“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” – Matthew 4:4
IN THIS POTENT PASSAGE, Jesus reiterates the precious truth that “every word of God is pure” (Proverbs 30:5). Though Satan has just questioned his deity, and suggested he satiate his hunger by turning the stones of the wilderness into bread, Christ did not yield, for he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Instead, as we ourselves must remember to do when we are tempted, he quoted Scripture, paraphrasing Deuteronomy 8:3: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knowest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
I reference this scripture, because we inhabit an age where every word of God is not valued by many who claim to “love God.” We inhabit an age where hundreds of so-called “Bibles” exist which do away with chunks of God’s words – words which declare the redeeming power of Christ’s blood, words which condemn the depraved deathstyle of homosexuality, words which denounce every path to heaven but through faith solely in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as a false path leading its deceived adherents to everlasting destruction in hell. We inhabit an age where these said “Bibles” corrupt the word of God by shamelessly weakening the most fundamental doctrines of the faith, if not deleting them outright and replacing them with damnable heresies and pernicious ways.
Of course, there are also many who claim either the Bible was never inspired, or that only the original manuscripts were inspired, and that our sole hope for possibly finding “the word of God” lies in the textual reconstruction efforts of mad scientist “scholars”, but I am not so much concerned with addressing them in this article, since they readily admit they do not believe the Bible is the word of God, in past or in present. Instead, I am addressing those who claim to believe the Bible is the word of God, while sanctioning the use of hundreds of “Bible” translations which contradict themselves, and each other, in many different ways.
I return to my text verse. Jesus said that man should live by EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; not some words, not most words, not every thought, or idea, or concept, but EVERY WORD. How can man do this under the influence of Bible translations which strike out thousands of WORDS from the King James Bible? How can man do this under the influence of Bible translations which remove Acts 8:37 – twenty-seven words by itself, and twenty-seven extremely crucial words, for that matter? How can man do this under the influence of Bible translations which remove “only begotten” from John 3:16, and replace it with “only”, or “one and only”, thereby doing away with Christ’s deity and absurdly contradicting John 1:12 but two chapters before? How can man do this under the influence of Bible translations which change “saved” in 1 Corinthians 1:18 to “being saved”, making salvation falsely appear to be a lifelong process, rather than an instantaneous new birth wrought by the spirit of God the moment a man trusts Christ as his Savior?
These questions are not intended to be shallow. What confidence can man lodge in a book whose very contents are constantly being diminished and altered? Is the word of God to become no more fixed and final than a physics textbook, which is updated and revised constantly as new information is discovered? Is it to be a continuous, ever-changing text of continuous, ever-changing doctrines?
Surely no confidence can be reposed if this is the case. How can anyone who tolerates hundreds of “Bible” versions proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God, when so many of these versions do everything in their power to divest him of his deity? How can they aver that he is the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, when these versions eliminate verses proving his virgin birth? How can they affirm the Bible is the pure, inspired, truthful word of God, without errors or flaws, when these doctrinally unsound versions all call themselves “the Bible”? When faced with this evidence, only a fool would continue to rely upon ever-changing religious texts which contradict themselves in numerous places, and in increasingly preposterous ways.
I ask all defenders of the modern Bible PERversions, how can these hundreds of different translations which spring from completely different families of manuscripts than the King James Bible, and teach completely different doctrines in innumerable places, all be considered “the word of God”? The King James Bible teaches only the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which he imputes to them who believe on him for salvation, can justify a man before God, yet modern Bible translations teach everything from water baptism, to turning over a new leaf and changing your life, to surrendering to follow Jesus as your “Lord”, to persevering in holy living, are all necessary for salvation.
Which is correct? Simple logic tells us that two contradicting statements cannot both be true, so what are we to make of contradicting Bible translations? You surely believe that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), and that he is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33), yet what would he be but a ridiculous liar, if all of these contradicting Bible versions were “the word of God”? I say his word would be a farce, and we who have believed on his Son would not have everlasting life, but, contrariwise, would be of all men most miserable.
CONCLUSION
If man is to live by every word of God, he must have a Bible which has every word of God. The NIV is not that Bible. The ESV is not that Bible. The New “King James” is not that Bible. Only the pure King James Bible is that Bible, because it has every word of God. It has Acts 8:37. It retains references to Christ’s redeeming blood in verses as Ephesians 1:7. It denounces sodomites, and warns against Bible corrupters, and performs a host of vital duties which the powerless modern perversions are unable to do. You can insist on using the doctrinally-deficient religious literature found in modern Bible perversions, and be satisfied with corrupt translations of corrupt texts which change the truth of God into a lie, but do not delude yourself into thinking this pleases God. If you are to please God, you must live by his every word, and if you are to have his every word, you must first have the King James Bible.