Featured Can We Trust The Holy Bible Today? Part 1

We do not have any of the Original Autographs of the writers of the Books of the Old and New Testaments. This has caused concern and even doubt to some who have mistakenly assumed, that because of this, the Holy Bible as we have it today, is not fully “trustworthy”, and therefore not the Infallible Word of Almighty God.

While it is true, that we do not have the Original Books, which alone God the Holy Spirit Inspired, it is not true that this causes any problems with the Trustworthiness and Infallibility of the Books of the Holy Bible. Biblical Inspiration is the Foundation for our completely trusting the 66 Books of the Holy Bible as The Word of Almighty God to humankind. This means, that when the writers of the Books of the Bible wrote, at that time, under the supervision and guidance of the Holy Spirit, what they wrote was 100% Infallible and without any errors. It is important that we fully believe in the verbal and plenary Inspiration, of the entire Books of the Bible. Another important point is, that for anyone to have a complete confidence and faith in the Holy Bible, as the Infallible, Inerrant Word of God, they must accept without any doubt or hesitation, that the Canon of The Old and New Testaments, are closed. And that the Old Testament consists of the Books as found in the Jewish Canon, which is the same number of Books as found in the so-called “Protestant Canon”, as opposed to the Roman Catholic “bible”, which also includes “books”, or “portions of books”, that were never Inspired by the Holy Spirit, nor accepted, or used as “Scripture”, by the Jews at the Time of Jesus Christ, or thereafter. For the number of New Testament Books, there is greater agreement of the 27 accepted Books, by almost all denominations in the Christian Church. Without the acceptance of the closed Canon of both Testaments, it is impossible to have full confidence in the reliability of what the Holy Bible, as we have it today, has to say about anything.

The Divine Inspiration of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible, is Unique, as something that God the Holy Spirit did to produce what is The Word of God. This means that NO translation that is made from the Original Autographs, can be, or are “Inspired” by the Holy Spirit. Divine Inspiration ended with the writing of the Original Autographs, and for any to claim that translations like the Greek Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, or even the King James Bible, are in any way also “Inspired” by Almighty God, are very much mistaken in this assumption! As this would place mere “translations” of the Originals, on the same “authority” as the Autographs, which is an impossibility.

The fact that the Holy Bible that we have today, as the Church has had for centuries, are not the Original, but “copies” made from the Original, does not mean that these “copies” are not to be trusted and therefore cannot be “Infallible” in what they say. Another important factor in the reliability of the Books of the Holy Bible, is the “preservation”, of the Books in the Holy Bible, especially concerning the text of these Books. We have today many “versions” of the Bible, for example in the English language. Some, like the King James, New American, Young’s, are what is known as “literal” or “word for word” translations, which try to keep as close to the original Hebrew and Greek, as possibly can be done. Then there are “versions” like the New International, and New Living, which are more “thought for thought” translations, which in many places, are “paraphrases”, of what the Writers actually did say. However, those these “versions” are different in how they read, yet, in the greater majority of places, they are saying the very same thing, but in a different way or style. It is important to believe, (which is what Christianity is, Faith) that God the Holy Spirit has made sure that in the textual evidence there is for the Books of the Holy Bible, as found in Manuscripts (Hebrew, Greek, etc), Ancient Versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin, etc), and the quotations found in the writings of the early “Church fathers”, are very important in establishing the true reading of any text in the Bible. So, for example, when in important passages in the New Testament, like 1 Timothy 3:16, “God was manifested in the flesh”, as found in versions like the King James, has been changed to “He Who was manifested…”; and in 1 John 5:7, which is the clearest Testimony to the Teaching of The Holy Trinity, which likewise has been changed by “corruption” in modern versions; we can be assured that Original Autograph readings as found in versions like the King James, have been preserved by the Holy Spirit. In other places, like John 1:18, where the King James reads, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son”, has rightly, because of the stronger textual evidence now available, reads: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God”, as in the New American Standard Bible. So, there can be no one “version” (translation) of the Holy Bible that can claim to be “Inspired” by the Holy Spirit, as all of the “versions” do contain, human, “copyists errors”, which were not in the Original Autographs, as they were Perfect. This means that we have to accept that the Trustworthiness and Reliability, of the Holy Bible, is indeed possible, if we do not limit our use to only one “version”, as some do, and reject all the others as not being from the Lord. Just because we have “copies”, does not mean that these are “inferior” in any way to the Originals, as these “copies”, when considered and compared, do give what the Originals had, though with some small variations. Because these “copies” are of the highest standard, as the Holy Spirit would have ensured, we can indeed say that what they say is “Infallible”, and fully “Trustworthy”, because they are “copies” from the Original that IS Inspired by God the Holy Spirit.

 

Thanks for your post. Manuscripts are only on

when it comes to textual studies, Greek manuscripts are only one such place that we get our information from. We also have the ancient versions of the Bible, like the Old Latin, Syriac, Latin Vulgate, Coptic, etc. And then the writings of the early Church fathers, all of as important value in our studies. Both Tertullian and Cyprian of the North Africian Church, knew of the reading in the late 2nd early 3rd century. Both read Latin and Greek, and would have had the words in their Greek New Testament. The Greek grammar for verses 7-9 shows that with the words removed, the grammar as it stands, is nonsense. And we know that this is not possible in the Infallible word of God. Colossians 2:2, as it reads in the greater majority of Bible translations, adopt the reading "τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ θεοῦ Χριστοῦ", which has only TWO Greek manuscripts, ONE Latin version in some manuscripts, and 3-4 LATIN Church fathers!

 

are you saying that Divine Inspiration, as found in the Original Autographs, are extented to the many "copies" made from them? I can see no problems with having Infallibility for a translation, when the copies of the manuscripts/texts have been preserved by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise the Bible's that we have are not The Word of God, and therefore worthless to reveal to us any sure Truths from the Lord.

 

there are some deliberate changes that have been made to certain passages in both Testaments by copyists.

 

do you believe in the verbal inspiration of the 66 Books in their original?