Tuesday, March 12, 2024
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29 KJV).
What is this “corrupt communication?”
If someone tells us “it makes no difference what Bible version we use,” it is because of one of two possibilities. Firstly (the lesser charge), they have probably not personally studied the matter in great detail—and are only innocently repeating “authorities,” “experts,” or “scholars.” Secondly (the more serious reason), perhaps they know more than they are telling us and/or know more than we do about it, and they offer dishonest or incomplete information for fear their school or church will be exposed as being responsible for tampering with the Bible!
Throughout Israel’s history, despite the apostasy and unbelief, faithful Levitical (priestly) scribes collated (collected) and copied the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis through Malachi) once God’s prophets wrote the original manuscripts. See the Levites’ ministry in Deuteronomy 17:18, Deuteronomy 24:8, Deuteronomy 31:24-26, Ezra 7:11, Nehemiah 8:6-9, and Malachi 2:7. By New Testament times, believers in Jesus Christ were collating and copying the Books of Matthew through Revelation after the Apostles wrote the original manuscripts. See Romans 16:26, 1 Corinthians 14:37, and Colossians 4:16.
Of course, the Devil always seeks to imitate God as much as possible so as to receive praise that only the Creator deserves (Isaiah 14:14). Only two Bible manuscript families exist—God’s preserved words and Satan’s counterfeit. If there were forged Bible manuscripts some 2,000 years ago (remember 2 Thessalonians 2:2), no one can ever truthfully tell us deliberate falsification of the Scriptures is not occurring today in some fashion.
Sinful man, agreeing with Satan’s policy of evil (“I will think and do what I want, no matter what God says!”), seeks to undercut or undermine faith in the preserved line of Bible manuscripts. No longer is it “God has guarded against error a text family worthy of our faith,” but rather (courtesy of “natural-man scholarship”) “God needs our help in recovering or reconstructing what text He lost because He was unable to protect it!” Indeed, the latter statement appeals to the flesh, and glorifies secular education under the guise of “Christianity.”
Doubtless, actual Bible text changes are the deadliest form of “corrupt communication….”
333 Words of Grace 