Some thoughts by
Gary Ray Branscome
One of the problems that Christians
have to deal with is the attack on Scripture. And, those attacks do not
always
come from those outside the church. Professors in Christian colleges
often do
the devil’s work by undermining faith in the truthfulness and
reliability of
God’s Word. And, one way they do that, is by raising doubts as to the
reliability of the Greek and Hebrew texts. I know of one professor who
denies
that any one can “know” which books of the New Testament are actually
inspired.
His denial stems from the fact that the Bible does not list the books
that
should be included. He assumes that the Bible has to tell us which
books should
be included in it. Yet he fails to see that no list would ever satisfy
the
skeptics of this world. So, when he reads the words, “All Scripture is
given by
inspiration of God,” because specific books are not named, he assumes
that
those words can only apply to the books of Scripture that existed at
the time
Paul wrote (2Timothy
“What sort of thing is faith then? Faith is the constant assent to
every word
of God; a thing that cannot be done except the Holy Spirit of God
renews and
illuminates our hearts.” [The LOCI COMMUNES, by Philip Melanchthon,
1521 edition, page 176.]
“Therefore, the
proof that the Holy Scriptures are inspired, or, what amounts to
the same
thing, that they are of divine origin, and consequently possess full
authority
in matters of faith, is required only for those who are yet without the
Church,
or who, if within her pale, are not confirmed in the faith. But it lies
in the
nature of the case, that no proof can be given those, which they
cannot, in an
unbelieving frame of mind, evade; for the
only absolutely stringent proof lies in the fact that the Holy Spirit bears
witness in the heart of each individual, and thus convinces him of the
divinity
of the Word of God, by the mighty influence which it exerts upon him.”
[DOCTRINAL THEOLOGY of the
“The church does not determine the cannon.
God has
established the cannon: a book of Scripture is canonical by virtue of
its
inspiration. The church witnesses to this fact, and insofar as she does
so can
make a beginning toward convincing us that certain books are canonical;
but ultimately the Scripture
must testify of
itself, and the Holy Spirit must convince us through the Scriptures.
What long
ago persuaded the hearers of the Word to believe the preaching of the
prophets
and apostles now persuades us to believe their writings.”
[The Theology of Post Reformation Lutheranism, by Robert D. Preus,
page 304.]
Through the words, “A man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law,” the Holy Spirit assures me that
I am
now just (righteous) in the sight of God (Rom.
Through the words, “All scripture is inspired
by God,”
the Holy Spirit assures me that I can have confidence in everything the
Bible
says, including all of the promises of the Gospel (2Tim. 3:16).
Through the words, “You shall keep them [i.e.
the
words of Scripture], O LORD, you will preserve them from this
generation
forever,” the Holy Spirit assures me that He has preserved the words of
Scripture (Psalm 12:7). Moreover, because he has preserved them we can
be
certain that nothing has been lost. The original readings are still
there! In
the relatively small percentage of passages where a variant reading
does exist,
it exists only because God allows it to be there (perhaps as a
stumbling block
to the proud). None of those variant readings teach anything contrary
to God’s
Word, and we can have complete confidence that the text will not
mislead us.
Furthermore, through the parallel between the
books of
the New Testament and the last twenty seven chapters of the book of
Isaiah, the
Holy Spirit assures me that the New Testament contains only the books
He wants
it to contain. Of that parallel the Keil-Delitzsh Commentary makes the following
statement:
“It [the final 27 chapters
of Isaiah] commences with a prophecy, which gave to John the Baptist
the great
theme of his preaching. It closes with the prediction of the creation
of a new
heaven and a new earth, beyond which even the last page of the New
Testament
Apocalypse cannot go. And in the center the sufferings and exaltation
of Christ
are proclaimed as clearly, as if the prophet had stood beneath the
cross
itself, and had seen the Risen Saviour.”
(Volume 7,
Page 130)
While
those who approach the text with the mind of a skeptic will never be
convinced
by that parallel, God did not place it in the Bible to convince
skeptics, but
to give comfort and assurance to those who trust in Christ; and it does
that
very well.
Now, the fact that the aforementioned
professor views
the text as “plastic” [constantly changing] is an entirely different
matter.
That kind of thinking is a common delusion of the secular mindset. It
is rooted
in the desire to make man the measure of all things. When scholars
approach the
text that way, having no way of determining which of the variant
readings they encounter
are original, their opinions constantly shift back and forth. However,
instead
of humbly admitting their own ignorance, they blame the text calling it
“plastic”.
Before closing, I want to make it clear that
I am not
saying that our faith in Scripture is totally subjective or just rests
on some
feeling. On the contrary, our faith in what the Bible says is part of
our faith
in Christ. Therefore, just as that faith in Christ does not rest on
feeling,
but on the clear testimony of God’s Word, our faith in what the Bible
says
rests on the clear objective testimony of Scripture. Moreover, that
testimony
involves far more than the few passages that I have quoted. Samuel
said, “The
Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His word was in my tongue” (2Samuel
23:2). [See
also, Isaiah 1:2, Jeremiah 1:7 and 9, Ezekiel 2:7 and 3:4, Matthew 1:22
and
2:15, Mark 12:36, Luke 1:70, Acts 1:16.] If you have a Bible program,
do a
search for the phrase “the word of the Lord” or the phrase, “thus saith [or says] the Lord” and you will find
hundreds of
passages that testify to the inspiration of what is written. And,
having given
us His Word, the Holy Spirit is not about to let it be mixed with man’s
word.
On the contrary, the words, “All scripture is inspired by God,” tell us
that
every word of it is the Word of God (2Timothy
[NOTE: The Bible consists of a Hebrew Old
Testament,
and a Greek New Testament. Although the apocrypha was included in a
couple
translations, it was never included in that Bible. And, there is
evidence that
it was not even included in the Septuagint translation until after
315AD (See
“All About The Bible,” by Sidney Collett,
page 50).]
Conclusion
By casting doubt on anything In the
Bible that they cannot prove, secular professors wind up undermining
faith.
And, because they introduce doubts in the hearts of their students
while
feeding unbelief, they wind up serving the devil.