STUDY No. 1 - THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE

Article 6 of the 39 Articles of the Church of England reads as follows:-
"Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."
The point being made here is that the Holy Scriptures alone are our final authority.

This is the fundamental position not only of the traditional Anglican, but the traditional Evangelical.

If you wish to study this position more closely, you may like to read Chapter 1 of  ‘Authority in Religion’ taken from 'The Catholic Faith’ by Griffith Thomas (the word ‘Catholic’ being used in the sense of The Faith to which all true Christians subscribe). 'The Catholic Faith' is a manual of instruction for members of the Anglican Church

Every attempt to subtract, add or change Holy Scripture is unacceptable and must be viewed as a deviation from historic Christianity.

SOME PEOPLE SUBTRACT FROM SCRIPTURE

There have always been those who have omitted or questioned verses or portions of Scripture.

It is not unknown for scribes and translators, from the earliest times, to approach their work with preconceived opinions which have influenced their work.

If one happens to question the deity of Christ then such verses as John 1:1 or Acts 8:37 can be questioned or omitted. Such omissions are found in all modern versions.

Then there are those who ‘subtract' in a different way: they do not believe in the miracles. Jesus, they say, was not born of a virgin, that He could not have risen from the dead. They cannot accept prophecy, and assume later dates of origin of the prophetic books. They reject Adam as a historical man, etc. Such explanations are taught as ‘higher critic’ theories.

SOME HAVE PRESUMED TO ADD TO SCRIPTURE

Whole books have been published, like 'The Book of Mormon' by the Mormon Church; ‘Science and Key to the Scriptures’ by the Christian Scientists; the 'Watchtower’ publications by the Jehovah’s Witnesses; and there have been many others who have ‘explained’ or ‘interpreted’ the Scriptures according to their own particular understanding.

More subtle are the ‘extra revelations’, the ‘words from the Lord’, the ‘prophetic utterances’, ‘dreams and visions’ which are claimed to be extra revelation since the close of the canon of Holy Scripture. Most deviations and departures from true Christianity result in the addition of various ‘authorities’ to Scripture.

We must be very discerning, in these last days, of those who appear as ‘leaders’ - see Matthew 24: 11, 23, 24 and 2 Timothy 3:13.

Read carefully Ezekiel chapters 12 and 13. Then notice:

A vision the Lord did NOT send Ezekiel 12:24
A wall the Lord did NOT build Ezekiel 13:10-12
A peace the Lord did NOT give Ezekiel 13:10

Notice how they were led astray!

They prophesied ‘out of their own hearts’  Ezekiel 13:12, 17
They followed ‘their own spirits’ Ezekiel 13:3
They imagined the Lord had told them Ezekiel 13:16
They had seen a ‘vain vision’ Ezekiel 13:7

SOME PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY CHANGING SCRIPTURE

Here we have the most devastating and diabolical attack of all, often unrecognised. The very source of evangelical truth is being polluted. We have had over 70 new ‘Bibles’ and ‘New Testaments’, along with revisions of many of them, in the last 30 years. They are blindly accepted by most Christians, without it being realised that they are based upon different textual resources than those upon which the Authorised Version is based. This is resulting in different ‘Bibles’, which many unsuspecting Christians are using.

The Authorised (or King James) Version has been used for nearly 400 years by more Christians throughout the world than any other version in existence today. The majority of our Creeds and Confessions of Faith are based upon it. It is our final and only authority.

Try comparing the following verses in a modern version with the same in the Authorised Version:

Matthew 12:47 15:9 17:21 18:11 24:14 24:16
Mark 7:16 9:44 9:46 11:26 15:28 16:9-20
Luke 17:36 22:43 22:44 23:12 23:17
John 5:4 7:53-8:11

If you wish to study this important subject in greater detail, 'THE JASPER JAMES TEST' lists over 300 omissions and changes in modern versions, relative to the Authorised Version.
 
 

The INSPIRATION of God’s Word is important
See  2 Timothy 3:16, 17 2 Peter 1:20, 21
...
The PRESERVATION of God’s Word is important
See  Psalm 12:6, 7 Psalm 105:8 Psalm 119:160 Matthew 5:17, 18

 

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