is not one book written by one man. It isn’t even several books written by a group of people who could collaborate on it. It is 66 books written over hundreds of years by different people of different backgrounds.
If the testimony of these witnesses does not agree, then the message would not be trustworthy. But if the message is cohesive throughout, then it is trustworthy, especially considering the history, authors, and the amount of time involved. This is why there are so many attacks against the integrity of the Bible.
There are people claiming it contradicts itself. But there has never been a contradiction proven beyond doubt. In fact, even the writer of the Skeptics Annotated Bible admits that they have never found a contradiction that could not be resolved. So we have proof in the multitude of witnesses that all agree with each other.
Even if the originals were true, how can we know that those who translated and made copies could be trusted? This is where it gets tricky. Copies can easily be verified against the originals. So, copies really are not a problem. Even if you have one copy with a typo (easily corrected when found), you still have 100 other copies without the typo.
Considering these scriptures are held in such high regard, it is unreasonable to think errors in copies would simply go unchecked. So it really doesn’t matter how many times it is copied. It would still retain its integrity.
The game of telephone is often used as an example against this. One person tells another something, and it gets passed down the line until the last person has a completely different story. But this is not a written message, and it also isn’t a message seen as the word of God. Instead, this example is a deliberate and deceptive effort to show error. So, this analogy is not evidence of copies being changed.
Translations are a different story, though. Every language is different. There may not be words in one language to express what is said in another. Even letters in one language may not exist in another. So, how can we be sure the translations of the Bible have not been changed?
Remember that it is the message which must be communicated. So, when a word or letter isn’t available, you would use other words to express the meaning. This is how translation works.
The original may use the word “love,” which can be used in many ways. In the new language, that word may not be available. So, you would use the word “charity” in the new language instead to communicate the meaning of the original.
Other than those differences, translations are simply more copies of the same work, which means they also could be verified against the original at the time of writing. They would also be held in such high regard that it would be unreasonable to expect things to go unchecked.
So, like copies, translations also have the same safeguards to maintain the message’s integrity. Considering all these safeguards, along with the fact that the originals were available to the public for verification, it is not reasonable to suspect alterations.
It goes without saying that after thousands of years, we are not likely to find the original paper that the authors put ink to. Instead, we must realize that people at the time of copying and translation DID have the originals. So, we must trust those copies instead. Again, there are plenty of reasons we can trust them.
These copies have been passed down word for word through the generations. To this day, copies of the original still exist, and you can trace the history of the copies all the way back.
So, if a copy says something that isn’t true to the one before it, the messenger has either added to it or taken away from it. Again, this creates a safeguard.
But for some reason, many people choose to test the newer copies against copies found in the dirt, which we are not able to properly trace the history of. It will be important to know about this as we continue our studies. Remember I told you about the haystack?
Let’s play a fun little game to explore why this is a horrible way to test the accuracy of the Bible.
Let’s say that in the year 1900 AD, a book is written which says, “The farmer had a brown dog.” In 1950 AD, a copy of the book is written which instead says, “The farmer had a yellow dog.” It is discredited, and further copies use the 1900 AD, version going forward. Finally, in the year 1990 AD, yet another copy is written using the copies of the 1900 AD, version as its source.
After some time, the original from 1900 AD, is lost. It is now 2024 AD, and I want to write a new copy. I want to be faithful to the original, but I don’t have it. Instead, I find the copy from 1950 AD, which says something different from the other ones that used the original.
Since the oldest copy I have now is the one from 1950 AD, I consider it to be closest to the original, based only on the age of the document. Therefore, I now create a new version based on an unfaithful copy simply because I found an older scrap of paper.
Age doesn’t provide a true test of accuracy. Sure, most of the book may say much the same things, but it is still not the same as the original book. This one key thing changes EVERYTHING!
Now, people still make copies based on the copies from 1990 AD, but they also make copies of mine, which used an unfaithful version simply because it was older. So, you have multiple copies spreading, but they don’t agree on the color of that dog.
The true copy is still out there. But so are other unfaithful ones. This is what creates the haystack. The truth remains, but I have introduced many lies to help hide it.
Most people don’t know this, but not all Bibles are translated from the same original texts. In fact, many are translated from texts that are considered closest to the original based only on their age. But as you can see from the farmer’s dog, that is not the best way to choose what copy to translate from.
Some will say, “But most scholars agree that they are more accurate!”
But what do these scholars base this on? It is based on AGE! Do you see the circle here? People say that these texts are more accurate than others based on the majority opinion of scholars, who base their opinion on age, which we have already shown is a horrible way to test how authentic a text is!
I have had many conversations with people who have very twisted views on doctrines in the Bible. Sometimes it is because of the version they use. A little leaven will leaven the whole lump. In Unit 1:4a, we will examine this in more detail.
You are going to be shocked when you find out why there are different versions.
**** Please note that none of this information is meant to claim that using versions of the Bible other than the KJV is wrong. What I present here is simply information to give you an idea of how to handle situations where different versions may say different things, and you need to know which one is the authority. Since all versions of the Bible contain most of the same information, they therefore must also contain the word of God.
In fact, since the KJV is often difficult for many people to read, I would normally suggest the NLT. Once again, On The Line Ministries DOES use the KJV only, but I do not downplay the word of God in other versions, even if it is mixed with something else. I simply show why the KJV IS the authority when there may be a conflict. ****
Unit 1:4a – What Bible Translation Is Best OR
Return To Christianity 101 Unit 1 – The Bible and Faith in God
July 12, 2015 at 12:18 am | | 2 comments
You haven’t shown why KJV is the authority by any means. The KJV was created 1500 years and more after the original texts, mostly in the languages of the era. Languages evolve greatly in a short time. Few English speakers can read and understand the Canterbury tales written only a few hundred years ago. The copiers/scribes that translated the KJV were not as trained as modern scholars who struggle to interpret ancient text. The KJV is an attempt to interject their relevance into cultures they never were a part of.
This page wasn’t meant to prove why the KJV should be considered the authority. This page is meant to build a foundation that can help understand the history of the Bible and how it is often judged historically. The main point is that the age of a document is not a good indication that it is or is not most closely accurate to the original.
The following units go into more detail on the history of the Bible and why I believe the KJV is the gold standard.
As for your statements I would like to point out a couple of things. You mentioned the KJV was translated 1,500 years after the originals. This is exactly why this page was written. It is to show you that the argument you just presented is flawed.
You also said that the scholars of the day were not as well trained as modern scholars. This is a common error. It is based on the belief that people today are superior to those of the past. In actuality we simply stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. There’s no reason at all to believe currently translators are superior to those in the past. And just to point it out, if age were an indication of accuracy wouldn’t you expect the translators of the past to be more accurate than those today anyway?
On the subject of why the KJV was translated there’s actually a lot of history and a lot of reasons. But by your statement of interjecting relevance into other cultures I think you may be interjecting your point of view into a history you were never a part of.