Saturday, March 16, 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?”
Carefully reflect upon Romans 12:1,2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” The Bible is designed to “renew” our minds, completely change them for the better. However, if the Bible text we use is corrupted, our thoughts will be likewise ruined instead of renovated.
Once the Bible is changed, the Christian’s thinking is altered, his or her vocabulary is modified, his or her definitions are adjusted. How can we not expect problems both near-term and long-term? “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130). If we do not have the very words of God—free from error and kept separate from the words of men—we are without light and without understanding. We cannot walk in the truth because we do not have the truth and we do not know the truth. Now, we are basing our Christian minds and lives on a faulty foundation of sand, thus producing darkness, confusion, and failure.
Ask any so-called “scholar” if he or she has a Bible that can be trusted 100 percent. Thanks to the poor quality of their education, the usual answer is “No.” Beware of textual criticism: through subsequent manuscript studies, historical studies, archeological studies, and additional training in the “latest” translation techniques, the “scholar” revises whatever “Bible” he or she has and then uses it for justification to produce another version. Nothing in that new Bible will ever be settled either. It too will be subjected to the same doubts and corrections. The vicious cycle of unbelief is transferred to the gullible “Christian” public, and millions of readers join the “scholars” in mutilating the Bible by depending on “helpful textual footnotes” and “critical commentaries.” While the verses and versions change through time, what remains the same is a cesspool of “corrupt communication….”
NOTE: In order to bring you a special study, we will temporarily break away from this devotionals arc….
333 Words of Grace 