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SUBJECT: Bible
QUESTION: Do we have the complete Bible? How do we know
that the Bible is complete, inspired and/or preserved until
now?
ANSWER: Taken from the book, “God’s Word, Final,
Infallible and Forever” by Floyd McElveen
FIRST CLAIM: The Bible Claims to be the Word of God
Around 3,800 times the Bible claims to be the Word of God.
Such terms as ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ ‘The Word of the Lord
came unto me,’ are common expressions of these claims. 2
Tim 3:16 tells us that, “All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
‘Inspired of God’ means literally ‘God-breathed’ from the
Greek word originally used, ‘theopneustos.’ It is a
tremendously powerful attestation to the importance and the
vital life of the Bible, that God actually created the
Scriptures by his Holy Spirit, by a creative act, even as He
created the world, and as He created man. Recognition of
this very fact insures that just as He did not abandon the
world and leave creation an orphan to perish in chaos, and
just as He did not leave man in lonely helpless despair, so
He did not abandon the Bible, the Word of God, to assault,
degradation and dismemberment after having given it! In
fact, none of these three entities could perform God’s
purpose without the other. He gave certain inter-related
promises concerning the universe, the earth, man, and the
Bible, and these are being and will be fulfilled. 2 Peter
1:21 states: “For the prophecy came not at any time by the
will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit.” God thus claimed responsibility for the
Bible, the Old Testament and the New, and this was
corroborated by the teaching of Jesus Christ. The earth was
created explicitly for man, and man for the earth, for this
time. Can you imagine God losing track of either the one or
the other so that earth wound up with no man, or man with no
earth until God’s will and promises were fully
accomplished? Just so, God created the Bible through His
Holy men, as a revelation to man, needed to unfold His
purposes for man, the earth, and Himself. He would no more
permit His word to go unsupervised and perish than He would
the earth, or man.
Before we deal with the evidence that the Bible is the Word
of God, as it claims to be, let us look at a second claim
the Bible makes for itself.
SECOND CLAIM: The Bible Claims That It Will Be Preserved by
the Lord
Jesus said, in Matthew 5:18, “For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in
no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Since,
in the immediate context, He spoke of the prophets also, the
law here seems to apply, as it sometimes does, not just to
the 10 commandments, but to the whole revealed Word of God.
Jesus here refers to the smallest letter in the Hebrew
alphabet, the jot or ‘yod’, and assures us that not even
that tiny portion of God’s Word, much less doctrines and
books of the Word of God, could pass away!…not to mention
tittle, which is smaller than a comma! After the Olivet
discourse in Matthew 24:, in verse 35, Jesus says, “Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away.” While this no doubt speaks of the discourse which He
has just given, to limit it to this would be to say this is
the most important thing He ever gave and therefore the only
thing He is going to guarantee perfect preservation for.
This is not true, so by application it applies to the whole
Word of God. In fact, He said that, “…Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God.” Obviously, if man is going to live by every
word that comes from God, man must be in permanent
possession of every word that comes from God, (Matthew
4:4). Jesus had also said that the Scriptures could not be
broken. The Psalmist had already exulted, in Psalm 119:89,
“Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” Isaiah
40:8 declares, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but
the word of our God shall stand forever.” 1 Peter 2:23-25,
also speaks of the word of God, living, abiding and enduring
forever.
In the light of these plain declarations from God, and from
the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to ask ourselves some hard
and honest questions. Is it not dangerous to claim that
some books are missing from the Bible or that it has been
mistranslated? Is this not a direct denial of God Himself,
and His Word? Is it not accusing the Lord Jesus Christ of
lying? Does it not betray a lack of trust in Almighty God
both in His power and in His veracity to preserve that which
He has given as He promised?
Some even go so far as to say that every time the Bible
mentions a book, such as the Book of Jasher in Joshua 10:13,
Books of the Wars of the Lord, Numbers 21:14, and about 18
others, that these are ‘lost’ books of the Bible. However,
Grecian writers and poets are quoted by Paul in Acts 17,
Gnostic teaching in Colossians, etc. Certainly just because
these pagan writers are alluded too, does not mean that
their writings were inspired of God and to be included in
the Bible! How could 40 or more writers writing over a
period of 1600 years on all subjects to all people NOT
mention some of the books of common interest and concern to
them and to those to whom they wrote?
When writing about the Bible, I may mention other books,
writers or newspapers, but this in no way means that they
are ‘inspired’, or that I believe them to be. Actually the
problem anyone has in doubting God’s preservation of His
Word is the essence that this denies the inspiration, also.
God by inspiration, declares the preservation of His Word!
The truth of the matter is this. Jesus quoted from every
part of the Old Testament. He personally superintended or
pre-authenticated by His Holy Spirit all of the New
Testament. Consider Luke 24:27, given as He spoke to the
disciples on the road to Emmaus, after His resurrection.
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself.” The Jews had the Old Testament with the same
books we have now. This is what ‘in all the scriptures’
meant to them. Jesus not only authenticated the whole Old
Testament, here and elsewhere as the Word of God, pointing
to Him. He never, at anytime, quoted from one of the books
some say are missing from the Bible! He quoted from ‘all
the scripture, the law , and the prophets’, God’s Word
says…missing none. Yet He never quoted from these so-called
missing books. They were totally unimportant, and they were
totally uninspired, never meant to be a part of the Bible,
and they never were. Even the apostles ignored them. Jesus
was and is Almighty, All-knowing God. It is incredible and
unbelievable that He should ignore something of such
monumental importance if it were true. Irrefutably, it is
not.
Also, the disciples were in close contact with Him day and
night for years, and witnessed His life, miracles, death and
resurrection. However, he did not depend on that alone, but
pre-authenticated the New Testament by telling them that the
Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. He would bring
‘all things to their remembrance’. John 16:13-16, John
14:26. He would preserve His word, and guard it as the Word
of God, forbidding any adding to it or subtracting from it
for any reason. This would include claims of ‘living
prophets’ or new ‘revelations’. The Bible is complete.
Therefore, ‘living prophets’ who give ‘new revelation’ and
foretell the future to add to the Bible are no longer
needed. This is emphasized by Hebrews 1-2, “God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son…”
Further proof that the Bible is complete is that since the
Bible has been completed, absolutely no ‘prophet’ has been
able to pass the simple test of Deuteronomy 18: 20-22, in
nearly 2000 years.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in
my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that
shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet
shall die.
21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the
word which the LORD hath not spoken?
22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the
thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which
the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Consider again Revelation 22:18-19, “For I testify unto
every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this
book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add
unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if
any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of
life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which
are written in this book. “Some say this applies only to the
Book of Revelation. The warning does apply primarily to the
Book of Revelation. However, it is very doubtful that we
can limit the application only to the Book of Revelation.
Think again of the fact that an Omniscient, all-knowing God,
who knows the end from the beginning, knew that under His
promised guidance, the Book of Revelation would be placed as
the LAST book of the Bible. It is just too much to ask us
to believe that it is merely coincidence that the most
drastic warning in the Bible concerning adding to its words
or prophecies, would be on the LAST page of the LAST chapter
of the LAST book of the Bible, in the LAST few verses, by
the LAST prophet, unless God wanted this warning to apply to
MORE than just the Book of Revelation. He knew the Bible
would be compiled, all 66 books, as one whole book, with
Revelation appearing as the capstone, the last chapter. He
stamped this book, both Revelation and the Bible, as His
last prophecies for the Church Age, and took away the power
to accurately foretell the future without error that His
prophets alone always had, as Deuteronomy 18:20-22 states.
This double-barreled fact emphatically illustrates that the
Bible is complete!
Notice also the difference in this warning in Revelation and
a similar warning given in Deuteronomy 4:2, “Ye shall not
add unto the word which I command you…” not ‘have commanded
you or already completely given you’, Obviously, this
warning dealt with ongoing revelation. NOT SO the more sever
warning given in Revelation 22:18-19. THIS warning clearly
deals with revelation already given, already complete, ‘are
written in this book’ signifying completion. The tense, the
wording is different. I say this because some may say that
much new revelation was given after the warning in
Deuteronomy 4:2, which we acknowledge to be of God and which
is recorded in the Bible. Therefore, they may reason, new
revelation may be given and added as Scripture after the
warning given in Revelation 22:18-19. But in Deuteronomy
God was warning of adding to or taking from Scripture as it
was in the process of being given to His people in an
ongoing revelation, as well as tampering with that which had
been given. In Revelation He is speaking of the revelation
which had already been given, a very significant
difference. This again underlies the fact that the Bible is
now complete, and any ‘new’ revelation is false revelation
as it would violate this terrible warning in Revelation
22:18-19. Furthermore, ‘new’ revelation is not needed and
does not come from God.
THIS ENDS THE QUOTE FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED BOOK
John 10:35
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and
the scripture cannot be broken;
Psalm 12:6-7
6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a
furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them
from this generation for ever.
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