God’s Providence and The Preservation of Scripture (Pt. III)

(Part III)

God Designed his Written Word with Durability to Endure the Strain of

Being Copied and Translated into Other Languages

            Our omnipotent God could have forever given the human race only one language to speak, with no ability to form multiple languages. That, arguably, would have made the preservation of his Word simpler, yet it was God himself who put many different tongues into the mouths of people:

            Now the whole earth had one language and one speech… Therefore, its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth (Gen. 11:1,9).

            Scripture does not attempt to hide the challenges of innumerable copies and translations of the Bible; it rather embraces those transmissions. God intended that most people on the earth would read his word in a translation. The beginning day of the church of Christ itself demonstrated this:

            And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? (Acts 2:4-8).

            When a given thought is accurately expressed, transmission from one language into another does not diminish that accuracy; it maintains it.

            We should keep in mind that when the Bible speaks of God’s Word remaining forever, it does not mean it remains hidden away in a locked vault. It means God protects and preserves his Word as it circulated through the hands of many generations and nations all over the world.

            No man can be saved apart from the accurate gospel message, “I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

            It is significant that the same Jesus who said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will never pass away” also quoted the Old Testament from a Hebrew-to-Greek translation, the Septuagint. The following verses were quoted from wording of the Septuagint:

            This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Mt. 15:8-9; Isa. 29:13).

            Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise (Mt. 21:16; Psa. 8:2).

            Make straight the paths of the Lord (Jn. 1:23; Isa. 40:3).

How long did Jesus believe the Old Law would be preserved for Israel? “Assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Mt. 5:18). Jesus could not have made that promise unless he was sure that God would preserve his Word. Further, that promise was trustworthy despite the rigors of copying and translating. It holds true today. We have the Word of God:

            Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches… (1 Cor. 2:12-13).

To be continued…

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The Spiritual Sword

By Glenn Colley