Psalm 11:3
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
I was in the Louvre in Paris not long ago and there is a beautiful 19th Century Baroque Style small 3 legged table with a marble top there. The fact is that a table must have at least three legs to stand. You do NOT see 2 legged tables! Take away any of the three legs and it will surely collapse. The Christian faith is much like that 3 legged table. It needs 3 legs in order to stand. As you know, Christianity is based on the Bible. Without the Bible, Christianity cannot stand. The three legs I am referring to are Inspiration, Infallibility, and Inerrancy of Scripture. Take away any one, and like the table, the divine authority of the Christian faith will surely topple. Belief in these three “IN’s” is foundational, for the totality of genuine Christianity is built on God’s Word(s) being intact and in total.
Definition of the 3 “IN’s”
INSPIRATION
This “IN” emphasizes the origin of the Bible. “God breathed out” the very Words and holy men, by the moving of the Holy Spirit recorded them without error. God’s Words were given once. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Jude 1:3). Inspiration is the process whereby the Holy Spirit led the writers of Scripture to record, without error, His very words; the product of the process was an inspired original.
INFALLIBILITY
This “IN” emphasizes the authority and enduring nature of the Bible. Infallibility carries the idea of being incapable of error. It is never wrong. It is unfailing, completely trustworthy and unable to be broken. (1 Peter 1:23-25; John 10:35; Matthew 5:18).
INERRANCY
This “IN” means the Bible is without error; free from error or untruth. (Psalm 119:160; Isaiah 40:8; Romans 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
Today Christian faith is like the ancient nursery rhyme about London Bridge; it is falling down. Why? Because for the past century there has been little or no teaching on the doctrine and biblical definition of inerrancy! I thought I got a good Bible college education. I crammed 4 years into 5 and got a Bachelor’s degree in theology. I spent two more years and got a Master’s degree in theology. Certainly I was taught that the autographs (original writings) were inspired and I could quote 2 Timothy 3:16. However, I was not taught anything about inerrancy! When I was ordained, no one asked a single question about inerrancy! They probably had not learned anything about it either. And my friends, Bible Christianity will surely fall if there is NOT belief in inerrancy because there can be NO absolute truth without biblical Inerrancy! The Bible says - “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” (Psalms 119:160)
The Two Pillars of Inerrancy
Divine Inspiration of the Originals
Providential Preservation of the Copies
So, what is INERRANCY? “The Biblical and historical definition of inerrancy rests upon two pillars.
Pillar 1 - The Divine Inspiration of the original Hebrew-Aramaic texts of the Old Testament and Greek texts of the New Testament.
Pillar 2 - The Divine (Providential) Preservation of the copies. Here is what I mean by that - Divine Preservation is the work of God whereby, through sovereign providence and using human instrumentality, He has kept the inspired, inerrant words of the autographs intact down through the ages in the extant Traditional Hebrew and Greek manuscripts so that we have the Word(s) of God today. We have the Word of God in English in our King James Bible.
Historically, Baptists have believed in the Divine Preservation of the Scriptures. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith says:
"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 [identical to the originals]."
In 1742 the Philadelphia Confession of Faith adopted the London Baptist Confession and embraced Divine Inspiration and Divine Preservation and appeared in most Baptist Confessions of faith through 1845.
Today, Bible believing Christians all likely agree with the first pillar of inerrancy; the Divine Inspiration of the originals. I was taught that in Bible College and Seminary. However, by and large Divine Preservation vanished! It has not been taught in Bible College or Seminary for some time. The doctrine of Divine Preservation has virtually disappeared. It is NOT preached from the pulpits! It is NOT taught in the Bible Colleges and Seminaries! What that means is, we are only left with a half-truth, just the Divine Inspiration of the original texts that do NOT exist today! Without the doctrine of Divine Preservation we are left with a meaningless definition of inerrancy!
I have been told by Baptist college and seminary professors there is no such doctrine as Divine or Providential Preservation. What is their basis for stating this? Likely the 1978 Chicago Statement on Inerrancy which says - "...God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture...Similarly, no translation [Bible] is or can be perfect".
Dr. Douglas D. Stauffer writes in his book One Book One Authority, “Over the past five decades, the typical seminary has failed to teach that the Scriptures are the Words of God and that we can hold them in our hands. The issue has transitioned from Paul’s repeated inquiry of ‘What saith the Scripture?’ to ‘Where is the Scripture?’ It can be certain that the Apostle Paul, in the first century, was not referring to the original Hebrew manuscripts but copies of copies of copies in use at the time.”
Is it any wonder that our churches are powerless, our families are falling apart and our culture is reprobate when those who call themselves preachers, even many fundamental Baptists do not believe that God has preserved His Words for us today, or if He did, they are not sure where it is! If God has NOT preserved His Words for us today there is NO divine authority. Even liberals recognize the foolishness of believing in inspiration without believing in preservation. Here is an example:
Dr. Roger Olson, a liberal professor of theology at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, wrote in his 2006 article in The Baptist Standard entitled, "Why ‘Inerrancy’ Doesn’t Matter." "Think about this: If the Bible’s authority depends on its inerrancy but only the original manuscripts were inerrant, then only the original manuscripts were authoritative. The logic is impeccable and irresistible. And if “inerrancy” is compatible with flawed approximations, faulty chronologies, and use of incorrect sources by the biblical authors, it is a meaningless concept." "Even its most ardent and staunch proponents admit no existing Bible is inerrant; they attribute inerrancy only to the original manuscripts, which do not exist. They kill the ordinary meaning of the word with the death of a thousand qualifications. If you doubt that, please read the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy, which usually is considered the standard evangelical account of the concept."
The Four Views of Preservation
No Preservation
This view holds that the inspiration of Scriptures is enough, and that there is no need for a belief in preservation.
Cornilius van Til, the Reformed Theologian, wrote in his book The Doctrine of Scripture:
"The important point is not whether or not we now possess the autographa but whether they have actually existed. Without them there is no Christ who has spoken in history. With them we have such a Christ. With them we have many problems of text and translation but no ultimate meaningless mystery, such as we would have without them.”
Obviously, van Til affirmed the infallibility of the autographa (originals), which we do not have, but denied the preservation and infallibility of the apographs (copies of the originals) and therefore the infallibility of any translation.
Partial Preservation
Many Fundamentalists hold this view. Those who advocate this view say that God has preserved 93% or 98.7% while the remaining 7% or 1.3% have not been preserved. They assert the Word of God exists where all the manuscripts agree. Where the manuscripts disagree, textual criticism is left to determine which reading is best. If that cannot be done with complete accuracy, and that rarely happens, then it must be admitted that the believer cannot be sure what the True Text really is.
Dr. Stewart Custer holds to the Partial Preservation view. In his book Witness to Christ — A Commentary on Acts, he makes a profound concession when he comments on Acts 2:47 which reads (in the KJV):
"Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
The KJV follows the western text (Bezan D) in adding "to the church." The idea is certainly implied by the context, and the western text regularly supplies such explanations. For the rest of the old manuscripts (4th cent. and before), the first occurrence of the word church is in Acts 5:11. All such variations in manuscript evidence should be treated with respect. Only God knows infallibly which variation was original.
Since “only God knows” the true reading, clearly Dr. Custer believes in “partial preservation.” Dr. Charles Ryrie would fit into this category—as do many others in our day. In the Ryrie Study Bible he says, commenting on 1 Samuel 13:1, “The original numbers in this verse have apparently been lost in transmission.” While I do not clearly understand the passage, I am not willing to cast doubt on the Words of God.
Heavenly Preservation Only
Those who advocate this view say that God has preserved His words, but only in Heaven. He has NOT preserved them on earth. They use Psalm 119:89 as their proof-text for this – “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”
Dr. Larry Oates of Maranatha Baptist University holds to this view. He stated in a 1996 lecture at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, PA:
"The preservation of the Word of God is perfectly accomplished by God in heaven. The preservation of God's Word on earth has been committed to people. God anticipated the possibility of failure on man's part in accurately preserving the autographs. ... God could have preserved His word but history proves He did not."
In a peculiar way this aligns Oates alongside a leading textual critic, Professor David Parker of the University of Birmingham, UK, who wrote in The Living Text of the Gospels:
"The concept of the Gospel that is fixed in shape, authoritative, and final as a piece of literature has to be abandoned….The [free] text indicates that to at least some early Christians, it was more important to hand on the spirit of Jesus’ teaching than to remember the letter.... The material about Jesus was preserved in an interpretive rather than an exact fashion."
I certainly believe that God’s Word(s) are settled, preserved, in Heaven! You will get NO argument from me on that matter. However, I believe God has preserved them for us on earth. That is affirmed in Matthew 4:4: “But he [Jesus] answered and said, It is written [in Deuteronomy 8:3], Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” I contend what we have on earth in our King James Bible is a perfect reproduction of that which is settled in Heaven.
Providential Preservation / Verbal Plenary Preservation
What is Verbal Plenary Preservation? “Verbal” means “every word to the jot and tittle” (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18). “Plenary” means “the Scripture as a whole with all the words intact” (Matt 24:35, 1 Pet 1:25). So Verbal Plenary Preservation means the whole of Scripture—with every word even to the jot and tittle—is perfectly preserved by God without any loss of the original words, prophecies, promises, commandments, doctrines, and truths, not only in the words of salvation, but also the words of history, geography, and science. Every book, every chapter, every verse, every word, every syllable, every letter is infallibly preserved by the Lord Himself to the last iota.
I believe the Bible teaches God’s Providential Preservation of the Scriptures which cannot be separated from the doctrine of their verbal plenary inspiration. Edward F. Hills wrote in his book The King James Bible Defended:
"If the doctrine of the divine inspiration of the Old and New Testament Scriptures is a true doctrine, the doctrine of the providential preservation of the Scriptures must also be a true doctrine. It must be that down through the centuries God has exercised a special, providential control over the copying of the Scriptures and the preservation and use of the copies, so that trustworthy representatives of the original text have been available to God’s people in every age. God must have done this, for if HE gave the Scriptures to His Church by inspiration as the perfect and final revelation of His will, then it is obvious that He would not allow this revelation to disappear or undergo any alteration of its fundamental character."
Hills goes on to say that ALL branches of the Christian Church, either implicitly or explicitly, have held that Providential Preservation is the necessary consequence of divine inspiration of the Scriptures.
The Biblical Support For Providential Preservation
If you claim that something is a doctrine, it MUST be taught in the Bible! In fact, Providential Preservation IS clearly taught in the Bible. Let’s begin with Psalm 12:6-7:
(12:6) משׁד עניים מאנקת אביונים עתה אקום יאמר יהוה אשׁית בישׁע יפיח לו׃ (12:7) אמרות יהוה אמרות טהרות כסף צרוף בעליל לארץ מזקק שׁבעתים׃
Psalm 12:6-7 “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.”
Note the extent of preservation (the "words"). Note the Agent of preservation ("Thou…O LORD”). Note the period of preservation (“for ever”).
Most modern Fundamentalists INSIST on rejecting this text as teaching verbal, every-word preservation of the words of God. Why am I NOT surprised? If this text means what it appears to mean, it would be a very formidable text supporting verbal, every-word Providential Preservation. Hence, they have come up with a defense to attack that idea. According to the opponents of every-word preservation, "them" MUST take a masculine plural antecedent since it has a masculine plural pronominal suffix itself. Further, they claim that the nearest word to qualify is “poor” and "needy" in verse 5 (which are both masculine plural words). They posit (theorize) that the passage is not referring to God's Words, but to the poor and needy — God will preserve them, the poor and needy! My question is this: If God cannot preserve His words, how is He to be expected to preserve His people? They really do not want to address that theological problem.
According to a Hebrew professor I know, Psalm 12 is an illustration of what is called gender discordance—that is, a feminine word or words being the apparent antecedent of a masculine plural or masculine singular pronominal suffix (them). The second “them” has a masculine singular pronominal suffix.
Although “words” is the closest possible antecedent (by the rule of proximity), the genders do not match. Normally, this would be a menacing obstacle—and one that would provide Providential Preservationists with a serious flaw in their argument. In fact, there is NOT a problem according to several important Hebrew grammars.
The standard Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley grammar says: "...masculine suffixes (especially in the plural) are not infrequently used to refer to feminine substantives," (#135-0). Also, the recent Hebrew grammar by Waltke and O'Conner states, "The masculine pronoun is often used for a feminine antecedent." (Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbraiins Pbul., 1990, #16.4b).
Let me put it to you simply: Hebrew grammar permits what English grammar does not. Some of the classic examples of this gender discordance are found in Psalm 119. Here, in a similar bibliological context to that of Psalm 12:6-7, several examples are found of gender discordance. All scholars agree as to the antecedent for these pronouns.
For example:
- Psalm 119:111 — "Thy testimonies" (feminine plural) is the antecedent for "they" (a masculine pronoun).
- Psalm 119:129 — "Thy testimonies" (feminine plural) is the antecedent for "them" (a masculine pronominal suffix).
- Psalm 119:152 — The same "thy testimonies" is the antecedent for "them" (a masculine pronominal suffix).
- Psalm 119:167 — Again, "thy testimonies" is the antecedent to the masculine pronominal suffix "them."
The gender discordance in Psalm 12:6-7 does not negate what the verse is saying. The “them” in "Thou shalt keep them" (by the rule of proximity) refers to “the words of the Lord.” It is the words of the Lord that are to be preserved! God has preserved HIS words! As one seminary professor put it, “Though the Lord may use fallible human beings in preservation as He did in inspiration (and He does), the ultimate Guarantor of preservation is the Lord Himself! Just as inspiration is not the result of careful human beings, neither is preservation—it is the work of God!”
I can give a long list of verses in the Old and New Testament that teach Providential Preservation (Deut 8:3; Psa 33:11; 78:1-8; 100:5; 111:7-8; 117:2; 119:89-90, 111, 144, 152, 160; 146:6; Ecc. 3:14; Isa. 40:8; 59:21; Jer. 44:28; Mat 4:4; 5:18; 24:35; Lk 16:17).
I could not wrap it up any better than by quoting from a friend’s book, Thou Shalt Keep Them: A Biblical Theology of the Perfect Preservation of Scripture, by Gary La More.
Because the Scriptures are forever relevant, they have been preserved down through the ages by God's special providence. The Lord Himself proclaimed the reality of the Providential Preservation of the Scriptures of both Testaments during His life on earth: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18). "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). He declared that the Old Testament text in common use among the Jews during His earthly ministry was an absolutely trustworthy reproduction of the original text. Nothing had been lost from that text and nothing ever would be lost. It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass than for such a loss to take place.
Jesus taught that the same Divine providence which had preserved the Old Testament would preserve the New Testament. In the concluding verses of the Gospel of Matthew we find His “Great Commission” to His assemblies throughout the ages. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations….” This solemn charge implies the promise that, through the working of God's providence, His New Testament assemblies would always possess an infallible record of Jesus' Words and works. Similarly, in His discourse on last things, the Lord assures His disciples that His promises would not only certainly be fulfilled but also remain available for the comfort of His people during that troubled period which shall precede His Second Coming. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Words shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).
The Holy Spirit providentially guided churches to preserve His Words during the manuscript period. First, faithful scribes produced many trustworthy copies of the original New Testament manuscripts. Second, these trustworthy copies were read and recopied by true believers down through the centuries. Third, untrustworthy copies were not so generally read or so frequently recopied. Although they enjoyed some popularity for a time, in the long run they were laid aside and consigned to oblivion. Thus, as a result of this special providential guidance, the true text won out in the end, and today the believer may be sure that the text found in the vast majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts—preserved by the God-guided usage of the Greek churches—is a trustworthy reproduction of the Divinely inspired original. Some have called it the Byzantine text, thereby acknowledging that it was the text in use in the Greek churches during the greater part of the Byzantine period (452–1453). It is much better, however, to call this text the Traditional Text because it has been handed down by the God-guided tradition of the Lord's ekklasiai ("churches") from the time of the Apostles to the present day.
It is from this line of manuscripts that our King James Bible has been translated. It preserves—by accurate translation—the Hebrew/Aramaic Masoretic Text and the Greek Received Text and therefore maintains all the authority and power that God placed in and on His Words. The King James Bible is God’s Preserved Word(s) for English-speaking people.
I challenge every person listening to this message to return to teaching the Doctrine of Providential Preservation. It is foundational to genuine Christianity.
Psalm 11:3 “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” We MUST rebuild the foundation! We must preach and teach on Providential Preservation! If we do not, Christianity will have NO authoritative Word, churches will remain powerless, so-called biblical fundamentalism unproductive, and our culture will continue its spiral into debaucher.
