THE BIBLE ALONE IS THE WORD OF GOD.
Those eight words are profound and worthy of much meditation. The Bible is God’s inspired word and nothing else is. No other book carries the weight of Divine authorship in order to bind the human conscience. None of my thoughts… nothing that happens between my ears or yours rises to the level of Scripture. The Bible alone is the word of God. The Bible is the necessary and SUFFICIENT resource for all we need for life and godliness – it equips the man of God for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17).
Before I read the Scripture passage in a sermon you will hear me say these familiar words, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the word of God.” When we speak of the Bible as God breathed Scripture, we speak of the inspiration of the original manuscripts – what men such as Moses, Isaiah, Paul and John wrote as they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The Scripture is “theopneustos” – Greek for “God breathed” found in 2 Tim. 3:16.
God has inspired His word and preserved it for us, just as He promised. However, He did not do so by sending a gold edged, leather bound 66 book canon of the Bible down from heaven on a parachute one Tuesday afternoon. No! There was a long and lengthy process involved, all of which was overseen, I believe, by the kind Providence of God.
God promised to give us His word and He has done so. However, He made no promise to bring supernatural aid to everyone who would make a copy of the Scriptures. We therefore do not contend for the inspiration of scribes. That’s an important and vital distinction. Scribes can and do make mistakes in copying, just as you and I can make mistakes when copying a poem or book.
Does that mean we have a corrupted Bible text? Can we not know for sure what was originally written (as some claim)? Not at all! Why? Because of the scholarly work of what is called “Textual Criticism” we can come to know what was originally written by the writers of the Bible. It is a science and a fascinating one, though for sure, some find it more fascinating that others.
Why would this be of interest to us? Well, because Gospel conversations we have with people today, issues of the text of the Bible come up regularly (unlike in decades past). There is so much mis-information out there that is freely available on the internet. It is therefore good for us to be armed with the truth as it prepares us to give a defense of the faith we profess to those who ask us for the reason of our hope, as 1 Peter 3:15 states.
It is important, and I would say “vital” to know WHAT we believe and WHY we believe it.
“IS WHAT WE HAVE NOW WHAT WAS WRITTEN THEN?”
Many have the opinion (me included) that Dr. Wallace is the leading scholar in the field of textual criticism in the world today. He is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, a consultant for several Bible translations, and the author of numerous journal articles and books including Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. As you will see, he also has a particularly dry sense of humor.
In just less than an hour, Dr. Wallace explains the copying of the New Testament books and shows the reliability of our English translations. I believe it will do us much spiritual good to be aware of these things.