11 | December | 2017 | For What Saith the Scriptures?

WHAT VERSE SAYS THE BIBLE IS WITHOUT ERROR?

by Shawn Brasseaux

“Is the Bible without error? Where in the Bible can I find the Scriptures to back the statement that the Bible is without error?”

Thank you for that Bible question! First and foremost, it should be noted that we are not looking for a verse that explicitly says, “The Bible is without error.” That is not how we study the Bible or use the Scriptures to establish facts. But, there are Bible verses that cause us to believe the Bible is indeed without error, fully authoritative and entirely trustworthy. People do not like those verses; yea, they even wish those verses were not there. Nevertheless, those verses are there, and we will look at them in this study.

Consider the following:

The Bible claims to be the Word of God. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God….” (2 Timothy 3:16). “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation… Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21).
The Bible says, “God cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) and “it [is] impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18).
The Bible claims to be God’s inspired Word, and it says God cannot Therefore, the Bible cannot teach lies. The Bible does not have mistakes. It has been said, “A man is only as good as his word.” To say that the Bible has errors means that God is not really much of a God.

Let us look at other verses. For example, consider Proverbs 30:5-6: “[5] Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. [6] Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” The Bible says “every word of God is pure.” The Bible is true. When we add to those pure words, we lie and we make the Bible a lie.

Now, 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.” The Bible says, “the words of the LORD are pure words.” “Pure” means “free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates.” Those preserved words of God are guarded against corruption or contamination. Psalm 119:140 says, “Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.” As one refines a precious metal to remove all impurities, so God’s Word is void of error and deception. The Holy Spirit has preserved it to be thus even today.

Let us look at Psalm 19:7-9: “[7] The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. [8] The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. [9] The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” God’s Word is “perfect,” “sure” (reliable), “right” (correct), “pure” (uncontaminated), “clean,” and “true and righteous altogether.” This is hardly the language of a Book filled with errors.

We read where the Bible is called the “scripture of truth” (Daniel 10:21) or the “word of truth.” If the Bible contains errors, then it could not be called the “truth,” could it? Notice:

Psalm 119:43: “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.”
2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
James 1:18: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
The Psalmist wrote, “I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me” (Psalm 119:30).
“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever” (Psalm 119:160).
Jesus Christ prayed to His Father, God, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). If the Bible is “truth,” and Jesus said it was, could it contain errors? Of course not!

According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Bible is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” God put that profit in His Word in order for “the man of God … [to] be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The Scriptures contain everything God wants us to know so that we may do everything He wants us to do. If the Bible has mistakes, then that means God withheld some information, or that He was negligent in ensuring we received all the correct information He originally revealed. Could a Bible with mistakes “throughly furnish [equip]” us? No. The Bible would be lacking some information, or it would contain distorted information, and either deficiency would thus disrupt our Christian lives. The assumption is that the Bible is so reliable that you can base your life upon it!

The Bible had better not have mistakes. Remember, a lost person who believes the Gospel of the Grace of God found in the Bible—“Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)—is basing his or her destiny on a Book that better not have mistakes! A mistake in the Bible may very well literally mean the difference between Heaven and Hell!

Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” If we as Christians follow the Bible, the Word of God (and that rightly divided), that will guard us from committing sin. The assumption is that the Bible is true, for if it had errors, then we (following those errors) would commit sin. Psalm 119:11 indicates that the Bible must be true; otherwise, it is of no use to us in avoiding error.

According to Scripture, it is the standard whereby we gauge truth from error, sound teaching from false teaching. The Bible can save us from deception, Satan’s lie program. No book riddled with errors could deliver us from lies. Notice:

Isaiah 8:19-20: “[19] And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? [20] To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
1 Timothy 4:13-16: “[13] Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. [14] Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. [15] Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. [16] Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
2 Timothy 3:13-17: “[13] But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. [14] But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; [15] And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. [16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: [17] That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
2 Timothy 4:2-4: “[2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. [3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

How can you use an error-filled book to distinguish between truth and error? It does not make sense, my friend. The assumption of the Bible writers is that the Bible is true, true to the extent that it can be used to discern fact from fiction. If we are people of faith, we will simply share their attitude. The Holy Bible is our final authority.

In Luke 4:16-21, the Lord Jesus read from the Book of Isaiah (part of the Bible). Would Jesus have read from a Book riddled with mistakes? Evidently, Jesus thought there was a fully reliable, trustworthy Bible Book in His day. Psalm 138:2 says God “has magnified his word above all [his] name.” Would God exalt a Book with mistakes? Would He ever say that an error-filled book was “greater” than His very name? Of course not! The assumption is that God thinks so highly of His written Word, the Holy Bible, that He has placed it above all His name. His name is above all, and His Word is above all His name! Wow—the Holy Bible is some Book!

Jesus exhorted some individuals in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Would Jesus suggest people read a book riddled with inaccuracies? Of course not. As the Lord Himself said, “The scripture cannot be broken [is true forever]” (John 10:35).

The Lord Jesus warned in John 12:48: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” On the day of judgment—whether the Judgment Seat of Christ (for Christians—1 Corinthians 3:9-15), or the Great White Throne Judgment (for unbelievers—Revelation 20:11-15)—the Word of God will be used to evaluate the people who heard and read it. God will hold all people accountable to whatever Bible doctrine they had access to. That means Bible preservation is necessary! There must be a reliable Bible for them to access, for God to hold them accountable to receiving, believing, and following it!

If we are going to take the Bible at face value, friend, the Bible claims to be trustworthy and fully authoritative, free from defects and erroneous information. But, here is a word of caution that everyone must understand. Not all “bibles” are actually Bibles!

*PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING ABOUT BIBLE VERSIONS AND PERVERSIONS*

Not every book that claims to be “The Bible” is “The Holy Bible.” There are books with mistakes that claim to be “the Bible,” that are marketed as “the Bible,” but are not the Bible. While they have seeds of truth, they are Satan’s cheap counterfeits (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Peter 1:20–2:3). Thousands of ancient Bible manuscripts exist; however, not all of them are reliable. We can look at verses in these texts and allow them to give their own testimony as to their reliability or faultiness. We can take the King James Bible, which is translated from the preserved Bible manuscripts, and compare it with the modern versions, which are translated from the counterfeit (that is, Roman Catholic) Bible manuscripts. It can be easily demonstrated that the King James text is far superior to the modern English versions. The many verses we listed earlier in this study are true of the Authorized Version King James Bible; they are not true of the modern English versions. Even a scant amount of honest research yields such a conclusion.

Whenever somebody says that there is a “mistake” in the King James Bible, they are simply trying to prove their pet theological belief—that there is no perfect Bible today. The idea that there is no perfect Bible today, no Bible today that carries the same authority as the apostles’ original manuscripts, results from prideful men who believe their seminary education will compensate for God’s negligence. They are trained to believe that God will use their (limited) wisdom of men to “reconstruct” the divinely-inspired text that was allegedly “lost” centuries ago. What fantasy! What delusion! They want to be the authority; they refuse to submit to a mere book, especially God’s Book!

There never was a “lost” Bible, friend. God’s people always have used God’s Word; it is just that forged Bibles (manuscripts and versions) have been used to sidetrack and dupe others. The 1611 King James Bible, its early English predecessors, and their source manuscripts have been used for centuries by the Church the Body of Christ. Unbelieving minds, those who hated the pure Bible text, took certain reliable manuscripts many centuries ago, deliberately altered them, and (the gullible) still take those manuscripts and translate them into new English Bible versions even now. This has been going on especially since the last 100 years. Organized religion (institutions and denominations) has spoiled the Bible text! Beware, beware, beware! The Roman Catholic Church is assaulting the Protestant Bible and most Protestants are totally clueless!

Verses in the New International Version demonstrate to us that it has mistakes. The same is true of the Holman Christian Standard Bible, New King James Version, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New Living Translation, Amplified, The Message, The Voice, Roman Catholic bibles, Jehovah’s Witnesses New World Translation, and so on. You can check Mark 1:2, Hebrews 3:16, Matthew 5:22 (cf. Mark 3:5), to name a few. We cannot find any such mistakes in the King James Bible. (I have not found any; so if you know of anything suspicious, please let me know.) These false versions (counterfeits) have caused people to doubt the Bible text as perfect. Friend, it is my hope and prayer that you will consider this information, and act accordingly.