132 lines
7.6 KiB
Plaintext
132 lines
7.6 KiB
Plaintext
The following report is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 9, Issue 11, 1992.
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All rights are reserved by the author. O Timothy is a monthly magazine.
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Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life
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Literature, Bible Baptist Church, 1219 N. Harns Road, Oak Harbor,
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Washington 98277. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to
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Bethel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 9075, London, Ontario N6E 1V0.
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SOME THOUGHTS ON INSPIRATION AND PRESERVATION
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David W. Cloud
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I received a paper written by a Bible college professor in Canada recently
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which maligned me for teaching that the King James Version is the inspired
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Word of God. In replying to the man I said, "The position I hold
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regarding the TR and the KJV has been outlined expertly by four men I
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highly respect: the late Bruce Lackey (who was Dean of Tennessee Temple
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Bible School when I was there), David Otis Fuller (late founder of the
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Which Bible Society), Peter Van Kleeck (The Institute for Biblical Textual
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Studies), and D.A. Waite (Bible for Today ministries and the Dean Burgon
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Society). I am enclosing statements from these men. I would ask that you
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give careful attention to these statements and stop misrepresenting me in
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your public writings. I do not believe in `secondary inspiration,' nor do I
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believe in `further revelation'."
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Let me hasten to say, though, that I DO believe in divine preservation! I
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praise the Lord for the fact that I can have confidence in my Bible. I
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believe I have the perfect, inspired Word of God because of God's promise
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of preservation. For me this is the bottom line in the Bible version issue.
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The only people who believe they have a perfect Bible are the widely
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misunderstood, despised and ridiculed "King James Only" crowd. The
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Wescott-Hort crowd admits they don't have a perfect text. The modern
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version crowd admits they don't have a perfect text. Well, friends, count
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me out. God has promised me a perfect Book, and I am confident in His
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promise.
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In this issue of O Timothy we are reproducing an article by Dr.
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Bruce Lackey on inspiration and preservation. I also want to give
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statements by the three other men we have mentioned. I would also call our
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reader's attention to the excellent article on preservation by Jack Moorman
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which we printed in O Timothy, Volume 9, Issue 8, 1992. Bible
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preservation is one of the most neglected doctrines of the twentieth
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century.
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INSTITUTE FOR BIBLICAL TEXTUAL STUDIES
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"The Institute for Biblical Textual Studies was founded as an extension of
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Dr. David Otis Fuller's ambition to address the version issue and textual
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debate on a broader scale. The Institute is committed to:
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"- the immediate, verbal, plenary inspiration of the original writings of
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Scripture and that they are therefore inerrant and infallible. This
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inspiration is unique, applicable both to the process of giving the
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original writings and the writings themselves which are that product;
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"- the verbal preservation of the Greek Received Text as published by the
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Trinitarian Bible Society;
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"- the verbal preservation of the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text of
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Daniel Bomberg, as edited by Jacob ben Chayim;
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"- the position that translation is not an inherent boundary to verbal
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preservation. The breath of God, product, not process, conveyed by
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translation from the immediately inspired language copies of Scripture into
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any providentially prepared receptor language will impart to that
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translation infallible authority and doctrinal inerrancy inherent in the
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original language copies. Such a translation by the internal witness of the
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Holy Spirit, both with and through that translation, will evidence to the
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believer its own self-attestation and self-authentication whereby God
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asserts himself as the supreme Authority to that culture. For the English
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speaking world this revelation of God's authority is preserved in the
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Authorized Version" (Peter W. Van Kleeck is associate director of the
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Institute for Biblical Studies).
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THE DEAN BURGON SOCIETY
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"We believe that the King James Version (or Authorized Version) of the
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English Bible is a true, faithful, and accurate translation of these two
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providentially preserved Texts [the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text and
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the Received Greek Text], which in our time has no equal among all of the
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other English Translations. The translators did such a fine job in their
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translation task that we can without apology hold up the Authorized Version
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of 1611 and say "This is the WORD OF GOD!" while at the same time realizing
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that, in some verses, we must go back to the underlying original language
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Texts for complete clarity, and also compare Scripture with Scripture.
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"We believe that all the verses in the King James Version belong in the Old
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and the New Testaments because they represent words we believe were in the
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original Texts, although there might be other renderings from the original
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languages which could also be acceptable to us today. For an exhaustive
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study of any of the words or verses in the Bible, we urge the student to
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return directly to the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text and the
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Traditional Received Greek Text rather than to any other translation for
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help.
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"Bible inspiration and Bible preservation are supremely important. The
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undermining or destroying of either doctrine renders the other meaningless.
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If the Bible is not verbally, plenarily, and inerrantly inspired, and if
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inspiration does not extend to all matters of which the Bible speaks, it
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does not matter if the Bible has been preserved or how it has been
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presserved. It also follows that, if the Bible has not been preserved, it
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does not matter how it was inspired" (From the Committee Statement on Bible
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Preservation of the Dean Burgon Society, of which Dr. D.A. Waite is the
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president).
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DAVID OTIS FULLER
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"I DO NOT say the King James Version was inspired as the original
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manuscripts, but I DO say that God supervised and directed and chose by
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means of King James the First and his advisers, forty-eight of the greatest
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scholars of their time or ANY time in all history. The Holy Spirit caused
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them to choose the manuscripts of the Old and New Testament which were
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nearest to the originals and the most accurate of all the manuscripts.
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"I do not believe the King James Version has errors or mistakes in it. I do
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believe it has problems and I do not have the answer to all of those
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problems but I KNOW there is an answer to every one. You or others may call
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that "playing antics with semantics." It makes no difference what IT is
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called or I AM called, there I stand and refuse to give one inch.
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"Our Lovely Lord Jesus Christ, as you well know, quoted continually from
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the Old Testament and every time He did He let it be known that He was
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quoting His final authority. NOT ONCE did He cast a shadow of doubt over
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any quotation. IF there had been errors in those manuscripts He quoted His
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absolute honesty would have caused Him to say so. HE WAS NOT QUOTING FROM
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THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS as we well know. IF this Sovereign God could keep
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His word thru the centuries up until the Life and Death and Resurrection of
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the Eternal Son of God here on earth, I AM SURE this same God can and did
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keep His Word true and pure and inerrant all thru the centuries until this
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year of our Lord 1980" (David Otis Fuller, "My answer to those who have
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misinterpreted my stand on the inerrancy of the KJV," 1980, originally a
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letter to Dayton Hobbs, editor, The Projector).
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(O Timothy magazine, Volume 9, issue 11, 1992)
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