Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: There are four basic tenets of the Doctrine of Scripture (which can be remembered by the mnemonic aid “S.C.A.N.”): Sufficiency, Clarity, Authority, and Necessity. In Galatians 1, we find a powerful statement concerning the Authority of Scripture. Basically stated, the Bible is the Word of God and contrary statements, interpretations, additions, and subtractions are not. When we reach the last word of Revelation, we have reached the end of God's revelation to humanity. There is nothing before it in the Bible that we have authority to change, and there is nothing more that we have the authority to add. People have constantly tried to do both, throughout history. Most preachers and Sunday school teachers do it unintentionally! (I try not to do it, but I’m sure I do on occasion.) More importantly, it is also done intentionally even at the highest levels of authority. In 1522 Erasmus published his brilliant New Testament, which became the New Testament of the Textus Receptus and thus, eventually, the King James Bible. The Catholic Church convinced him to include an inauthentic passage to 1 John 5:8 (called the Johannine Comma) to bolster the Trinitarian doctrine espoused by Church theologians. (Today, most Bibles have dropped this language. The website Catholic Answers states that “No scholar any longer accepts its authenticity.”) The same thing happens today, and not only out of the mouths and writings of individuals “interpreting” the Bible — mixing something in the Bible together with something that comes from their own mind — but also, in the mistranslation of the Bible itself. One modern example: The 1984 NIV alters James 5:20 to conform to evangelical theology. The correct text reads: My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back . . . [he] will save his soul from death. (James 5:19-20, NASB) Christ our salvation from the storm - dynamic The passage implies that a “saved” church member can stray and states clearly that bringing him back into faith will save his soul from death. But this runs contrary to the notion, held by many Reformed and evangelical Christians, that once a person is saved he cannot thereafter lose his salvation. But to reconcile this apparent contradiction between the Bible and their theology, the 1984 NIV changed the Bible! They simply omitted the word “soul” and taught that the death the person would suffer was physical. Thus, a generation of Reformed and evangelical Bible teachers, who used the 1984 NIV, did not have to answer embarrassing questions about the apparent disagreement of James with their theology. And let me add: In general, the New Testament portion of the 1984 NIV may be the most inaccurate popular translation of the Bible ever written. Later NIV translations range from “terrible” to “pretty good.” But why would anyone want to read the NIV, much less use it for Bible study, when there are excellent modern translations (such as the Berean Std, ESV, New King James, and NASB) available? Paul roars in condemnation. His assertion of the finality of the Gospel is so absolute that he applies it to himself! Because he has taught the Gospel as a direct revelation of Christ, it cannot be subject to revision, for Christ is speaking as God, incapable of error. God is not going to change His mind about this. Therefore, it is inviolable. Neither Paul himself nor an angel who drops down out of the sky can preach anything different; if they do, they are wrong. And “wrong” or “erroneous” is too soft in tone. Such a teaching (and the person who teaches it) is “anathema” — accursed. Meaning, it will create disfavor in the eye of God. Lest one take this lightly, Paul drives home the severity of this sin by repeating it, for emphasis. What are we to think of those who misstate Scripture? It is actually rather scary. One sees, time and again, people spouting off about the Bible or theology without the care or understanding that this passage might imply. But even worse, what might one say about those who rewrite or misinterpret the Bible intentionally?