Page 488 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

PRESERVATION

Combs himself doesn’t go much farther, claiming that thou has founded them for ever’), which Combs affirms
the Bible does not tell us in what manner or how purely to be ‘a fairly direct promise of preservation’ of the
the Scriptures will be preserved. It is apparent that the written form of the Torah (p. 18). As the KJV/TR
man has spent far too much time reading the bibliologists have argued all along, both the context
unbelieving works of modern textual critics, such as and the grammar (proximity rule and accepted gender
Bruce Metzger. If a child of God follows Combs’ advice discordance) of Psm. 12:6-7 demand the teaching of
the preservation of the Lord’s pure words for every
about the Bible, he would be forced to master many generation.
ancient languages as well as the “science” of textual Next, Combs quotes the NIV rendering ‘you will keep
criticism in order to sift through the entire documentary us safe and protect us…’ to argue for the preservation
evidence in an attempt to somehow reconstruct the of saints interpretation. However, the NIV’s translation
“original autographs.” This is a task that 99.9% of born of ‘us’ for ‘them’ is based on inferior Hebrew texts
against Christians are not equipped to do, even influenced by Greek. Furthermore, the context of the
assuming that modern textual criticism is a true and whole Psalm argues forcefully for the preservation of
exact and believing science (which it is not). As Combs the words of God which are the antidote for the words
examines various Bible passages which have of men in every generation.
traditionally been used to support the doctrine of Combs and his ilk do not have a convincing
preservation, he sees only a vague, ill-defined promise grammatical, biblical or theological argument for the
that is almost meaningless in practice. When he comes ‘preservation of saints’ interpretation in Psm. 12:6-7.
to Psalm 12:6-7, Combs takes the position which has The proper, contextual exegesis of this passage teaches
become popular in recent years that this Psalm does not that the Lord has preserved the pure originals intact for
every generation (Dr. Thomas Strouse, “Article Review,”
promise pure preservation of God’s canonical words. April 2001).
Dr. Thomas Stouse, Emmanuel Baptist Theological THE PRACTICALITY OF PRESERVATION: CAN A
Seminary (296 New Britain Ave., Newington, CT TRANSLATION BE CALLED THE INSPIRED WORD OF
06111), has produced an excellent critique of Combs’ GOD?
article. Following is the section of Dr. Strouse’s critique Very few people read the Bible languages (Hebrew,
that refutes Combs’ position on Psalm 12:6-7 -- Aramaic, and Greek) fluently. We have seen that Paul’s
Combs assures the reader that the original words are doctrine of inspiration in 2 Timothy chapter three
pure and inerrant words, but does not know how allows for copies and translations to be viewed as the
purely they are preserved (p. 15). Of course the retort inspired Word of God. Why not? If a translation is an
is that if the pure originals are not preserved purely,
then how can they be preserved at all. Is one to accurate representation of the original Text of Scripture,
understand that God has promised to preserve His pure what is wrong with saying that translation is the
originals impurely? Combs does concede that these inspired Word of God? Many mock such an idea,
verses ‘might be a general promise of preservation.’ though. Recently I received a paper written by a Bible
Next, Combs argues that the grammar of vv. 6-7 is college professor in Canada which maligned me for
against the word preservation interpretation. Instead, teaching that the King James Version is the inspired
the gender differences between the masculine plural Word of God. It was clear that the man had
pronominal suffix ‘them’ and its antecedent feminine misunderstood and misrepresented my position. In
plural ‘words’ forces one to look for another antecedent replying to the man and attempting to make my stand
which is masculine plural (i.e., ‘poor’ and ‘needy’ in v. on the KJV clear, I sent him statements by certain men
5). that I respect.
However two important grammatical points overturn
his argument. First, the rule of proximity requires Consider some of the statements that I sent to this
‘words’ to be the natural, contextual antecedent for Bible college professor, chiefly ones by the Institute for
‘them.’ Second, it is not uncommon, especially in the Biblical Studies and the Dean Burgon Society.
Psalter, for feminine plural noun synonyms for the Each of these statements was written by intelligent,
‘words’ of the Lord to be the antecedent for masculine godly men, who are attempting before God to come to
plural pronouns/pronominal suffixes, which seem to grips with exactly what the Bible teaches about
‘masculinize’ the verbal extension of the patriarchal preservation. A man certainly has the privilege of
God of the Old Testament. Several examples of this
supposed gender difficulty occur in Psm. 119. In verse rejecting these statements, but to say that these men are
111, the feminine plural ‘testimonies’ is the antecedent unscholarly or that they do misjustice to the Scripture is
for the masculine plural pronoun ‘they.’ Again, in three slanderous:
passages the feminine plural synonyms for ‘words’ have Institute For Biblical Textual Studies Statement on
masculine plural pronominal suffixes (vv. 129, 152, Preservation
167). These examples include Psm. 119:152
(‘Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that

488 Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity