No. 72 OFFICIAL NEWS ORGAN OF THE DEAN BURGON SOCIETY
October, 2004 - March 2005
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"The Words of the Lord are pure Words: as silver tried in a furnace
of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them
from this generation for ever." (Psalm 12:6-7)
Come to Toronto
We are looking forward to the 27th Annual Meeting of the DBS
to be held at Toronto Baptist Church, 228 Ennerdale Road, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M6E- 4E2. (Toll Free Phone: 877-552- 1611). Our
hosts are Dr. Gary La More (toll free) 877‑284‑2458 and Pastor
Hugo Schönhaar, 1200 Charlotte Circle, Pick- ering, Ontario, L1V 3P8,
905‑839‑9268, pastor@toronto Baptist. org. The meeting is on July
20 & 21, 2005. Place the dates on your calendar now! Please obtain a
passport for easier crossing of the Canadian border. Lunch and dinner
will be served at the church. Breakfast is on your own at local
restaurants.
A block of rooms has been set aside at Days Hotel and
Conference Center, Toronto Airport East, 1677 Wilson Ave., Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, M3L 1A5, Canadian Phone: 1‑800‑267‑0997. E-
mail: info@daysto.com Cost: $94.30 (Canadian). (approx. $75‑$78
American) double occupancy, no charge for children under 17 years of
age. There is a cut‑off date of June 30th for the special rate. There
will be more details in the next issue of the DBSN. Make your
reservations now. You are responsible for making your
reservations. See the DBS website for additional information or contact
Dr. H. D. Williams at shiloh1@alltel.net
Dr. Bob
Steward who was a pastor and previous Executive Committee mem- ber of
the DBS,
went home to be with his Lord on January 1, 2005, at 1:10 a.m.
The funeral was held at the First Baptist Church in Harrison, MI. He was
a long-time friend of Dr. Robert Barnett, Vice-president of the DBS, who
said, “Strong to the end, he fought a good fight, finished his
course, and kept the faith.” Dr. Waite said,
“Many of our men know
him and that he would be missed.” Dr. Jack Moorman said,“Indeed
a great man of God!” “The memory of the just is blessed”
(Prov. 10:7).
He will be missed!
Special items that need to be noted from the annual meeting
are: (1) The DBS News has increased to eight pages. We
need your financial help to continue this endeavor. Please contribute by
sending a tax deductible contribution to the DBS at Box 354,
Collingswood, NJ, 08108. (2) The annual conferences have been
placed on the Internet by streaming video. This has been
accomplished and may be viewed by clicking on DeanBurgon
Society.org. Then go down about 6 inches and click on the green
bar labeled “View and Listen to Live Streaming Video from the Dean
Burgon Society.” (3) Several new books were commissioned. One
work is called The Answers To 100 Questions Concerning: Are The Words
Of God Preserved. The other work is a compilation of two of Dr. Jack
Moorman’s books into one volume. (4) The DBS Executive Committee
requested that a home-school curriculum be developed to assist parents
to educate their children concerning the issues of the preservation of
God’s Words. A committee was appointed to pursue this worthy cause.
(5) The DBS Executive Committee established the position of Mission-
ary/Representative (MR) to assist local churches and others in
their educational and defensive efforts. The MR is sent by his local
church to assist the DBS in this effort. Dr. H. D. Williams,
Vice-president of the DBS, is the MR for the DBS. An internet page is
established on the DBS HomePage to assist with this endeavor at:
www.deanburgonsociety.org. Dr. Willi-ams home phone is
706-219-2153. Please assist the DBS with all of these much needed
efforts by prayer, by financial support, by participation, by purchasing
the books when released and by utilizing the MR position.
In case you could not be at the 2004 annual conference, you
can order audio tapes (8 audio cassettes, BFT #3200/1-8 @ $25 + $5
S&H) or video tapes (3 VCR or DVD videos (please specify which you
want), 6 hours each, BFT #3200VC1-3 @ $35 + $5.00 S&H). Also
order the DBS Women’s tapes BFT #3201TP at $4.00 + $1.00 S&H
and/or #3201VCR @ $15.00 + $4.00 S&H.
Pastor J. Paul Reno sponsors a writ- ing contest each year for
young people on various Bible themes. For details, please phone Pastor
Reno at 301-739-8585. The deadline is close. We need youth
trained with convictions. See the article on page 7 for more
details about this important contest for the next generation.
Editor’s Corner
by Dr. D. A. Waite, President of the Dean Burgon Society
This edition of our Dean Burgon News has been delayed
due to many reasons. Our writers have delayed their articles somewhat
in getting them into the hands of our Assistant Editor, Dr. H. D.
Williams. I have been having some dif- ficulty also with my computer in
putting the material in the proper columns and checking things over for
headings and style.
The major delay has been the arranging of our Toronto DBS
Conference hotel. We had made firm arrangements with Travelodge and
they sold it and went out of the hotel business. We now have made other
arrangements.
You can now re-visit our DBS Annual Meetings from 1986
to the present by going to DeanBurgonSociety.org and clicking on
the GREEN BAR. When you click on the PINK BAR beneath it, you can see
the schedule of the YEARS we will be broadcasting. We will broadcast
one year during the entire week, beginning on Mondays.
Though many of our DBS speakers are now “with the Lord,”
by the means of STREAMING VIDEOS, they are still able to defend the
Words of God and en- courage us all!
Pastor’s Corner
“Walk About Zion”
by Dr. Kirk DiVietro
Member, DBS Executive Committee
"Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the
towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her pal- aces; that
ye may tell it to the generation following.” Psalm 48:12‑13
As I sit to write this column I have repeatedly asked
myself the question, should I return to tired themes, should I re-fight
the battles of yesteryear? Or, should I try to look to tomorrow and see
its dan- gers rising on the horizon and blow the trumpet against its
perils. Then I remem- bered the old biblical warning. “There is no
new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The battles of
tomorrow are the battles of yesterday because ultimately the battle is
the battle of faith. Either we will believe the Bible’s testimony of
Itself or we will not. All of the evidence for Its authenticity and
veracity that we can amass are but corroboration for Its claims. There
can be no proofs.
David commanded us to circle the walls of Zion.
He told us to tell or count and describe the towers which protected her.
He told us to note her walls and remember her beauties. Each generation
has a responsibility to the next, especially in our day as we see
erosion of the faith on every hand. Just as the removal of prayer and
Bible reading from our nation’s schools was followed by an onslaught of
violence, immorality, and general decline of education, the plethora of
Bible translations each claiming to increase the readability and
comprehensibility while sacrificing textual purity and accuracy of
translation has resulted in a watered-down anemic Christianity that is
barely dis- cernible from the most obtuse wordiness. Let us once more
tell the towers, mark the bulwarks, and consider the palaces of our
Zion, the Words of God.
The towers of an ancient city an- chored her
wall. They were the centers of her defenses. The towers of our Bible are
the texts from which she comes: the Masoretic Hebrew text, and the
Received Greek text. Both have been under major assault. Without going
into great detail, the major attack is simple to define. Faith has been
supplanted by the theory of evolution. Men no longer believe that the
Bible is a miracle of God first established in heaven1,
purified seven2 times before being transferred to earth by
supernatural work of God3 resulting in the inspired Words4
of God. Instead they believe men who had inspired thoughts wrote
religious writings which inspired other men. These writings were
received and copied. Even- tually others considered these writings
inspired and began to protect them. By that time, several different
strains of the original had developed. Various influences caused more
variations to form. Then var- ious editors tried to unify the text.
Even- tually one text won out of the process. This text was called the
Received Text. This text was translated into the King James Bible. The
doubters teach that this text was the result of evolution, so it could
not possibly have been the original text of Scripture. Because of this
false charge, a crusade was launched for the original text, much like
the quest for the historical Jesus. Theories were concocted to explain
why upwards of 99% of the existing manuscript evidence points to the
Received Text. These theories created sieves which allowed scholars to
work backwards through the manuscript evidence to produce their "pure”
text. The skeptics are now in their 27th edition of that text
and still cannot come to a finished product. Other scholars have done
the same with the Hebrew Scriptures. It is essential that those of us
who believe the Bible preach the Bible. Tell the towers.
The Bulwarks are the walls between the towers.
The walls are where most of the fighting takes place. The walls might be
likened to the translations of the Bible. Mark the Bulwarks. Some work
others don’t. A wall made of dirt might stand against flaming arrows
but it won’t stand well against a water cannon! Today’s translations are
“pointed” translations. They are targeted to specific audiences as if
God is not wise enough to write His own Words for His own purposes. The
Con- temporary English Translation, written on a third grade level, is
written to get a child into the Bible until he or she is able to handle
the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The New King James Ver-
sion of the Bible is written to get people away from the old King James
Bible so that you can eventually get them to a “more accurate”
translation of the Bible and so the story goes. I taught my children to
read from the pages of the King James Bible. This Bible, along with
William Shakespeare’s plays, established modern English. If you learn to
read its phon- etically spelled words you can read almost anything
modern English can throw at you. Its thee’s and thou’s
meaning you only throw you for about five minutes. It is a
masterpiece.
Finally, consider Her palaces. The King James
Bible is the finest piece of literature in the English language. It
brings the very flavor of the Greek and Hebrew originals into our mother
tongue. Trained in Hebrew and Greek the reader can easily recognize the
underlying grammar and vocabulary. While critics complain that the
translators used differing English words to translate the same
Greek-or-Hebrew source words, the translators show a remarkable
consistency once you “break the code.” For instance, in the case of
“will” and “shall.” In modern usage there is virtually no difference.
Either indicates a future event. However in the King James Bible “will?
indicates a subjective future dependent on the will of the subject of
the sentence while "shall” indicates a certain future. The words Pneumavto" {Agio" are translated
Holy Ghost not Holy Spirit in all but one occasion of the King James
Bible. Where the Holy Ghost is seen acting as a separate Person of the
Godhead he is referred to as the Holy Ghost, a Person without a body.
Where He is seen as the empowering Agent of the Godhead He is called the
Spirit. There are other carefully kept consistencies. This Book is a
book of beauty. It is truly the book of books.
As pastors and Christians who believe the Bible is the
Words of God, and who stand where our fathers did, believing that God
has preserved His precious word to us in the King James Bible, we some-
times feel like we are dinosaurs, a dying breed, out of touch with our
times. And well we may be for Jesus said, “. . . when the Son of man
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”5 But one thing
comforts me. Dinosaurs are hard to hide and easy to track. And when
they track this dinosaur they are going to find him telling the towers,
marking the bulwarks, and con- sidering the palaces.
Footnotes for this section:
Apologetic Section
Good Apologetic Materials
[Purchase the following materials by calling: 1-800-564-6109 or by going to the
following website:
http://www.biblefortoday.org/search.asp]
The purchase of these materials will help the DBS
continue to publish this newsletter and inform you as well.
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#471 Greek N.T. that underlies KJB $14.00
#595 Theological Heresies of Westcott & Hort $7.00
#743 The Guide to Textual Criticism of the N.T. $11.00
#804 Burgon's Warnings on Revision $7.00
#1131 Westcott's Heresy on Christ’s Bodily Resurrection
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#1428 Forever Settled (hardback) $20.00
#1594-P Defending the KJB (hardback) $12.00
#1670 Scrivener's Greek Text/W&H Changes (hardback) $35.00
#1847 Ten Reasons Why DBS Deserves Its Name $7.00
#2423 Four Reasons for Defending the KJB $2.00
#2506 Vindication of Mark 16:9-10 (DAW) $3.00
#2591 Dean Burgon's Confidence in the KJB $3.00
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Professor’s Corner
Scholarly Myths Perpetuated On Rejecting the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament
by
Dr. Thomas M. Strouse
Dean, Emmanuel Baptist
Theological Seminary, Newington, Conn.
[Dr. Strouse’s work is
being presented in sections over several editions of the DBS News
because of space limitations. Footnotes will be placed at the end of
each section. He discusses a total of 5 myths. This is a continuation of
last month’s article by Dr. Strouse.]
Myth Number 2:
Biblical Hebrew, as a consonantal text only, evolved from the
Canaanite language.
This myth has two components, namely that the consonants
only were originally inspired and this Hebrew consonantal text evolved
from the Canaanite13 language. Since the theory or
implementation of evolution is not an option for the Bible-believing
Christian, the latter component cannot be affirmed. This view denies the
perfect preservation of God’s Words and therefore must assume the
evolution of the Hebrew language. Those who are so enamored with the
scholarship that assumes evolutionary principles are legitimate within
Biblical criticism14 would accept, without Biblical
authority, that all languages including Hebrew evolved. Old Testament
scholars and Hebrew grammarians constantly claim that Hebrew is a
derived language.
For example Unger states:
"Necessary to the formation of the canon was a suitable language to
serve as a medium for the reception and recording of the inspired
message. Such a vehicle was providentially pro- vided for the Hebrew
people in the development of a simple alphabetic script rather than an
unwieldy and cumbersome language like Akkadian. . . From the testimony
of the Pentateuch and the witness of archeology there is every reason to
believe that Hebrew was already in spoken and written use by Moses and
the Israelites who came out of Egypt about 1440 BC.”15
Payne advocates this derived approach to the theology
and language of the Jews stating,
"It is our historical knowledge of the religions of the pagans who
surround Israel that serves to explain certain terms or forms that God
chose to use in His own religion. The very names of God in Biblical
Hebrew, which is a Canaan- itish language, illustrate this point.”16
Archer treats Hebrew as a branch of West Semitic in the
development of language, stating,
"The traditional classification of the various Semitic lan- guages
divides them, according to the geographical location of the nations
speaking them, into north, south, east, and west ...West Semitic (often
classed with Aramaic in what is called Northwest Semitic by modern
scholars) comprises Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Canaanite (of which Hebrew
and Moabite are dialects).”17
Post-Darwinian Hebrew grammarians have continually
maintained that Hebrew is merely a derived language in the long history
of the evolution of the languages.
For instance, H. F. W. Gesenius states:
"The Hebrew language is one branch of a great family of languages in
Western Asia ...The better known Semitic languages may be subdivided as
follows:–The Middle Semitic or Canaanitish branch. To this belongs the
Hebrew of the Old Testament with its descendants, the New Hebrew, as
found especially in the Mishna, and Rabbinic...”18
The former component that assumes that the inspired
Hebrew text contained only the consonants and that the vowels (and
consequently the pronunciations) were passed on through oral tradition
is unbiblical and wrongheaded.19 This view maintains an
insufficient position on the perfect preservation of the Hebrew text.
The Bible is replete with divine promises of the preservation of the
Lord’s Words (e.g., Pss. 12:6-7, 119:111, 152, 160; Mt. 4:4, 5:18,
24:35, etc.). Consonants are not words. Words include consonants and
vowels. The Bible declares that “every word of God is pure”
(Prov. 30:5-6) and these pure Words are complete Words with consonants
and vowels. When the Lord God spoke the heavens and earth into existence
He used Words (Gen. 1:3). When the Lord gave His commandments to Moses
He wrote Words on the tablets (Ex. 34:1; cf. 20:1 ff.; Dt. 10:2). When
the prophets, such as Amos, saw God’s revelation, they wrote Words (cf.
Amos 1:1; Obad. 1:1; Hab. 1:1). None of these examples, as well as
scores of others, allows that God’s revelation was in the form of
consonants only.
The denial of the perfect preservation of the Hebrew OT
text carries with it several specific ramifications. One such
ramification will be explored. Since God has not preserved His OT Hebrew
text, the argument goes, the current MT is an inferior Hebrew text to
the supposed “proto-Hebrew” text.20 This earlier He- brew
text allegedly utilized a cipher system whereby Hebrew letters were used
for Hebrew numbers. This supposed cipher system then allows for “scribal
errors” in the numbers of various Biblical texts because the scribes
mis-read the letters depicting the numbers.
In attempting to explain how nu- merical errors entered
into the Sacred Text of the OT, Kaiser states the following:
"In the Old Testament docu- ments now available to us, all the
numbers are spelled out phonetically. This is not so say, however, that
a more direct numeral system or cipher no- tation was not also in use
originally for a least some of these numbers. While no Biblical texts
with such a system have been found, mason’s marks and examples of what
may well be simple tallies have been attested in excavations of Israel.”21
Although in the preserved Masoretic Text there are no
examples whereby a Hebrew letter represents a number, and every number
is a written word, Bible critics nevertheless assume, with no evidence,
a cipher system existed in a “proto-Masoretic” text.
Davis quotes Merrill Unger who asserts:
"But, though, on the one hand it is certain that in all existing
manuscripts of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament the numerical
expressions are written at length, yet, on the other, the variations
between themselves and from the Hebrew text, added to the evident
inconsistencies in numerical statements, between certain passages of
that text itself, seem to prove that some shorter mode of writing was
originally in vogue, liable to be misunderstood by copyists and
translators. These variations appear to have proceeded from the
alphabetic method of writing numbers”.22
The Lord Jesus Christ put His full approval on
the Hebrew text He had preserved unto Himself (Mt. 4:4). Since evolution
is not true and there was no consequent proto-Masoretic Hebrew text from
which the current one evolved, there is no cipher system for the numbers
of the OT and no excuse to argue for misread letters to allow “scribal
errors” for the apparent numerical conflicts in the OT.23
Footnotes For This Section
13The
descendants of Canaan were cursed by the Lord (Gen. 9:25) biblically it
is impossible to reconcile how God could use the Canaanites to produce a
language from which the blessed Shemites and their language would come
(Gen. 9:26).
14The
OT textual critic Wurthwein exemplifies unbelieving critical scholarship
as he states. “The available witnesses to the text must first be
examined in order to reconstruct a single form of the text which we can
assert with confidence to be as close to the form of the autographs as
scientific principles can lead us, if not (ideally) identical with
them.” Ernst Wurthwein, The Text of the Old Testament (Grand
Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1981), p. xviii.
15Merrill
F. Unger, Introductory Guide to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publ. House, 1951) p. 51.
16J.
Barton Payne, The Theology of the Older Testament (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publ. House, 1962), p. 20.
17Gleason
L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1994), p. 20.
18E.
Kautzsch and A. E. Cowley, editors, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar
(Oxford: At the Claredon Press, 1970), pp. 1-2.
19Waltke
represents some who seemly suggest that there was a “proto-Masoretic”
text which is superior to the current Masoretic text and must eventually
be recovered through textual criticism. Bruce Waltke, “The Textual
Criticism of the Old Testament,” The Gaebelein Bible Commentary,
Vol. I, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publ. House, 1987), p. 223.
20Contradicting
the clear promises of the Lord Jesus Christ, Bible critic Beacham
fallaciously affirms that “God nowhere in Scripture assures us that the
Jewish scholars of the first century AD produced a corpus of Scripture
that perfectly mirrored the originals. Thus, the Masoretic text should
not be considered a flawless reproduction of the autographs. Rather, the
Masoretic text evolved from a late, standardized recension of variant,
imperfect, and updated copies made by imperfect men.” Roy Beacham and
Kevin Bauder, One Bible Only? (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publ., 2001),
p. 63.
21Walter
C. Kaiser, Jr., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, and Manfred T. Baruch,
Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press,
1996), p. 51.
22John
J. Davis, Biblical Numerology: A Basic Study of the Use of Numbers in
the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), p. 35.
23For
a complete refutation of the alleged cipher numbering position, see
Chester Kulus, I Heard the Number of Them: General Principles for
Handling Apparent Biblical Contradictions with Specific Applications of
the Principles to the Alleged Numeric Contradictins in I Samuel to II
Chronicles (Newington, CT: Emmanuel Baptist Theological Press,
2003), pp. 128-138.
Myth Number 3:
Christ and the apostles used the LXX to evangelize the Gentiles
In attempting to refute the charge that Christ and the
Apostles’ inexact use of the LXX argues for errancy in the originals,
Archer and Chirichigno argue vociferously that the aforementioned
preachers used the LXX to evangelize Gentiles. Their ar- gument follows
this line of thought: The very reason for using the LXX was rooted in the
missionary outreach of the evangelists and apostles of the early
church...It was virtually the only form of the OT in the hands of Jewish
believers outside Palestine, and it was certainly the only available
form for gentile converts to the Jewish or Christian faiths.24
Others dogmatically maintain, albeit recognizing the
questionable history and character of the LXX, that this version was
readily available to the early first century evangelists and apostles.
For instance, Waltke asserts the following:
"Although many details of the story are fictitious, it is widely
accepted that the translation of the Law was made in the time of Philadelphus. Contrary to the story, however, it is con- cluded that LXX
arose out of the needs of the Alexandrian Jews and was done by various
literary Greeks at Alexandria on a text type already present in
Egypt...Scholars agree that a complete version of the Bible existed at
least at the be- ginning of the first century A.D.”25
Accordingly, the consensus of most scholarship assumes
that the LXX was available to and had the veritable character for the
first century Christians to use as their OT Scriptures. This consensus
is faulty because of two important Bible truths. First of all, the Bible
plainly demonstrates that the Lord Jesus Christ used the Hebrew OT for
His Scripture and that He never used the LXX. Secondly, the Lord and His
apostles did not need to utilize the LXX for evangelism of the Jews and
Gentiles and consequently did not do so.
First, the Bible clearly shows that the Lord
Jesus Christ used the Hebrew text as His Scriptures. When Satan tempted
Him, the Lord submitted Himself to the written Words of God26
by stating, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4). The
expression “It is written” (gregraptai) is in the perfect tense
indicating past action with continuing results. In effect the Lord said
this Hebrew verse to which He alluded (Dt. 8:3), and obviously the
Hebrew Book of Deuteronomy and consequently the Hebrew Pentateuch, had
been written (by Moses the Hebrew) and was still written to His very
day. The Lord Jesus Christ had the preserved Words of the Hebrew OT
available to Him just as He had promised (cf. Dt. 4:2; 12:32; 17:18-20;
29:1, 29; 30:11-14 [ vide Rom. 10:6-8]; 31:9-13, 24-27; Josh.
1:7-8; Ps. 12:6-7; 119:111, 152, 160).
The Lord taught that the jots and tittles27
of the Hebrew OT would be preserved, stating, “For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Mt. 5:18). He believed
that the very consonants and the very vowels of the OT Hebrew words of
prophecies (and of course all the other words of Scripture) were
preserved perfectly intact in His day and would continue until final
fulfillment (cf. Jn. 12:48).28 Since the Greek OT ( LXX) does
not have jots and tittles He was not referring to this inferior
translation which has a historical background and time table that are
very suspect.
Again the Lord Jesus alluded to the threefold division
of the Hebrew OT, which division the LXX does not follow, when He
affirmed, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me”
(Lk. 24:44; cf. v. 27; also Acts 26:22). The law (torah), the
prophets (nebiim), and the writings (kethubim [of which
Psalms was first]) made up the Hebrew OT and is called the Tanak.29
He elaborated on His use of the Hebrew OT when the Lord identified the
Pharisees’ persecution of the prophets with their murderous Jewish
ancestors, stating, “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of
Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say
unto you, It shall be required of this generation” (Lk. 11:51). He
surveyed the whole scope of the Hebrew OT, the examples of the murder of
the righteous Abel from the first book (Genesis 4:8) to the murder of
the righteous Zacharias from the last book in the Hebrew (II Chronicles
24:20-22).
The Biblical truths that the Lord Jesus always used the
Hebrew text for His Scriptures includes His reference to the perfectly
preserved Hebrew text, His reference to the perfect preservation of the
smallest components of Hebrew words, and His reference to the three-fold
division of the Hebrew OT are indisputable. The NT does not countenance
the assumed position that Christ used the LXX because it clearly
contradicts this false assumption. The Lord consistently alluded to the
Hebrew OT. Since the nature and character of the LXX are extremely
questionable, the alleged argument that the NT quotes the LXX must be
rejected. The supposed NT quotes of the LXX must be understood in
another way. The simple fact of the matter is that the LXX was in part
or whole post-first century and never used by Christ or the Apostles.
Second, the Lord and the Apostles did not need to
implement the use of the LXX in their evangelistic endeavors. The
initial ministry of Christ was to the Jews in Galilee and Judaea (Jn.
1:19-4:3). He sent His Jewish apostles to the Jews to declare to them
that their Jewish King was on hand (Mt. 10:2-6). When He ministered to
the Jews there is no exegetical necessity that He had to use the LXX.
The Lord ministered to the Syrophenician Greek woman, no doubt speaking
to her in Greek (Mk. 7:26-30). But He did not need to use the LXX since
He gave her His inspired Greek Words.30 There is positively
no indication in Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ had the necessity
to use or in fact did use the LXX to evangelize Jews and Gentiles.
Furthermore, there is no indication that the Apostles
had the necessity to use the LXX. On the day of Pentecost, Peter
preached to the Jews citing the OT book of Joel, but not using the LXX
(Acts 2:14-36).31 The Lord eliminated the necessity for Peter
using the LXX for the Gentiles present that day by the supernatural
occurrence of tongues. The Apostles taught the early church members,
both Jews and Gentiles, “the apostles doctrine,” presumably in
Greek (Acts 2:42). When the Apostles and Paul eventually evan- gelized
the Gentiles (e.g., Acts 13-21) they taught them the apostles doctrine,
which eventually was inscripturated as the Greek NT. Where is the
alleged need for the LXX? No exegesis requires that the Lord and His
Apostles had to have used the LXX to evangelize the Greek-speaking Jews
or Gentiles. This fallacious assump-tion has not been and cannot be
proved and must, therefore, be rejected. Bib- lically, there is neither
need nor exegesis for this ill founded but popular assump- tion.
Footnotes for this Section
24Gleason
L. Archer and Gregory Chirichigno, Old Testament Quotations in the New
Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), p. IX.
25Waltke,
p. 220.
This action harmonizes with Ps. 138:2,
which states, “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy
name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name.” 27“[l]it.
‘Horn’; projection, hook as part of a letter, a serif (of letters...of
accents and breathings...” Walter Bauer, William Arndt and F. Wilbur
Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature (Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1957),
p. 429.
28The
prophecies could not be perfectly fulfilled if the prophecies themselves
were not perfectly preserved for one to match the minute details of the
prophecy with the minute details of the fulfillment (cr. Isa. 34:16).
29This
is an acrostic for the letters “T” (Torah), “N” (Nebiim) and “k”
(Kethubim) and Jews use this designation even today for their Scripture.
30There
is no question that Christ and the Apostles, as well as many in the
ancient Near East, were multilingual, as the message over the cross in
various languages suggests (Jn 19:19-20). Jesus of Nazareth read the
preserved Hebrew OT in the synagogue (Lk. 4:16ff), spoke Aramaic on
several occasions (i.e., Mt. 27:46; Mk. 7:34), and had a brother who
wrote elegant Greek (cf. The Book of James).
31A
careful examination of the Greek NT demonstrates that Peter did not
quote Joel 2:28-32 from the LXX.
Professor’s Corner
"Biblical Scholars Agree?”
By Dan Armstrong,
Pastoral Staff
Heritage Baptist College
Chesterton, Indiana
Outline:
I. Textual criticism
defined by
Webster,
Hague, and the Bible.
II. Textual criticism
distorted by
unbelief.
III. Textual criticism
directed by the
local
church.
"Biblical
Scholars Agree”? If I had a dime for the times that I have read the
phrase, “ . . . scholars agree . . .”, I would be a rich man. So
often, we are force-fed the idea that if scholars speak on a given
subject, all “non-scholars” must accept their propositions as fact;
anyone choosing otherwise is revealing himself to be an imbecile. The
assumption is this: disa- greement with a “scholar” equals denial of
facts. This idea exists around the academic world today. Try to find a
“scholar” who is truly open-minded to someone who disa- grees with his
“findings”. You will be searching for a long time.
Before
this goes any further, let it be known that there is nothing wrong with
studying facts. God commands Christians to study. A person should study
to know both what he believes and why he believes it. However, there is
a vast difference between one whose study is interpreted in light of and
subject to God’s revealed word, and one whose study allows him to form
conclusions contrary to the Bible.
I
recently located a book entitled The Bible Unearthed (Touchstone
Books, New York, 2001). In this book, the authors (Israel Finklestein
and Neil Asher Sil- berman) examine various Biblical accounts,
including: the origin of the Israelites, the life of Abraham, the
Exodus, and the reign of Solomon. They purport to contrast the Bible’s
rendering with that of recent archaeological finds. Time after time,
archaeological “findings” are inter- preted to conclude that the Bible
is full of myths.
According to these authors, the real truth of ancient civilizations is
accurately seen only by means of modern archae- ology. Of course, anyone
who would disagree with these conclusions finds himself doubting
“scholars”. What “non-scholar” (read: uneducated and unin- formed
person) would dare disagree with these pillars of scholasticism?
For
instance, in chapter three, The Conquest of Canaan, the authors
state:
". . . archaeology
has un- covered a dramatic discrep- ancy between the Bible and the
situation within Canaan at the suggested date of the con- quest.”
Their interpreted
archaeology describes a Canaan that did not have fortified cities, and
whose inhabitants were militarily anemic. Of course, this is in direct
contradiction with the twelve spies’
report given to Moses in Numbers 13:28.
Regarding
the Exodus, they state the following:
"Putting aside the possibility of divinely inspired miracles, one can
hardly accept the idea of a flight of a large group of slaves from Egypt
through the heavily guarded border fortifications in the desert . .
.” (page 61).
The underlying
philosophy of these authors is found at the beginning of the previous
quote. “Putting aside the pos- sibility of divinely inspired miracles
. . .” Not surprisingly, there is an obvious rejection of
the supernatural in most ar- chaeological circles. For these men,
archaeology circumvents revealed Bible truth. Historical records are
used to refine (and even reinterpret) revealed Bible truth. The concept
of absolute, for the typical scholar, exists only the realm of ration-
alism, never in revelation. Theirs
is a thinking unchecked
by Biblical revelation. To them, a scholar’s statement of “fact” is
cause enough to topple revealed Bible truth. By denying the
supernatural, these men reveal their standard operating procedure –
reason over revelation. The
Bible Unearthed furthers its
frontal assault on Bible
revelation by maintaining that Joshua’s conquest of Canaan was not the
Israelite nation entering and overtaking Canaan (as recorded in the book
of Joshua), but rather a revolt of rural peasants (already dwelling in
Canaan) against the rulers of the city-states of Canaan. Thus (it is
assumed), there was no crossing of the Jordan, no battle of Jericho, no
conquering army empowered by God. The absurdity of this proposition
demonstrates what happens when one subjects himself to archae- ological
and historical evidences that are interpreted for the purpose of contra-
dicting Biblical revelation.
Now, it
is apparent that the authors of “The Bible Unearthed” are not
fundamentalists. They make no claim as such. They treat the Bible as a
dented record of history at best, and pure myth at worst, and thus their
desire to "recon- struct”
the Bible according to their modern day archaeological findings. There
will be no end to their rebuilding of the Bible. Each new archaeological
dig has the possibility of altering not only their interpretation of
Scripture, but their past findings as well.
For
them, Biblical history is, and always will be, in a state of flux. This
being said, this thirst for new findings in the realm of Bible texts is
not limited to the liberal scholar; it has extended to fundamentalist
circles as well. What other conclusion can be drawn from the actions of
those who change the words of the Bible text based on archaeological
findings (or “treasure hunts”)? Should “discoveries” alter the text of
the Bible? Should Christians today be waiting on scholars to discover
lost words of the Bible text? If you say no, then beware. Many
Christians (even Fundamentalists) have already subjected themselves to
the “Biblical Scholars agree” mantra.
I
believe that the Bible is the revealed Word of God. For many centuries,
Bible believers have received it. Why then the need to reconstruct or
restore what has all ready been revealed and received?
There
are certain ramifications should the Bible text be viewed as completely
revealed, in no need of alterations. (1)
The first ramification is that the job of the archaeologist would be to
reinforce Bible propositions, not reinterpret them. (2)
Next, textual criticism would take a back seat to Bible-believing
instruction. “Scholars” would not rise to an authoritative pedestal;
rather, they would subject themselves to God’s revealed word.
Unfortunately, in today’s academic world, the rationalism of the scholar
almost always tramples upon the received Words of God.
This
ought never to be, and certainly not in Fundamentalist circles. It is
one thing for scholastic genuflection to be commonplace among the
unregenerate. Bible deniers will never subject their rationalism to
God’s revealed word. But why should Fundamentalists be interested in
allowing modern discoveries to alter the text of the Bible? Would God
subject His revealed word to the chance of archaeological or historical
discovery?
Should a
discarded Greek text dis- covered in a monastery alter words in the
Bible that we use today? Is a Vatican relic text superior to the
Scripture text that has been received by believers for centuries?
Certainly not! The choice between Bible texts is crystal clear. The
Received Text is the established Word of God; the Critical Text is the
continuing work of numerous scholars and archaeologists. Choose the
Received Text, and you will be choosing the text received by Christians
throughout the centuries. Choose the Critical Text, and you will be
choosing a restored text--restored by means of archaeologists and
treasure hunters over the past 150 years. “The Bible Unearthed?”
– No thanks. I’ll have the Bible Received.
STUDENT’S CORNERTextual Criticism for Dummies
By: Andrew Almanza
Student at Fairhaven Baptist College
Chesterton, Indiana
HTML for
Dummies, Low Choles- terol Cookbook for Dummies, Basketball for Dummies,
and on and on the list goes; no matter what technicality has you
confused, chances are someone has already written a manual to help
simplify things that are just too complicated for us average folks who
are easily intimidated by fancy words and "deep" intellectual concepts.
Textual
criticism is one of those terms. In fact, it can be quite humorous to
hear what the average Christian defines this as, and many of us who may
at least recognize it automatically associate it with heresy and
modernism. A simple de-finition, however, and a brief look at its
importance will greatly help us to understand its proper place in the
church, how modernists have distorted it, and what is the root issue
behind it.
To begin
with, it is important to understand what textual criticism is and what
its purpose is. Criticism is defined in Webster's 1828 dictionary as, "The
art of judging with propriety of the beauties and faults of a literary
performance, or of any production in the fine arts." It is an
academic term for the study of ancient literature.
When
applied to the Bible there is one key difference, the Authorship is
Divine; so while, generally, one must determine the date, author, and
original wording of an ancient work by examining partial and many times
mutilated copies from years later, the Bible is supported by thousands
of Greek manuscripts, which combined totally, already agree 98% of the
time.
Canon
Dyson Hague wrote,
"One of the most
important branches of theology is called the science of Biblical criti-
cism, which has for its object the study of the history, and contents,
and origins and purposes, of the various books of the Bible."Biblical
criticism is divided into two major categories, higher criticism (the
study of the history, date, and authorship) and lower (textual)
criticism (the study of the underlying manuscripts). Biblical criticism
is important to understand cultural backgrounds, determine context, and
properly interpret the Bible, and it is accomplished every time a Sunday
School teacher researches her Bible story, a Bible professor prepares
his lecture, and a preacher exegetes a passage.
A
Biblical basis for textual criticism is found in 1 Timothy 2:15 as well
as in 1 Peter 3:15. It is important to note that textual criticism is
not the process of determining whether or not we have the complete Words
of God as many modern "textual critics" suppose. The doctrines of
inspiration and preservation are both decided by faith; either you
believe the many verses throughout Scripture which teach them or you do
not. No science or study will ever be able to factually or logically
prove for certain your doctrine, for God's thoughts are much higher than
our thoughts and His ways much higher than ours.
No
matter how intellectually deep you may dig, you will eventually come up
against something that defies all human reasoning and logic. Does this
mean then that we cannot know for certain what God's Words are?
Absolutely not, for what our reasoning and logic fail to do, our faith
in the Word of God does. It alone is the "substance" and the "evidence"
by which we live. It is the sole prerequisite for any relationship with
God (Heb.11:6), and it is the foundation of spiritual growth and
maturity (2 Peter 1:5-9). The root issue in all this is faith.
By
studying the original languages and the documents which underlie our
Bible, we add support, defense, and preservation to our faith and our
doctrine. How is this accomplished? Many would suggest that nowhere in
Scripture does God say how the preservation of His word would be
accomplished, but 1 Timothy 3:15 tells us that this would be
accomplished through the New Testament church, the God-ordained agent of
preservation in this dispensation.
Ironically, nearly every proponent of critical texts and modern Bible
versions do not hold Biblically to the doctrine of the New Testament
church. It is also remark- able to notice that as the amount of Biblical
textual criticism in churches has dwindled, the number of modern trans- lations and of the churches that have turned to them has greatly
increased, inevitably followed close behind by new evangelicalism, CCM,
and modernism. In recent decades, the term textual criticism has been a
sort of shield disguising the opinions of unbelief, and it has been a
tool of the devil to not only spread his doubts but to also scare us
away from the beneficial fruits of its proper use. On the one hand, it
requires the scholarship of the intellect while on the other hand, it
demands the faith of a child of God, and only under the care and
direction of a church can these two be united.
High School Essays
It is time again for the David Otis Fuller Memorial
Essay Contest. Dr. Fuller was one of the founders of the Dean
Burgon Society (DBS) and served as one of its Vice-Presidents till his
death. Since 1988, young adults from all different parts of the country
have been researching assigned textual topics and writing 1,000 to
2,000-word essays on those subjects.
The NIV TopicThis year’s essay will investigate “The Superiority of
the King James Bible over the New International Version.” Any young
adult in high school is encouraged to take part in this year’s essay
contest. Please invite high school students to participate. In the next
issue of the DBS News, the editors will include a past winner’s
essay entitled “Verbal Plenary Inspiration: Founded in Faith.” The
esay must be post marked by May 20, 2005.
Contact Pastor RenoPlease visit the Society’s web site (www.DeanBurgonSociety.org)
or con- tact Pastor J. Paul Reno, DBS Executive Committee member and
contest organizer (301-739-8585), to learn more information about the
topic, details, prizes, and to obtain an important entry form. Remem-
ber, today’s leaders were yesterday’s young adults!
Any Candidates?Do you know any High School young people who stand with
us on the KJB? If so, send their names and phone numbers.
The Book You Can Trust--The
King James Bible!
Books Available
Books may be ordered with credit card by phone at
856-854-4452 or from the DBS website: www.DeanBurgon Society.org.
At the HomePage click on DBS Press, then click on "Click here to order
DBS Publications" button. Check our DBS website.
1. Inspiration and Interpre- tation by Dean John
Burgon. There is an excellent summary of this book by Pastor D. A. Waite,
Th.D., Ph.D. at www.Dean BurgonSociety.org/dbs2925d.htm. This is a
"must have" book for anyone inter- ested in the preservation of the
Scriptures. Dean Burgon remarks on "Essays and Reviews" concerning
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This book is by Rev.
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3. The Last Twelve Verses of Mark by Dean John
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Hardback book Over 300 pages.
4. Revision Revised
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5. Traditional Text Of The Holy Gospels
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