Monthly Archives: November 2022

Is What We Have Now What Was Written Then?

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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.

Faith Is Not The Saviour

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“Faith is not our physician. It only brings us to the Physician. It is not even our medicine; it only administers the medicine, divinely prepared by Him who ‘healeth all our diseases.’ In all our believing, let us remember God’s word to Israel: ‘I am Jehovah, that healeth thee’ (Exod. 14:26). Our faith is but our touching Jesus; and what is even this, in reality, but His touching us?

“Faith is not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us; that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for our sins. Faith is one thing, the Saviour is another. Faith is one thing, and the cross is another. Let us not confound them, nor ascribe to a poor, imperfect act of man, that which belongs exclusively to the Son of the Living God.

“Faith is not perfection. Yet only by perfection can we be saved; either our own or another’s. That which is imperfect cannot justify, and an imperfect faith could not in any sense be a righteousness. If it is to justify, it must be perfect. It must be like ‘the Lamb, without blemish and without spot.’ An imperfect faith may connect us with the perfection of another; but it cannot of itself do aught for us, either in protecting us from wrath or securing the divine acquittal.

“All faith here is imperfect; and our security is this, that it matters not how poor or weak our faith may be: if it touches the perfect One, all is well. The touch draws out the virtue that is in Him, and we are saved.

“The slightest imperfection in our faith, if faith were our righteousness, would be fatal to every hope. But the imperfection of our faith, however great, if faith be but the approximation or contact between us and the fulness of the Substitute, is no hindrance to our participation of His righteousness. God has asked and provided a perfect righteousness; He nowhere asks nor expects a perfect faith. An earthenware pitcher can convey water to a traveller’s thirsty lips as well as one of gold; nay, a broken vessel, even if there be but ‘a sherd to take water from the pit’ (Isa 30:14), will suffice. So a feeble, very feeble faith, will connect us with the righteousness of the Son of God; the faith, perhaps, that can only cry, ‘Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief.’

“Faith is not satisfaction to God. In no sense and in no aspect can faith be said to satisfy God, or to satisfy the law. Yet if it is to be our righteousness, it must satisfy. Being imperfect, it cannot satisfy; being human, it cannot satisfy, even though it were perfect. That which satisfies must be capable of bearing our guilt; and that which bears our guilt must be not only perfect, but divine. It is a sin-bearer that we need, and our faith cannot be a sin-bearer. Faith can expiate no guilt; can accomplish no propitiation; can pay no penalty; can wash away no stain; can provide no righteousness. It brings us to the cross, where there is expiation, and propitiation, and payment, and cleansing, and righteousness; but in itself it has no merit and no virtue.

“Faith is not Christ, nor the cross of Christ. Faith is not the blood, nor the sacrifice; it is not the altar, nor the laver, nor the mercy-seat, nor the incense. It does not work, but accepts a work done ages ago; it does not wash, but leads us to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. It does not create; it merely links us to that new thing which was created when the ‘everlasting righteousness’ was brought in (Dan 9:24).

“And as faith goes on, so it continues; always the beggar’s outstretched hand, never the rich man’s gold; always the cable, never the anchor, the knocker, not the door, or the palace, or the table; the handmaid, not the mistress; the lattice which lets in the light, not the sun.”

— Horatius Bonar

HT: Mike Riccardi