Concepts already alluded to in former posts concern the immutability— that is, the unchanging and eternal nature— and the faithful preservation of the word of God, as defined and explained in the Holy Bible. Immutable means unchanging. Preserved means saved from injury, destruction or decay; or kept or defended from evil. Because of this, it may be said to be equally true that the Holy Bible is the eternal word of God and also that its own faithful preservation is defined and explained for us in certain terms.
It comes as no surprise that the eternal Lord would have the power not only to bring his word into his creation as He has willed, and also to keep it unchanged, but also the power to keep its content and integrity at every moment unto the end. This starts from the moment in which it entered the world. Considering that God has that power, it should not surprise us to discover that his word really is treated exactly according to this way, even according to what the scriptures say. So this matter then becomes a question of whether scripture is to be believed on this account regarding its own preservation, or whether doubts planted by others are allowed to dominate over an individual’s mind. Rather than harboring doubts, let us consider the following.
A trustworthy definition of how immutable and trustworthy God’s word is to us can be found in the below passage.
1 Peter 1:23-25
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Here, not only is the word of God defined for the reader as compared to all other words, but there is a distinction drawn clearly between it and the word of men, so that His word may be identified from the other on this basis. The word of God is known as the ‘incorruptible,’ as that which liveth and abideth forever. Peter in 1 Peter 1:23-25 says that while the glory of man fades away and falls away, the word of the Lord meanwhile endures forever. Therefore, if this statement is true, then we know this therefore: If something has not endured uncorrupted to the present day, then it cannot be the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord exists, and it cannot be something that has changed.
We really get two basic facts from this: first, only the word of the Lord endures forever. And second, the one and only incorruptible word of God exists then, and therefore it exists now. So the second fact is the fact that it does exist, in addition to being told how to find it, because according to 1 Peter 1:23-25 it is incorruptible, and never changes but rather endures forever.
It is accurate to say that the word of God endures forever, for the Lord Jesus Christ himself told us that, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31). He said “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18). He also said, “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.” (Isaiah 59:21).
This third reference from the above paragraph is important toward understanding the way in which the preservation of God’s unchanging word has taken place. As it is known as the word of God, the word of God consists of a very specific set of words given from on high and received by his chosen prophets on earth in due season. This is just as the word of God says also in Hebrews 1:1-2—
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
We should again mention the following Biblical statements, that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”12 Timothy 3:16-17 and that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”22 Peter 1:21
But what does this scripture consist of? Turn now back to Isaiah 59:21—
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.
So we see that it is those words that have continued to present time. It has to be in order to fulfill the prophecy that the exact same words (not merely ideas or concepts) that the prophets received, we do receive now. This can be shown to be so because the Bible we have just read from here is a translation from those sources.3in this case, from the original Hebrew version of Isaiah There can be no question that God preserves his word, just as surely as he brought the word to earth. Preservation of that word would follow just as much from believing in the original inspiration by God of the same. It is the same God working all in all.4“And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:6 It is only a matter of believing the true sayings of God on their true timeless value. We may therefore dismiss arguments contrary to what these Scriptures teach about what must be.5“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”
— 1 Timothy 6:3-5 We always have the original language sources to refer to, which are the same sources that the translators of the Bible had.
The above truth will only upset the cart for certain theories that men have made. These theories assume that it was not until new manuscripts were newly discovered that changes to Scripture were in order, which is exactly what is presumed by the translators of modern versions of the Bible, such as the ASV or the NIV, which use modern discoveries as a basis to make changes: or that the original words were lost and only an intermediate translation is left today for translating from.6which is what users of the Vulgate or the Hexaplar Septuagint for translations have done However, this all implies that the editors of these Bible versions believe that the original uncorrupted words have been lost, or that all that remains of the original languages has been corrupted.7or, alternatively, they conclude that there is no such thing as corruption at all but everyone is free to choose what they want: i.e. relativism, (many false teachers waver ambiguously between these two positions, as both of which are profitable to them) But to this idea, consider the spiritual implications of the following passage of Scripture:
Jeremiah 36—
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house.
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house, in the ears of all the people.
When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,
Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.
And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?
Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.
Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.
But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.
And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim the king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
—
So, because of the above passage of Scripture, it is clearly God’s purpose that his words never leave us. Now there is every reason to think that many people, just as Jehoiakim in the story, have made their best effort to erase the real word of God, to cause it to be lost or be corrupted. But there is a similar cause to know that no device or scheme, however carefully devised, and no accident, could prevent the perfect preservation of all God’s word. None of man’s corruptions may pierce the ‘shield and buckler’ of his truth. (Psalm 91:4). And, like an armor made up of perfect scales, one word is so near to another, that no air can come between them. Here is another passage dealing again with this issue.
2 Corinthians 2:17
For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
So it must be, that where the church of God exists today, the church does not corrupt the word! Of a certainty, the church safeguards the word, as opposed to the many: the “many” corrupt the word as stated in 2 Corinthians 2:17. The inspired scriptures may therefore be held as immutable. And this is because Scripture’s own claims have been believed, by the person who believes that, as God said, the truth is immutable.8“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
— John 17:17
“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”
— Proverbs 30:5
This is simply believing that its unchangeability, as stated throughout Scripture, has never been broken. This unchangeability of itself can not be broken, any more than any other statement in Scripture.9“But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
— Matthew 26:56
“I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.”
— Mark 14:49
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
— Luke 24:44
Now one last dispute might be made by some who would say, that men decided in the form of a council what was the composition of Scripture, or that it was later compiled by someone. They think, because of this belief, that the Scripture and the Bible were or are subject to change. They are also prone to believe that Scripture as it now exists is therefore fallible, as it can be changed. It may be responded, that the “record that God gave to us” has to be be unchanged in order for it to be true at all times. It is not true only to some at some times. It is eternally true. Therefore if someone thinks that His word has changed, they also think that the truth itself has changed. And if not this, then they suggest that the Bible is not entirely true, and should not be trusted to be true if it has changed. Yet it follows from the statement of Proverbs 30:5—
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Also Psalm 100:5—
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
God’s word is not true only to some at some times. It is true to all at all times. As the truth never changes, so too the word never changes… Or else such statements could not be made absolutely. And other facts follow this—
Psalm 12:6-7
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Biblically, this defeats the notion of the word of God being partially lost to time and then “recovered,” rediscovered, or compiled (authoritatively or otherwise) by later generations. This would be an unnecessary task. The inspired word must have been present in the world and known at all times from the moment of its initial revelation to man, (which occurred in due time according to the will of God.10“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;”
— Titus 1:2-3) So in Acts 12:24 and Acts 19:2011“But the word of God grew and multiplied.”
— Acts 12:24
“So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
— Acts 19:20 the word continued to grow and take root in the world. (← the next post)
We therefore cannot say that it was compiled by a group of people, since at no point was the content of the word of God ever lost. Rather, the word has been safeguarded perpetually throughout time.12“…the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
— 1 Timothy 3:15 The “many,” who have tried to “corrupt” the words of the Lord at various times, and introduce their own version of it have not succeeded. Those men only want you to doubt that, “it is not true.”
Psalm 119:160
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.