Brief Exposition of our Statement of Faith on the Bible
Enjoy The Bible Ministries’ Statement of Faith (long form)
“The Bible:
The Bible is the word of God. It is God’s book. He is the author of it through direct inspiration, as declared in II Timothy 3:16a… “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Given by “inspiration of God,” the Bible is not the product of human imagination or creativity. Holy men of God spake and wrote as they were “moved by the Holy Ghost.” (II Peter 1:20-21) The Bible, therefore, truly is the word of God. It is the “scripture,” i.e., the sacred or holy writings of God.
Being the word of God, the Bible is also “the word of truth.” (e.g. II Timothy 2:15) This means that it is telling the truth about what is really going on. It is not taking guesses at what is going on. It is not the work of men who were setting forth their own theories as to the meaning of life and existence. It is not the work of philosophers merely speculating on what they think everything means. Instead, it is the communication from the One who created all things, who knows the truth, is “only wise,” and is working out His own plan and purpose in His creation. The Bible is God’s testimony to us regarding what is really going on in, and with, His creation. As such it is “the word of truth.”
The Bible, composed of its 66 books, is complete. There are no ‘lost books of the Bible,’ nor do there exist any other writings which ought to be considered scripture or included in the Bible. The books of the Apocrypha are not the word of God.
The Bible, in light of what it is and in accordance with God’s design for it, is also the recipient of God’s providential care and preservation. Though constantly subjected to various and numerous attacks designed to corrupt it, obscure it, fragment it, suppress it, or destroy it, God has not allowed such attempts to completely succeed. The Bible has not only continued to exist and will continue to do so, but regarding attempts to corrupt it through attacks upon its contents God sees to the preservation of His inerrant, infallible word. This He has done, and continues to do, by means of a number of providential safeguards, such as multiplicity of copies and witnesses for settling matters of textual variation or questioning. Recognition and employment of these numerous safeguards has assured the accurate transmission of the inerrant, infallible word of God from original autographs on, and provides for the identification of attempts to corrupt the word of God by means of omitted, distorted, or added words or phrases, or any other means of textual tampering. In accordance with this, theories of textual criticism which deny Divine preservation (most notably the Westcott and Hort Theory and its present variations), along with the Hebrew and Greek texts constructed on the basis of them, are rejected. The preserved inerrant word of God is not what they are. Instead, they are corrupted renditions of the word of God: corrupted by omissions of words, phrases, sentences, and even extensive passages; by deletions; by substitutions; by additions to the text, and the like. The preserved inerrant word of God has always existed and still exists, and is identified today as the received text of the historic Protestant reformation process.
The translation of the received text into the English language has produced the inerrant, infallible word of God in English. Though a multitude of English Bible translations exist at the present time, only the King James Version is translated from the received text. The King James Version is identified as the inerrant, infallible, preserved word of God in the English language.
The Bible by nature also possesses absolute and final authority. It is not overruled by any person, organization, or ecclesiastical body. It is not subject to the authority or position of any person in order to fulfill its function in any capacity. It is the word of God which is “quick and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12), and therefore possesses on its own, by nature, the full capacity for Divine operations, all authority, and final authority. Accordingly, it is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (II Timothy 3:16-17) The all-important need of every Christian is to profit from the Bible by submitting to it as the inerrant, infallible, authoritative word of God.”
Enjoy The Bible Ministries’ Statement of Faith (short form)
“The King James Bible:
The preserved, inerrant word of God has always existed, still exists, and is identified today as the received text of the historic Protestant reformation process. The translation of the received text into the English language has produced the inerrant, infallible word of God in English. Though a multitude of English Bible translations exist at the present time, only the King James Version is translated from the received text. The King James Version is identified as the inerrant, infallible, preserved word of God in the English language.”
Exposition
The Definition of Terms and their Significance contained in Article II has already expounded upon the meaning, importance, and impact of most of the pertinent terminology used within both forms of our Statement of Faith. In so doing, many of the reasons why we say what we do in our Statement of Faith have already been given. Hence, the following brief exposition on the short form simply sets forth the fact that based upon our understanding of the Bible’s testimony about itself, its preservation, and the like, we are persuaded concerning the truth of these conclusions.
— “The preserved, inerrant word of God has always existed,…” — This we are persuaded to be the case based upon the Bible’s own declarations and promises regarding its preservation, and based upon the fact that being the word of God, (and therefore “the word of truth”), it is naturally inerrant and maintained as such by Divine preservation.
— “still exists,…” — This we are persuaded to be true despite the tactics of Satan’s policy of evil against God’s word. The doctrine of preservation set forth in the Bible is there primarily because of Satan’s attempts to impugn the word of God. There would be no need to assure preservation if there was not something in existence that was hostile to the existence and function of God’s word. Hence, though the policy of evil has been successful in producing versions and renditions of God’s word that have been tampered with and corrupted in various ways, in view of the doctrine of Divine preservation God’s inerrant word “still exists.”
— “and is identified today as the received text of the historic Protestant reformation process.” — This we are persuaded to be true based upon our understanding of the many significant issues involved in the Protestant reformation, not the least of which is the forceful and unrelenting protest that existed against the long-standing practice of concealing, demeaning, and denying the word of God, along with the obvious, and also not so obvious, practices of trying to destroy the Bible.
The Protestant Reformation was more than just a protest against Popery. At its foundation was a hatred for Satan’s policy of evil against God’s word, and it was fueled by a righteous indignation and rage at the widespread effects of that policy of evil. Armed with the light of some very fundamental truths, including the doctrine of the Divine Preservation of the Scriptures, and energized by full persuasion of these truths, the Protestant Reformation began.
With respect to dealing with the corruptive effects of the policy of evil, the Reformation’s science of textual criticism employed a system of manuscript evaluation for identifying the word of God amidst the corruptions that was based upon the premise of Divine Preservation. It subjected all manuscript evidence to the analysis prescribed by this system, with the result being what the Elzevir brothers in essence called the “textus receptus,” or the received text.
[ Note: A more detailed presentation of our understanding regarding the manuscript evidence, the tactics of Satan’s policy of evil against the Scripture, the Protestant Reformation, and the science of textual criticism employed by it, will be found in “The Doctrine of Divine Preservation.” ]
— “The translation of the received text into the English language has produced the inerrant, infallible word of God in English.” — We are persuaded that this is true, understanding both the legitimacy of translation, and the capacity that translation work has to express the exact meaning of God’s words in another language, along with securing the complete functionality of those words, when the translation work is faithful both to the truth of verbal, plenary inspiration and Divine Preservation.
— “Though a multitude of English Bible translations exist at the present time, only the King James Version is translated from the received text.” — At the time this Statement of Faith was composed, this was the case; the New King James Version notwithstanding.
Other English versions of the Bible being published today, like the New International Version, the American Standard Version, the New American Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, Today’s English Version, the Amplified Bible, and a host of others, are all based upon the Greek and Hebrew texts constructed by the modern phase to the science of textual criticism.
[ Note: further treatment regarding the multitude of other English Bible translations, including the New King James Version, along with significant issues regarding the English language itself, both modern and older, will be found in “Excellency of Older English.” ]
— “The King James Bible is identified as the inerrant, infallible, preserved word of God in the English language.” — This conclusion that we make is simply the obvious conclusion to the foregoing statements.