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AN OPEN
LETTER
To Members of True Life B-P Church
Dear True Lifer
RE: “AN EVIDENTIAL REVIEW OF THE VPP
THEORY”
A certain B-P church member has written a
paper entitled, “An Evidential Review of the VPP Theory,” against the
doctrine of the 100% perfect preservation of Scriptures. This paper was
recently promoted and distributed at the BJU Revival Conference, June 20-24,
2005, organised by Jesus Saves Mission (JSM) and held at Life B-P Church. It
has also been sent to B-P church members including those of True Life B-P
Church. Since it has the potential to cause doubt and confusion over the
doctrine of the 100% perfect preservation of the Holy Scriptures due to
certain misrepresentations and misinformation, it behoves me to respond in
order to make known and make clear the truth, “For we can do nothing against
the truth, but for the truth” (2 Cor 13:8).
The purpose of this open letter is to present
succinctly the differences between the two positions. Allow me please to
offer the following chart delineating the 20 points of differences:
A Summary and Comparison of
the Two Positions on the Preservation of Scripture
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Non-VPP: Imperfect
Preservation of Holy Scriptures |
VPP: Perfect Preservation
of Holy Scriptures |
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1. |
VPP of Scripture is “theory.” |
VPP of Scripture is doctrine (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18). |
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2. |
Only VPI autographs are infallible and inerrant. Bible perfect only
in the past. Dean Burgon Oath refers not at all to the apographs,
but only autographs. |
Both VPI autographs and VPP apographs are infallible and inerrant.
Bible perfect in the past as well as in the present. Autographs are
fully/entirely preserved in the faithful and infallible apographs. The
infallibility of the apographs is a reformed doctrine. |
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3. |
Based on logic of facts per se. No support from Bible whatsoever.
“Without doubt, Almighty God could easily have given us a VPP apographs
[sic] as well as made the autographs indestructible, but the evidence
is that He did not!” |
Based on logic of faith that rests on the Bible itself (Heb
11:6). This leads to the correct interpretation of facts or
evidences. The Holy Scriptures (autographs and apographs) by God’s
divine inspiration and special preservation are incorruptible and
indestructible. |
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4. |
Facts say that Bible contains actual discrepancies. Discrepancies
are found in 2 Kings 8:26 / 2 Chron 22:2, and 2 Sam 8:4 / 1 Chron 18:4.
These are scribal errors. |
Faith that is based on the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) says that
the Bible is “perfect” and “very pure” (Pss 19:7, 119:40). Discrepancies
are only apparent. There are no errors at all in 2 Kings
8:26 / 2 Chron 22:2, and 2 Sam 8:4 / 1 Chron 18:4 scribal or
otherwise. “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom 3:4). |
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5. |
God’s Word has “built-in redundancy.” |
The Bible has no redundant words at all. Every word in the Bible is
important (Matt 4:4). |
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6. |
God’s Word has “built-in checks” (citing out of context, 2 Cor 13:1,
Matt 18:16, Deut 29:15), ie, Scripture corrects Scripture;
rejects harmonisation of Scripture. |
Scripture does not correct itself by virtue of its inerrancy and
infallibility. Scripture interprets Scripture, and harmonises
with Scripture (1 Cor 2:13). |
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7. |
“No single purified text.” Therefore no perfect Bible today. |
Every God-breathed Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek word is preserved to the
jot and tittle (Matt 5:18, 24:35). Therefore perfect Bible exists
today in all the inspired Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek words (not
text per se) underlying the Reformation Bibles best represented
by the KJV, not the modern Bible versions which are based on the corrupt
and critical texts of Westcott-Hort. |
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8. |
“Of the thousands of extant apographa both OT and NT, no two are alike,
which would mean … not even a single one is jot and tittle perfect.”
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Jesus in AD 27 held the OT apograph in His hands, and declared that it
is jot and tittle perfect (Matt 5:18). Jesus Christ is true, not any
“textual critic.” |
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9. |
Cites for authority, many human authors and commentaries. |
Cites for authority the 100% perfect Word of God—our only supreme and
final rule of faith and life. |
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10. |
Contends for the “inerrancy of the meaning.” “Whether we have all
the original jots and tittles or not, every key meanings [sic] and
salvation doctrines [sic] are [sic] entirely preserved!” |
Contends for the inerrancy of the words. Meaning comes from words
(how can there be meaning without words?). Every word to the jot and
tittle is therefore preserved (Matt 5:18), not just “salvation
doctrines.” Every spiritual, historical, geographical, and scientific
word is preserved. |
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11. |
Misrepresents by stating that “VPPism requires an inspired KJV textual
criticism;” “VPPism requires … English as the singly blessed language of
the Gospel;” the KJV is “absolutely perfect;” “it is KJV fundamentalism
gone extreme.” Creates a false dichotomy, “May we be Christians first,
theologians second.” |
Absolute perfection lies only in the Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek
Scriptures on which the KJV is based (2 Tim 3:16). The KJV is the
best, most faithful, most accurate, most trustworthy, most beautiful
Bible in the English language. Its “perfection,” “infallibility,” or
“inerrancy” is only in the derived sense (as far as it accurately
and faithfully reflects the original). The KJV is not directly,
doubly or separately inspired (rejects Ruckmanism which is
“KJV fundamentalism gone extreme”). |
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12. |
Understands providential preservation in terms of general
providence—non-miraculous. |
Understands providential preservation in terms of special
providence—supernatural and miraculous (involving God’s personal
supervision and direct intervention). “By His singular care and
providence, kept pure in all ages” (WCF, I:8). Biblical preservation is
God’s work, not man’s. |
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13. |
Perfect preservation is a “new doctrine.” |
Perfect preservation is as old as the Bible (Ps 12:6-7). “It stands
perfectly written” (Greek perfect tense of gegraptai). |
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14. |
Psalm 12:6-7 means preservation of the people of God, not the
words of God. |
Psalm 12:6-7 means preservation of the words of God according to
Hebrew grammar and exegesis (GKC, 440). |
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15. |
Falsely accuses VPP holders of saying, “the Bible was not kept pure in
all ages, but only restored pure from 1611 onwards.” |
“The purity of God’s words has been faithfully maintained in the
Traditional/Byzantine/ Majority/Received Text, and fully represented
in the Textus Receptus that underlies the KJV.” |
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16. |
The perfect Bible is found only in heaven, kept in the Ark of His
testament (Rev 11:19), not on earth! |
The perfect Bible is not only found in heaven but also on earth
(Ps 119:89, Matt 4:4). “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”
(Matt 6:10). |
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17. |
The words of God will not be forever preserved. God’s
words will pass away when the earth passes away. |
God’s words are permanently, perpetually and perfectly preserved, and
will never pass away. God will keep and fulfil every jot and tittle of
His words both in heaven and on earth (Matt 5:18), and His words shall
never pass away (Matt 24:35), “forever settled,” (Ps 119:89), and
“endureth for ever” (1 Pet 1:25). |
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18. |
Accuses VPP proponents of teaching an “insidious heresy.” |
Believing that God’s inspired Canon and words are 100% preserved in the
original language Scriptures, the Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek words
underlying the KJV is not heresy, but the truth (cf 2 Cor 13:8). |
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19. |
It is godly and scholarly to believe that the Bible is no longer perfect
today. VPP defenders are divisive and unscholarly men. |
It glorifies God and edifies the saints to believe that the Bible today
is totally infallible and inerrant, pure and perfect in every way (Isa
42:8). Believes in Biblical separation from unbelief and
compromise. |
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20. |
Unable to say, “I have a 100% perfect Bible today.” |
Can confidently say, “I have a 100% perfect Bible today that is
absolutely infallible and inerrant.” |
May faith in God’s forever infallible and
inerrant Word that we have in our hands today prevail. The logic of faith is
this: “The Bible says it, that settles it, we believe it.” Bottom line is:
There is not a single verse in the Bible that says that God’s Word is
imperfectly preserved, or that we do not have a 100% perfect Bible in our
possession today.
The VPP of Scripture has every biblical
support. There are many verses in the Bible that teach the perfect,
permanent, and perpetual preservation of God’s inspired original language
words (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18, 24:35, 1 Pet 1:23-25). George Skariah in his
doctoral dissertation on “The Biblical Doctrine of the Perfect Preservation
of the Holy Scriptures” (FEBC, 2005) offers a most Christ-honouring and
faith-building exegesis and exposition of no less than 50 Biblical
verses/passages, proving that the VPP of Scripture is certainly a doctrine,
not theory.
Rev Dr Timothy Tow, founder of the B-P
movement and principal of FEBC, in his article in the latest issue of The
Burning Bush (July 2005), used the infallible principle of the glory of
God to argue for the perfect preservation of Scripture. Does it glorify God
to say that the Bible is imperfectly preserved based on the so-called “logic
of facts,” or to simply believe what the Bible so clearly says about
itself, that the Bible is perfectly preserved based on the logic of faith
(Heb 11:3, 6)? Rev Dr Das Koshy’s excellent article, “Faith Guides,
Intellectualism Beguiles,” in the Bible Witness of October-December
2002, addresses the pride of Bible-denying “scholarship” well.
The non-VPP writer says he upholds the
superiority of the KJV over against the modern versions. But why should he
uphold the KJV if the Hebrew and Greek words behind the KJV are not the 100%
inspired and 100% preserved words? If the Hebrew and Greek words underlying
the KJV are imperfect, uncertain, open to doubt and change, why then use the
KJV in the first place? Would not the KJV be just as bad as its underlying
imperfect Hebrew and Greek text? If the source is bad, how can the product
be good? It goes without saying that the non-VPP line of reasoning is
utterly flawed from the outset, and most illogical and contradictory.
Do we truly have God’s perfect Word today? Or
is God’s Word absolutely perfect, infallible and inerrant only in the past,
but no longer today?
True Life B-P Church and FEBC affirm:
(1) We believe in the divine, Verbal
Plenary Inspiration (Autographs) and Verbal Plenary Preservation (Apographs)
of the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and
infallibility, and as the perfect Word of God, the supreme and final
authority in faith and life (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:20-21, Ps 12:6-7, Matt
5:18, 24:35).
(2) We believe the Hebrew Old Testament
and the Greek New Testament underlying the Authorised (King James) Version
to be the very Word of God, infallible and inerrant.
(3) We uphold the Authorised (King James)
Version to be the Word of God—the best, most faithful, most accurate, most
beautiful translation of the Bible in the English language, and do employ it
alone as our primary scriptural text in the public reading, preaching, and
teaching of the English Bible.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can
the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3).
Yours faithfully in Christ,
Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo
Academic Dean, Far Eastern Bible College
Elder, True Life B-P Church
Lord’s Day, July 3, 2005 |
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