Page 313 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

INSPIRATION

Eve answered the devil, “We may eat of the fruit of the authorship of the Pentateuch, devising theories whereby
trees of the garden,” thus subtracting the word “every” the first five books of the Bible were formed late in
from the words God had given Adam in Genesis 2:16. Israel’s history from a variety of material, the authorship
(3) The Word of God was added to. When Eve first of which was unknown. The modernists claimed that
answered the devil about God’s command, she added Moses wrote part of the Pentateuch, but that he did not
the words “neither shall ye touch it.” God did not say complete the Pentateuch as it stands in our Bible today.
that. (4) The Word of God was softened. Eve answered They claim that Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch
the devil that God had said they were not to eat of the were pieced together from various documents. One of
tree “lest ye die.” In reality God had said, “for in the day the names for this theory is JEDP [Jehovist, Elohist,
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” That is Deuteronimist, Priestly], which stands for the names of
much stronger, fearful, and certain than Eve’s new alleged separate parts of the Pentateuch which were
softened paraphrase version. (5) The Word of God was supposedly written during various periods of Israel’s
denied. The devil blatantly stated, “Ye shall not surely history. As already noted, there is no one modernistic
die.” (6) The Word of God was blasphemed. The devil theory. The variety is almost endless, but they all hold
further stated, “For God doth know that in the day ye one thing in common: they all deny that Moses wrote
eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall the Pentateuch and they deny that the Pentateuch as it
be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (7) The Word of stands in our Bible is true history throughout.
God was ignored and disobeyed. Eve ignored God’s Word A recent example of Modernism is found in a
and “took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also commentary by CHARLES F. KRAFT (Genesis: Beginnings
unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (v. 6). of the Biblical Drama, New York: Woman’s Division of
From that day until this, the Word of God has Christian Service Board of Missions, The Methodist
endured a continual assault by devils and men. One of Church, 1964). Note the following excerpts:
the greatest miracles of all time is the preservation of “Clearly, then, the Book of Genesis is a remarkable
the Holy Scripture in spite of the vicious and unceasing combination of ancient folklore, tradition, custom,
assault from its enemies. myth” (Charles Kraft, Genesis, pp. 11, 12).
- The Roman Catholic assault beginning in 400 A.D. “Is the astounding story of the marriage of the ‘sons of
Rome has assaulted the Word of God in many ways, God’ and the ‘daughters of men’ not ancient folklore to
including the following: explain the origin of giants, ‘Nephilim,’ on the earth in
Rome added strange traditions to the Bible (infant prehistoric times...?” (Kraft, Genesis, p. 11).
baptism, prayers to Mary, pope, priests, mass, etc.). “To read this old J narrative primarily as history,
raising questions as to the historicity, as to whether it
Rome added other books to the Bible (the could be factually true that the whole human race
apocrypha). came from this one common progenitor, is really to
Rome promoted a weak translation of the Bible (the miss the profound significance” (Kraft, Genesis, p. 44).
Catholic vulgate). Kraft, like all Modernists, believes the book of
Rome tried to keep the Bible out of the hands of the Genesis is a mixture of history and myth, truth and
people. (See our book Rome and the Bible, available religious fairy tale. This is not true. The Lord Jesus
from Way of Life Literature.) Christ and the Apostles quoted from every part of
Rome killed the translators of the Bible (i.e., William Genesis and always cited it as authoritative and
Tyndale, John Rogers). historical Scripture. To question the infallible inspiration
of the book of Genesis is to discount the entire Bible,
- The Modernistic assault beginning in the 1800s. because the rest of the Bible stands or falls on this
Modernism or theological rationalism began in the foundation. While Genesis does not claim internally to
1800s in Germany and quickly spread to England and have been written by Moses or even to be the inspired
America. It applied the theory of evolution to the Bible. Word of God, it was accepted unquestionably as part of
Though modernism has taken a bewildering variety of the inspired canon of Scripture by Christ and the
forms, at its heart, modernism claims that the Bible is Apostles, as we will see.
not God’s revelation to man but is merely the record of
man’s search for God. The miracles of the Bible are Note the following additional false teachings from
considered myths (i.e., crossing Red Sea, Jonah, the Charles Kraft’s commentary on Genesis:
virgin birth). The modernists have especially attacked “What is the origin of the expanded work? Certainly
the first five books of the Bible. This is understandable. oral traditions passed down by word of mouth for
If the history and inspiration of the Pentateuch is centuries. ... two hundred years of patient study have
resulted in the rather general agreement of scholars
questionable, the rest of the Bible automatically falls. that three interwoven documents form the present
The modernists of the 19th century attacked the Mosaic book. ... Here is a prophet (or probably a prophetic

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 313