Wherein We Find That Our Sovereign God Has Kept His Holy Word Pure And Free From The Vicious Attempts Of Apostate "Scholars" To Defile And Destroy It.
By David Otis Fuller, D.D. Grand Rapids, Michigan
Over a number of months past we have been carefully comparing and checking, verse by verse, the modernistic Revised Standard Version with the King James Version of our Bible. We have noted by writing in the margin of the pages of the RSV, over 1100 (1138 to be exact), for the most part deliberate mistranslations, deletions, perversions in the RSV.
The "editors?" of the RSV do not understand the simple English let alone the Hebrew or the Greek! Several illustrations from many will suffice. The RSV in Mark 4:19 reads "And the delight in riches" while in the KJV it reads "The deceitfulness of riches." Any ten year old child could tell you the difference between "delight" and "deceitfulness"!
(The "translators" of the Old Testament evince more venomous hate for God's Word in their abortive mistranslation than those of the New Testament. They prove themselves to be more brazen and arrogant in changing meanings and prophecies to suit their depraved minds. The difference in the number of distortions is 715 in the Old Testament as over against 423 in the New Testament.)
The RSV in Luke 12:25 reads "and which of you being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life?" while in the KJV it reads "and which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?" Is there one person now reading these lines so ignorant, so bereft of just ordinary intelligence, who does not know the difference between "span" and "stature"? (This marked RSV "Bible" with its 1138 deliberate mistranslations, deletions and perversions, may be seen by anyone upon appointment, in the pastor's study, but not to be borrowed or removed).
We make no pretence at great scholarship by any means, but it has been our privilege to study both Hebrew and Greek under two of the greatest scholars in this country or abroad, J. Gresham Machen and Robert Dick Wilson, formerly of Princeton Seminary. Dr. Wilson in silencing one modernistic critic for good, read through 100,000 different manuscripts in many languages (he knew and could speak 45 different languages) in order to prove this critic wrong in his contention our Bible was in error at this point.
(The languages Dr. Wilson used in this particular expose of the higher critics included Aramaic, Babylonian, Chaldee, Sansckrit, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, etc.)
Dr. Machen has written the most scholarly work ever produced by any one on "The Virgin Birth of Christ" nearly 400 pages, holding up to the light of truth every argument advanced against the miraculous birth of our Lord. No one has ever answered this, and never will; it is unanswerable.
We have already called to your attention the blasphemous "Interpreter's Bible" of 12 volumes, 10,000 pages, and 8,000,000 words, termed by one well known Christian scholar as "the greatest attack upon the Scriptures since the days of the Caesars". Twelve of the editors of the RSV are editors of this Interpreter's Bible which abounds on page after page with references to things in the Bible as "myth", "fable", "tradition", "fancy", "legend", etc.
You and I need an Anchor for our souls. The storm in its fury is breaking fast. We need a Road Map, a Light for our way. The road ahead is black midnight without it. Do not be alarmed at these malicious attacks by men whose minds are mastered by insensate hatred for God and His Holy Word. A dollar bill found counterfeit by you wouldn't cause you to lose faith in all treasury notes.
Whether it be a counterfeit RSV or a spurious Goodspeed Bible (which translates Isa. 1:18 as follows, "Come, Let us reason together saith the Lord, Tho your sins be like scarlet, shall they be white as snow? tho they be red like crimson, shall they become as wool?") Or the vicious abortive "translation" of the Jehovah's Witnesses, you may be sure our Sovereign God will keep His Word pure and clean and safe from the dirty fingers of those who take counsel together against the Lord and against His Christ ("He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh").
The heading of this article, "GOD WROTE ONLY ONE BIBLE" has been taken from a fascinating, factual book bearing this title. It has been written and compiled by John Jasper Ray of Junction City, Oregon. It may be obtained from Tabernacle Baptist Church, at the address found at the end of this tract. In this book we find an abundance of vital information tabulated by the author after years of intensive research. If you desire your God-given faith strengthened and established more firmly, we highly recommend that you purchase this book but don't think it will be easy reading, though anyone with average mental equipment can grasp it.
The following are a few of the salient facts as recorded by Mr. Ray in his remarkable book. "A correlated historical summary of textual criticism reveals that only two streams of Bibles have come to us. These are the products of two separate systems. First, the true Christian Faith puts the Inspired Word of God above everything else. The other system puts something above the Bible, or places human traditions in a chair of equal authority with it. At the Council of Trent, called by the Catholic Church in 1546, A.D., 53 prelates made a decree declaring that the Apocryphal books, together with unwritten tradition, are of God, and are to be received and venerated as the Word of God."
"Somewhere around the year 175 A.D. Tatian wrote a harmony of the four Gospels which was called the Diatessaron. This was so notoriously corrupt that a bishop of Syria was compelled to throw out of his churches two hundred copies because church members were taking it for the true Gospel." (This was one of the many forerunners of our modern day counterfeit RSV.)
"An indication that Arianism (the denial of Christ's Deity) is with us today is to be found in the footnote of the ASV (American Standard Version) at John 9:38. In verse 35 the Lord Jesus asks the man born blind if he believes on the Son of God. In verse 38 he replies, "Lord, I believe, and he worshipped Him". In this footnote the translators plainly reveal the fact that they do not believe in the Deity of Christ but refer to Him as a mere creature of Adam's race. Turn to this in your American Standard Version and see for yourself. Referring to the word "worship" the note reads; 'The Greek word denotes an act of reverence, whether paid to a creature (AS HERE) or to the creator.' Consider this when you hear Bible teachers say; 'This is the best version!'" (And the ASV was published some 50 years before the RSV!)
"A version is that which is translated, or rendered from one language to another. The Textus Receptus is NOT a version. It is composed of basic manuscript copies from which the King James Version was made. The Greek text of Westcott and Hort changed the reading of the Textus Receptus in 5,337 places. The Revision of 1881, the American Standard Version of 1901, and the Revised Standard Version Bibles, are in no true sense a revision of the King James of 1611. If they were, they would follow the same Greek text, the Textus Receptus, and thus would contain the same verses.
"Textus Receptus is the Latin for the Received Text. This is the Greek manuscript used as a basis for the translation of the King James Bible in 1611. However, this collection of canonical manuscripts, written in the Greek language, did not receive the name 'Textus Receptus' until the days of the Elziver brothers in 1633. In the preface of their Greek New Testament they printed the following words translated into English, 'Therefore thou hast the text (textum) now received (receptum) by all, in which we give nothing altered or corrupt'."
"A number of textual authorities state that the Bible of the Syrian Church, the Peshitta, was translated from the Greek Vulgate into Syrian about 150 A.D. . . . This Peshitta version is admired by Syriac scholars as a careful, faithful, simple, direct, literal version, clear and forceful in style. These characteristics have given it the title 'The Queen of the Versions'."
Antioch was the capital of Syria where the early believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). In a few years the Syrian believers could be numbered by the thousands. Their Bible, the Peshitta, even today generally follows the Received Text (Textus Receptus). This is another proof that the foundation for the King James Bible is older and more reliable than the Codex Vaticanus which was elevated to the chair of authority by Westcott and Hort.
Dr. Nolan, who acquired fame for his Greek and Latin scholarship, spent 28 years in tracing the Received Text (Textus Receptus) back to its apostolic origin. His searching led him to investigate the Bible texts of the Waldenses who were the lineal descendants of the Italic Church. This being done, Dr. Nolan says, "It has supplied me with the unequivocal testimony of a truly apostolic branch of the primitive church." This means that the Textus Receptus, the basis for the King James Version, has been proven to be in harmony with translations which go back to the second century. It is important to note here that the Sinaitic and Vatican MSS were not brought into existence for many years following the Textus Receptus, when Eusebius copied them for Constantine.
On July 22, 1604, King James of England announced that he had appointed 54 Hebrew and Greek scholars to produce a Bible, which we know today as the King James, or Authorised Version. These men were organised into six groups which were to meet separately. Two groups met at Cambridge, two at Oxford, and two at Westminster. Each group was designated a certain portion of Scripture to translate into the English language.
Each scholar first made his own translation, then passed it on to be reviewed by each other member of his group. When each section had completed a book of the Bible, it was sent to the other five groups for their independent criticism. In this way each book went thru the hands of the entire body of translators.
With the revisers of 1881 (the Revised Version) all was different! The Old Testament committee met together secretly as one body for ten years. The New Testament Committee did the same. All was done in secret. We wonder why? The unpublished new Greek Text of Westcott and Hort, upon which they had been working for twenty years was, portion by portion, secretly committed into the hands of the Revision Committee.
Similar tactics were used in bringing before the public the RSV (Revised Standard Version) on September 30, 1952. Pastors had no opportunity to review the new Bible, yet they were asked to open their churches for a tremendous advertising campaign! "Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other!"
Figures following the Bible versions named below indicate the number of Scripture portions changed form the reading of the Textus Receptus out of 162 references.
Revised Standard Version - 158 out of 162
Nestle's Greek Text - 155 out of 162
Goodspeed's New Testament - 154 out of 162
Westcott & Hort Greek - 151 out of 162
Tischendorf's New Testament - 150 out of 162
New English New Testament - 150 out of 162
Williams' New Testament - 149 out of 162
Berkeley Version N.T. - 148 out of 162
New American Standard - 147 out of 162
New World Translation - 145 out of 162
Good News For Modern Man - 144 out of 162
Moffatt's New Testament - 144 out of 162
Wuest's Expanded N.T. - 142 out of 162
Twentieth Century N.T. - 142 out of 162
Weymouth's New Testament - 138 out of 162
Amplified New Testament - 136 out of 162
Revised Version of 1881 - 135 out of 162
American Standard Version - 135 out of 162
Alford's Greek N.T. - 134 out of 162
Diaglot New Testament - 128 out of 162
Lachmann's New Testament - 121 out of 162
Philip's New Testament - 117 out of 162
Living N.T. Paraphrased - 114 out of 162
Confraternity New Testament - 90 out of 162
Douay Version N.T. - 75 out of 162
Griesbach's Greek N.T. - 61 out of 162
Wordsworth's Greek N.T. - 47 out of 162
Norlie's Simplified N.T. - 41 out of 162
John Wesley's N.T. - 38 out of 162
Martin Luther's German N.T. - 0 out of 162
Textus Receptus Greek N.T. - 0 out of 162
King James New Testament - 0 out of 162
We could give you no better advice; keep to the King James Version for your authority. Accept the work of Godly, consecrated, Bible-believing men who were scholars, in preference to the modernists of our day who claim the highest scholarship and yet who have demonstrated their inability to understand the simple English, let alone Hebrew or Greek!