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AI Friday: Perfect Preservation of Scripture
I asked AI a couple of questions about three verses about the perfect preservation of scripture. Here’s what it wrote (I didn’t write it — AI wrote it).
Isaiah 59:21 and the Perfect Preservation of Scripture
Isaiah 59:21 states:
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Covenant Promise:
The verse begins with God declaring a covenant with His people. This indicates a solemn commitment that God will maintain His relationship with those who are redeemed. The nature of this covenant suggests that it encompasses not just spiritual blessings but also the assurance that His words will be preserved.
God’s Spirit:
The mention of “My spirit that is upon thee” implies that God’s presence and guidance through His Spirit will remain with His people. This aspect reinforces the idea that believers will have access to divine truth and understanding.
Words Not Departing:
The phrase “my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart” emphasizes that God’s words are intended to be continuously present among His people across generations. This suggests an ongoing availability and accessibility of God’s revelation to every generation.
Generational Continuity:
The reference to “nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed” indicates that this preservation extends beyond a single generation. It assures believers that God’s words will endure through their descendants, reinforcing the belief in a faithful transmission of Scripture throughout time.
Eternal Assurance:
The concluding phrase “from henceforth and for ever” underscores the eternal nature of this promise. It signifies that God’s commitment to preserve His words is not limited by time or circumstance.
In summary, Isaiah 59:21 articulates a profound assurance regarding the perfect preservation of Scripture by affirming God’s covenantal promise to keep His Spirit and His words continually accessible to all generations of believers.
Analysis of Matthew 4:4 and 5:18 Regarding Perfect Preservation of Scripture
To understand what Matthew 4:4 and 5:18 say about the perfect preservation of the words of scripture, we need to analyze each verse in its context and consider the theological implications.
Matthew 4:4 Context and Meaning
Matthew 4:4 states:
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
In this passage, Jesus is responding to Satan during his temptation in the wilderness. The quote references Deuteronomy 8:3, emphasizing that spiritual sustenance is as vital as physical nourishment. The phrase “every word that comes from the mouth of God” suggests a belief in the divine origin and authority of scripture. This implies that all words spoken by God are essential for life and should be preserved accurately.
The implication here can be interpreted as an affirmation of the importance of scripture’s integrity. If every word is necessary for spiritual life, it follows that these words must be preserved faithfully through time. This verse does not explicitly state perfect preservation but strongly supports the idea that God’s words are crucial and should remain intact.
Matthew 5:18 Context and Meaning
Matthew 5:18 states:
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.
In this verse, Jesus emphasizes the enduring nature of God’s law. The reference to “not a jot” or “not a tittle” (the smallest letters in Hebrew) signifies that every part of God’s word holds significance and will remain until its purpose is fulfilled. This statement reinforces the belief in the reliability and permanence of scripture.
The assertion that nothing will pass from the Law until all is accomplished can be interpreted as a claim regarding its preservation. It suggests that God’s word will remain intact throughout history until its intended fulfillment occurs. Thus, this verse can also be seen as supporting the concept of perfect preservation.
Conclusion on Perfect Preservation
Both Matthew 4:4 and Matthew 5:18 contribute to a theological understanding regarding scripture’s preservation:
Matthew 4:4 emphasizes the necessity of every word from God for spiritual life.
Matthew 5:18 asserts that not even a small part of God’s law will be lost until its purpose is achieved.
Together, these verses imply a strong belief in both the authority and preservation of scripture throughout time. While they do not explicitly state “perfect preservation,” they provide foundational support for such a doctrine within Christian theology.
Bold Answer:
The verses Matthew 4:4 and 5:18 imply a strong belief in the necessity and enduring nature of God’s words, supporting concepts related to their perfect preservation through emphasizing their significance for spiritual life and asserting that no part will be lost until all is fulfilled.
Faith in God and the Sufficiency of the Church
Pleasing God by Faith
In a now very familiar verse, James writes in James 2:19:
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Someone may say that he has faith, but what is the true measure of faith of what God said? It is doing what He said. When God says, this is how He wants something done, that’s how someone should do it and without exception. That is faith in God. And most of you probably already know that “without faith, it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Pleasing God is the purpose for mankind on earth (Revelation 4:11). Only from God’s Word do men know the standard or basis for pleasing Him. God will judge men based on what He says (John 12:48). The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17) and faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Man lives by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).
Since the Bible is the source book, the veritable handbook, for how to live and to please Him, that is what He wants men to follow carefully and diligently. Solomon says at the end of Ecclesiastes that keeping God’s commandments is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:12-13). Those commandments are in the Bible.
God’s Judgment
In the end, God at the least will judge everyone at two judgment seats: (1) the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) and (2) the Bema Seat Judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10). The former is for unbelievers or the unsaved and the latter is for believers or the saved. Both judgments are very important and do relate to obeying God and in particular how to do what God wants men to do.
God will punish unbelievers for their sin. Their works fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God will reward believers for their works, so the Bema Seat Judgment means the gaining or the loss of rewards. Both relate to pleasing God. Romans 8:8 says that the unbeliever cannot please God (Romans 8:8). The believer can please Him and God will reward Him when He does.
Living by faith means living a life regulated by what God said: doing what He says to do and not doing what He says not to do. This means not just doing what God said, but doing it how He said. Scripture is replete with examples of men failing to submit to how God wanted it done and God punishing them for it.
How God Wants His Work Done
How God wants done what He wants done gets short shrift today most often. God cares how what He wants gets done. Not doing it how He wants will effect what He wants. He rejects things done in the wrong way or manner. What to do and how to do it feed off each other.
In the age in which we live, God wants His work done in, through, and by the church. In the Old Testament, God used Israel. Also within Israel God regulated how He wanted His work done in, through, and by Israel.
The Church, the Only Acceptable Means of God’s Work Today
The New Testament reveals God’s work done only through the church in this period, the church age. According to the New Testament, the church is sufficient to accomplish God’s work. Living by faith and pleasing God requires accomplishing His work in the way God shows to do it. The New Testament teaches only the church for doing His work. Doing it another way than the church is an invention of men and God isn’t pleased when someone does God’s work a different way. It isn’t obeying God, so it isn’t living by faith.
People who won’t do God’s will His way are not pleasing Him. Perhaps people will not do it like God said because they’re not saved. Scripture shows this to be the case. On the other hand, saved people will lose rewards for not doing what God said how He said to do it.
It is not obeying God or loving God to do what He said a different way than what He said. The church is the only way. All of the God’s work can be done through the church. God does not approve of doing His work a different way than what He said. Because God’s Word is sufficient, the church is sufficient for all of God’s work.
What About the Accusation of So-Called “Mystical Explanation” or “Omniscience” Against a Perfect Original Language Preservation of Scripture?
A New Attack on Verbal Plenary Preservation of Scripture
Ross-White Debate
After the Ross-White debate, I saw one particular regular attack on the biblical and historical doctrine of the preservation of scripture. This is the perfect or verbal plenary preservation of the original language text of the Bible. Critical text advocates, who deny that doctrine, call the opposing position a “mystical explanation,” “omniscience,” the “Urim and Thummim,” or “Ruckmanism for all intents and purposes.” The part about Ruckman hints at double inspiration thinking. You say you believe the church possesses a perfect text of scripture in the original languages. They say that requires a work of God like inspiration or a mystical gift on the level of omniscience.
The historical doctrine of preservation says God preserved His Word. That is a supernatural explanation. God did it. Something supernatural occurred. Any claim of supernaturalism could be prey to the attack of mysticism, omniscience, saints possessing the Urim and Thummim, or the Ruckman charge. If copyists make errors and manuscripts have variants, how do believers know what the words are? Do they flop back into a trance-like state and their body moves like a puppet to the correct word?
The Imagery, a Mockery
The imagery painted by critical text advocates accuses men testing a variation between texts with a seer stone or divining rod. Someone printing a New Testament edition swoons into a condition where his body becomes taken over by God in the decision of a correct word in a text. It really is just a form of mockery, because none of their targets for this ridicule come close to this description.
The critical text advocates leave out a supernatural explanation. They don’t like that criticism. They don’t want theological presuppositions to guide, only the so-called science. Someone might claim perfection, if it’s God working. They rather defer to human reason as a tool. That allows for the error they favor as an outcome. They won’t say it’s God. At most, a few might say that God designed human reason like He did for the invention of a new vaccination.
The Providence of God
Used for Preservation of Scripture
The language used in the supernatural intervention in God’s method of preservation with and through His church is the “providence of God.” The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) reads:
The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical.
You can read the language there, “God . . . by His singular care and providence.” In 1680 preacher of the gospel, John Alexander wrote: “seeing the Scriptures by the Providence of God kept pure . . . . seeing the Scriptures as they now are were transmitted to us by the Church, unto whom the Oracles of God were committed, and against whom the Gates of Hell shall not prevail.” In 1721 Edward Synge wrote: “Still it pleased God, by his overruling Providence, to preserve his Written Word, and keep it pure and uncorrupted . . . . by which means the Fountain, I mean the Text of the Holy Scripture, was kept pure and undefiled.”
Its Meaning
John Piper in 2020 wrote a very large book, entitled, Providence. In the first chapter, he gives a lengthy explanation of the word, concluding that it means concerning God, “He sees to it that things happen in a certain way.” He points to Genesis 22 as a classic description of providence, when in verse 8, Abraham says, “God will provide himself a lamb,” using “provide.” Later, verse 14 uses the root meaning of that word “provide”:
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
In the word “providence” is the Latin vide (think video), which means, “see.” Notice in verse 14, “it shall be seen.” The idea is that God sees, but even further, “He sees to.” He saw the ram in place of Isaac and He saw to the ram for Isaac.
Heidelberg Catechism
As providence relates to scripture, God sees to it that every word is preserved and available to His people, just like the ram was provided and available to Abraham and Isaac. The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) defines the providence of God:
The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.
Providence is not by chance. If God is keeping the original text of scripture pure by His singular care and providence, He is not leaving that to chance. Since He will judge men by every word, which He says He will (Matthew 4:4, John 12:48), He will provide every Word. He will “see to it.” I know the question then arises, “How did God see to it?”
Providential Preservation
Spurgeon
Men who believe in providential preservation do not believe that God requires a trance-like state to accomplish perfect preservation of scripture. If you asked, “How did the ram appear in the thicket to Abraham?”, you might find the answer difficult. “He just did.” He said He would provide, so He did.
C. H. Spurgeon in a sermon on the Providence of God says this: “If anything would go wrong, God puts it right and if there is anything that would move awry, He puts forth His hand and alters it.” This is how I read the description men who believed in providential preservation.
Capel
Richard Capel represents the position well (Capel’s Remains, London, 1658, pp. 19-43):
[W]e have the Copies in both languages [Hebrew and Greek], which Copies vary not from Primitive writings in any matter which may stumble any. This concernes onely the learned, and they know that by consent of all parties, the most learned on all sides among Christians do shake hands in this, that God by his providence hath preserved them uncorrupt. . . .
. . . . As God committed the Hebrew text of the Old Testament to the Jewes, and did and doth move their hearts to keep it untainted to this day: So I dare lay it on the same God, that he in his providence is so with the Church of the Gentiles, that they have and do preserve the Greek Text uncorrupt, and clear: As for some scrapes by Transcribers, that comes to no more, than to censure a book to be corrupt, because of some scrapes in the printing, and tis certain, that what mistake is in one print, is corrected in another.
You should notice that Capel uses the word, “providence.” This doesn’t sound like the exaggerated, deceitful attacks of the critical text proponents. I love the last sentence of that paragraph as an understanding. I ask that you read it again: “As for some scrapes by Transcribers, that comes to no more, than to censure a book to be corrupt, because of some scrapes in the printing, and tis certain, that what mistake is in one print, is corrected in another.” These are not words you will hear from critical text, modern version men.
God Keeps His Words
I say God keeps His Words. He uses His institutions to do it. I also say God keeps the souls of the saints. He uses many various means to do that. It is difficult to explain how that He does it, but He does. That too is supernatural. Do the opponents of perfect preservation believe that God sees to that? They do and they base that on presuppositions without resorting to words like “mystical explanation.”
The method God uses to preserve is a true one. It is true like innermost machinery and function of a cell. It occurs. The DNA strands of a human being, designed by God, result in a fully grown, healthy person. God did that. He keeps working in His world as He sees fit. His doing that with His words is also science. It is supernatural and it is science.
More to Come
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