Where Is the Word of God?

Bill Brinkworth

One of the most important, yet most controversial topics concerning the things of God, is do the English-speaking people still have the inspired (God-breathed), preserved Word of God with them today? Many shrug this topic off as a subject to be discussed only by preachers or Bible scholars.  It is, however, very important to all.

If we do not have all the words of God, how do we know that John 3:16 is accurate?  Was something added or removed from the verse?  Are we really saved, as the Words we have been trusting for salvation may have been altered?  Do we really know how God wants us to live as the verses that give God’s directions to us may also have been changed? If the reliability of God’s Word is questionable, we cannot know anything about God’s will and way for sure. 

It is essential that we absolutely know that what we read in the Bible is what God has commanded.  We must know we have the entire, word-for-word, preserved, God-breathed Word of God.  We must be able to wholly trust all of it.

With the availability of over 250+ translations and versions, and each teaching something different, how can one know where the real Word of God is? A very complex subject cannot be completely answered in this brief article, but some facts can be revealed in making it easier to discern where the Word of God is today:

The Old Testament has been preserved by the Jews in the Masoretic, Hebrew-language text long before Christ. The New Testament writings were collected and originally compiled in the Greek Textus Receptus.  These two testaments were precisely translated by godly men through history. In 1611, a collection of some of the most godly translators took these texts, compared them with other books, and assembled what today is known as the King James Bible. Later as the English, written language became consistent, the KJB (also called the KJV) went through corrections, mostly spelling, and is the King James Bible we have today. The Word of God has its inspiration preserved in today’s King James Bible.

However, there have always been those that have corrupted and changed God’s Word.  

 

Today the same spirit that has always been around to confuse readers and to alter what God wanted all to know is still perverting God’s Word.  Although there are many renditions, most have a different origin than the KJV.  They have their roots in the Latin translations of the Sinaitic manuscript (331 A.D., rediscovered in 1844 A.D.), the Vaticanus text (around 331 A.D.), the Latin Vulgate, and other writings1.  The influencers and authors of those texts were men such as Origen, whose writings reflect his beliefs that Jesus Christ was a created being and did not have eternal existence as God; Eusebius who introduced tradition into his works; and others who were not dedicated to preserving God’s word exactly as it was written. They all interjected their philosophies, rather than accurately translate what was already written.

These texts were used as the foundation for most of the 250+ perversions of God’s Word.  Because the original root-texts were corrupt, there is no way that the translations from them can ever be accurate. That is why most modern versions have words changed, added, and deleted. They convey doctrines that the writer, or the religious organization he is writing for, wants taught rather than what the preserved Word of God says.

It does not even make sense that:

 

It does make sense:

 

Today, we have the same Words as given by Moses, David, kings, prophets, apostles, and other men God used to preserve His Word.  We do not have to doubt if we have it all.  God’s Word has been preserved and is still available to all that seek it.  It is found within the pages of the King James (1611) Bible.

1 Ray, Jasper J. God Wrote Only One Bible, Eugene, Oregon, Eye Opener Publishers, 1983

“The claims of many of the pervertors of the Word of God are to make the Bible easier to read and understand.  Yet, today there are fewer that read it, and fewer yet that understand it.”

You may also want to read:
"Untrue Statements about Modern Bible Translations and Versions

Examples of Changes in Different Bible Versions  

 

This article was featured in The Bible View #365.

  The Fundamental Top 500