Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth." Image (left side): Decorative urn with title for the book of Acts in Codex Alexandrinus.
Wednesday, September 03, 2025
Friday, July 18, 2025
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Sunday, May 04, 2025
Thursday, April 03, 2025
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
WM 325: Review of Seven Significant & Curious Problems with Mark Ward's "Scholarly" Article on Psalm 12:6-7
Here are notes from my review of MW's "scholarly" article:
First: The article, beginning with its title, attacks a straw
man.
Mark Ward suggests he is opposing those who hold that there
are (or were in 1611) extant “Perfect Manuscript Copies of the Bible” and conflates
this with those who hold to the perfect preservation of the Scriptures (as in
WCF 1:8: “kept pure in all age”). He never demonstrates (through credentialed
citations), beyond his own assertions, that those whom he lists as his opponents
advocate for the existence of “Perfect Manuscript Copies of the Bible.”
Second: MW falsely blames the KJV’s use of the adjective “pure”
(Psalm 12:6) and the verb “preserve” (Psalm 12:7), for causing confusion regarding
the proper interpretation of Psalm 12 (see p. 30).
These terms in English were not invented by the KJV
translators but are part of the classic Protestant English translation
tradition. See the use of the same terms at Psalm 12 in Coverdale’s Psalter
(1553).
Third, MW falsely suggests that interpretations of Psalm
12:6-7 as related to the preservation of Scripture are the result of “English-only
exegesis” which “can give rise to falsehoods and unnecessary divisions within
the body of Christ” (p. 30).
Those he lists as suggesting Psalm 12:6-7 as relating to the preservation
of Scripture, however, clearly do not do so simply on the basis of English
translations, but on the reading/interpretation of the Hebrew original (cf. Thomas
Strouse and PVK2 on “gender discordance” as a stylistic feature of Hebrew) (p. 32).
Fourth, MW misrepresents my position in this article.
He lists myself, “Jeffrey Riddle,” as a “leading” proponent
of the interpretation of Psalm 12:6-7 which he opposes, but he does not accurately
present my position. The best documentation he can provide for my views are two
quotations (one not properly enclosed in quotation marks) taken out of context
from a 2022 podcast [see pp. 32-33]).
I have done no formal, published writing on this passage. Oddly
enough, MW makes no reference even to the only informal writing I have done on
this text in the
only blog post.
Fifth, in his “interpretive plebiscite” MW perpetuates his
straw man presentation of his opponents, who supposedly read Psalm 12:6-7 as
promising “perfect manuscript copies of the Bible” (p. 39).
Of course, the straw man view will not be found in the survey,
because, as far as I know, no one hold it. The real question is whether there
are interpreters of Psalm 12:6-7 which connect this passage to the preservation
of the “pure words” of Scripture, prior to the rise of KJVO in the mid-20th
century.
Even MW’s survey is suspect as he overlooks historical figures
who interpret Psalm 12:6-7 counter to his thesis (e.g., John Wesley, Ebenezer
Ritchie, etc.).
MW’s false pretext, leads to false conclusions: “This writer
could not find a single interpreter before the advent of KJV-Onlysim who
interpreted Psalm 12:6-7 to promise perfect manuscript copies of the Bible” (p.
49).
Sixth, MW insists that the “purity” and “preservation” of
Scripture in Psalm 12:7 can only apply to the content of Scripture and not to
the words of Scripture (see p. 50).
He here denies the classic Protestant construal of the authoritas
divina duplex.
He also completely rejects the classic Protestant approach
which acknowledges the existence of textual variants in the transmission of
manuscripts while also affirming the providential preservation and reception of
Holy Scripture.
See Thomas
Watson’s comments on the preservation of both the matter and form of Holy
Scripture.
Seventh, MW thus wrongly concludes that Psalm 12:6-7 is
completely irrelevant as an apologetic prooftext for both the purity of Scripture
(in content and words) (v. 6) and the preservation of Scripture (v. 7), as well
as the preservation of God’s people (v. 7), and suggests that anyone who holds
such a view in like Athanasius standing along against the world.
He does not acknowledge that one might well hold a “both-and”
perspective on Psalm 12:7. It refers both to God’s preservation of his needy
people and the preservation of everyone of his promises (words) to them. This indeed
is a distinct theme we see elsewhere in Scripture (see Isaiah 59:20-21).
Counter to MW’s conclusion, the view that Psalm 12:6-7
applies to the preservation of the purity of Scripture is hardly an “Athanasius”
that must stand “against the world.” Even MW’s own article lists more than 20
historical figures who held such a position.
JTR
Monday, March 03, 2025
Thursday, February 27, 2025
WM 323: Article Review: The Supposed Missing נ Verse in Psalm 145
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Thursday, February 06, 2025
WM 319: A Response to Mark Ward's Offer to "Translate" the 1689 Confession
Self-identified recovering KJVO-ist, freelance youtuber, and now
ardent critic of the King James Version, Mark Ward recently issued a call on his youtube
channel for a new “translation” of the 1689 Confession (as well as the Savoy
Declaration and WCF) into modern English.
Ward begins this call by noting, “In 2021 in preparation for
my ordination I translated the 1689 LBC into modern English.”
Ward, somewhat unsurprisingly, notes that he found “dead
words” and “false friends” in the Confession, terms those familiar with his dogged
attacks on the “intelligibility” of the KJV will quickly recognize.
Ward says he dealt with such terms in his “translation” of
the Confession using modern language as he prepared for his ordination to
pastoral ministry at the now defunct Cornerstone BC of Anacortes, Washington.
We’ll return to this statement later to examine Ward’s RB ministerial
credentials.
Ward gives five examples of supposedly outdated words in the
Confession that, he insists, need to be “translated.”
I found no merit in any of the five examples that would
justify this. More importantly, I found that two of Ward’s examples are
theologically problematic.
The first of these is “circumstances” from 1:6. Ward says
this term is “obsolete” in the modern context. He makes no mention of the fact,
however, that “circumstances” has long been a technical term among Reformed
theologians in discussions especially over the Regulative Principle of Worship.
He does not draw attention to a classic distinction between
“substantial” (essential) elements and “circumstantial” parts of worship.
Michael Bushel in his book Songs of Zion, explains:
Circumstances are defined by [James
Henley] Thornwell as “those concomitants of an action without which it either
cannot be done at all or cannot be done with decency and decorum.”
Bushel continues:
The time and place of worship, for
instance, may be seen as a circumstance of worship, because one cannot worship
God without doing so at a specific time, and yet the aspect of time does not,
and need not, be considered in a definition of what constitutes an act of
worship (29).
In Ward’s so-called “translation”
of the Confession, he says he rendered the word “circumstances” as “extraneous
details.” This does not, however, accurately convey what the framers of the
Confession meant by the term “circumstances.” The time when the church meets
for worship is not an “extraneous detail,” but a part of worship which is not
“substantial” or “essential.”
The second example is Ward’s handling of the word
“authentical” in 1:8. According to Ward this word has nothing to do with the
contemporary word “authentic,” meaning genuine or matching with the originals,
despite the fact that in context the framers refer to the text as immediately
inspired and “kept pure” in all ages (i.e., the true text is consistent with
the originals).
Here Ward’s bias towards the “reconstruction” method of
textual criticism shines through. “Authentical,” for Ward, can’t mean that the
text kept pure in all ages by God’s singular care and providence matches the
original, because, according to Ward, they did not have the originals. So, it
can only more vaguely mean something like an approximation of the text which
is, nonetheless, still “authoritative.”
New Zealand Reformed theologian Garnet Howard Milne, however,
in his book Has the Bible been kept pure?, a monograph dedicated to WCF
1:8 cites the 17th century definition of “authentical” by the
English divine Edward Leigh (1602-1671). Leigh said:
The question betwixt us and the
Papists, now cometh to be considered, which of these Editions is authentical,
that is, which of it self hath credit and authority, being sufficient of it
self to prove and commend it self, without the help of any other Edition,
because it is the first exemplar or Copy of divine truth delivered from God by
the Prophets and Apostles (133).
Milne concludes, “In other words, the authentical edition is
the correct copy of an author’s work” (133). Such a definition does not fit
with Ward’s “translation.”
The other three examples Ward offered [“private spirits” in
1:10; “opposite to all good” in 6:4; and “necessities” in 27:2], as noted, IMHO
do not warrant any adjustment in the text, but can be more than adequately
understood by the mature reader.
Ward’s approach to the Confession recalls some of the
problems evident in his approach to the AV, as pointed out by James Snapp, Jr.
in an
October 29, 2024 blog post, which Ward, has, thus far, completely ignored.
Snapp, BTW, is hardly a proponent for either the traditional text or
traditional Protestant translations.
Snapp’s article is titled, “Mark Ward and his Ridiculous
Claim About the KJV,” and was written to respond to a now rather infamous
statement made by Ward that it would be sinful to give the KJV to a child. Here,
in part, is what Snapp wrote:
Mark Ward seems to have missed a
fundamental point about the intelligibility of Scripture. No Scripture
was ever written with the understanding that its readers would be in a literary
and educational vacuum. Christians are instructed to worship
together. Christians should consider the Scriptures together…
We are expected to mature. With
maturity comes new understanding of what was once unintelligible. We are
expected to fellowship together. We are expected to learn…. The fact that
children can read as children and misunderstand things does not render the King
James Version full of shortcomings. The shortcoming is in the
individual's level of comprehension - which is constantly changing.
Dr. Ward seems to think that
the Bible should be translated so plainly that it is incapable of being
misunderstood. Unfortunately such a translation has never existed and
never will exist on earth….
I encourage Mark Ward: come out of your
fantasyland in which children never grow up and are incapable of learning new
things.
Snapp makes the valid point that Ward
advocates for an impossible goal of “absolute intelligibility” in a Bible
translation, for any reader, of any age or maturity.
Snapp’s critique of Ward’s views on
English Bible translations is also applicable to his newly expressed views on
the Confession. No substantial and significant written document will ever be “incapable
of being misunderstood.”
What is more, the case can be made
that the historical Confession in its original form is not unintelligible to
modern readers, who approach it with humility in the context of Christian
community, instructed by teaching elders, and informed by a tradition of classic
Protestant interpretation.
Oddly enough, after covering his five examples of
supposedly “outdated” terms in the confession, Ward proceeds to justify
revision of the Confession based on how the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
(1662) was updated after WW2. The Anglicans did it, so why shouldn’t we?
This seems to be a peculiar argument, because it was,
in fact, the liberal mainline factions of the Episcopal denomination that
embraced revision to the prayer book on their way to liberalizing church
practices relating to issues like ordination of women.
It has been the conservative and orthodox Anglicans
who broke away from the liberal mainline that have held fast to the 1662 prayer
book.
I can tell you that if there ever comes a time, in my
lifetime, when a group of Reformed Baptists reject the original text of the
1689 Confession in favor of a modern “translation” of it, I and my church will
be among many that will be forced to separate from them.
I have no doubt that if any church were to accept even the
few changes Ward suggested in his video, they would be at risk of departing, at
the least, from the classic confessional view of the regulative principle of
worship and from the classic confessional view of the immediately inspired and providentially
preserved Scriptures as “authentical.”
Eventually, Ward proposes that a set of recognized experts
should get together, and, according to Ward, they should invite “a red-headed
word nerd” to join them and help them with all his vast knowledge and
expertise.
He adds, “it will take big names and institutions.”
Ward proceeds to say that he offers this counsel “from my
tiny little spot on the Reformed spectrum as an independent—and I’ve been
independent since I was born.” That last statement, oddly enough, does not seem
very Baptistic.
So Ward sees himself a “Reformed” independent. But what
exactly does that mean?
He continues, “I’m issuing this call. I think Reformed
denominations should hold a sort of ecumenical council and translate the
confession—not revise it.”
By using the word “translation” Ward thinks he can head off conservative
opposition to any efforts to “update” or “revise” the Confession. But by “translation”
Ward, of course, means “interpretation” and “change” (see the examples of “circumstances”
and “authentical”).
Ward insists he only wants to make the confession more
accessible to the ordinary reader. He adds that this would especially fit with
the concept of the “priesthood of the believer,” a phrase more familiar to
twentieth century SBC moderates than to 17th century Particular
Baptists.
As I listened to Ward’s unsolicited call to change the
Confession I began to wonder about his confessional convictions, his
ministerial standing, and his ecclesiastical commitments. Until recently I did
not know that he even claimed to be a “Reformed Baptist” of some sort.
As a guest on the podcast of Covenant Baptist Seminary (an RB
seminary) on October 21, 2024, Ward said (c. 17:56 mark), “I was ordained according to a
lightly edited (by myself) [edition] of the 1689 Confession…” He adds, “I also
took some minor exceptions, but we can get into that in another interview…”
The podcast host did not follow up on this statement, and did
not ask Ward to explain in what areas he does not fully subscribe to the
confession, or what these so-called “minor exceptions” might be.
Ward was a guest again on the Covenant Baptist Seminary
podcast on December 17, 2024. In this episode, Ward said (c. 18:43 mark), “I am sort of a Reformed Baptist,
because in God’s providence I’ve never been near enough to a 1689 congregation
for it to be a reasonable option for me…”
So, by Ward’s own admission, he has never actually been a
member of a confessional RB church.
What is more, he gives further explanation in this episode about
his inability fully to subscribe the 1689 Confession. He states,
“I’m probably just a little bit different on eschatology than
the standard 1689 guy.” Yet, he adds, “I’m a confessional guy.”
Neither of the podcast hosts expressed any curiosity about
what Ward meant by this statement. What is his position on eschatology? Where
does his view on eschatology depart from the 1689 Confession to which he cannot
fully subscribe and to which he takes exception? Is he a dispensationalist? If
so, can he fairly be said to be a “confessional guy”?
This conversation sparked my curiosity about Ward’s
ministerial and ecclesiastical standing.
So, I took a look at the “About Me” page on Ward’s blog
(By Faith We Understand) where I read the following:
I attended Mount Calvary Baptist Church for
18 years while in Greenville, SC, and I “pastored” an outreach congregation
there Sunday mornings for the last (almost) six of those years.
MCBC is a well-known
Independent Baptist Church but certainly not a confessional RB church. Notice
Ward only says he “attended” this church but not that he was a member of it. Notice
also the nuanced language. Ward does not say he served on the staff or as a
recognized pastor in this church. In fact, he puts the word “pastored” in
quotes, indicating his role was not officially pastoral. He continues:
After moving to Washington, I
was something of an assistant pastor for six years—though ordained for only the
last 9 months of that time—at Cornerstone Baptist Church of Anacortes. The
church voted to close toward
the end of the COVID era.
Presumably Cornerstone BC of
Anacortes was also an independent Baptist church and not a confessional church.
Again, Ward’s language here is unclear, He does not say he served as elder in
this church or as an assistant pastor, but that he was “something of an
assistant pastor” for nearly six years and was ordained nine months before the
church dissolved. Was he ever installed as an officer in this church? He
concludes:
My family now attends Emmanuel Baptist Church of
Mount Vernon, WA, where we serve in various capacities.
This church is also an independent Baptist congregation. I
find it interesting that Ward only says he “attends” this church and does not
say he is a “member” of this church. The church’s leadership page lists seven
elders and six deacons. Ward is not listed as a church officer. I did not
locate any sermons or teaching by Ward that were posted on this church’s
youtube page (but, admittedly, my search was not exhaustive). What are the
“various capacities” in which he has served in this church?
The church’s belief page lists twelve brief doctrinal points,
but it offers no mention of any classic Christian creeds or Protestant
confessions. The statement on “The Last Things” reads, “We believe in the personal and visible return of the
Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in
the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the
righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.” Though vague, it might
indicate belief in dispensational premillennialism and a millennial kingdom,
and I did run across one sermon preached by the lead pastor titled “The Rapture
of the Church.”
So, at this point I am unsure of
Ward’s confessional, ministerial, and ecclesiastical standing.
Confessionally, he does not
fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession.
Ministerially, he was ordained
to the gospel ministry by an independent Baptist church within nine months of
its closing but does not say he served as an elder in this church.
Ecclesiastically, he states that
he has never been a member of a confessional RB church and only says he presently
“attends” an independent Baptist church (that
apparently holds to some form of dispensationalism).
I want to be clear, I am not
criticizing Ward for the convictions which he holds. I do not believe that the
kingdom of God begins and ends with confessional RBs. I have many friends who
are not confessional RBS.
I am concerned, however, by the
fact that Ward is suggesting not only that the 1689 confession be “translated”
(i.e., changed) but also that he would offer himself up as a candidate to be on a
committee to do this work.
I’m also concerned that he
claims to be a “confessional guy” even though he does not fully subscribe to
the 1689 confession, has never been a member of a confessional RB church, has
never served in the office of elder in a confessional RB church, and he may be
only “attending” a church at present.
I also wonder what Ward would
make of Confession 26 on each Christian’s duty to give “up themselves to the
Lord, and to one another” in particular churches (26:6), where the bishops or
elders are given “the peculiar administration of ordinances, and execution of
power or duty” (26:8), it being “incumbent on the bishops or pastors of the churches,
to be instant in preaching the Word, by way of office,” while others “also
gifted” might also preach only if they are “approved and called by the church”
(26:11). I wonder how Confession 26 reads in Ward’s “translation” of the
Confession.
Has any church at present
approved him as a public preacher and teacher, or is any church giving
oversight to the teaching he now offers in various venues, including on his
youtube channel and especially behind the paywall in the courses he now offers
and charges his patrons to access? I wonder also whether this teaching adheres
to any confession that might be examined.
I also wonder about the fact that at least one Reformed
Baptist Seminary has welcomed Ward as a lecturer and lists
him on its faculty page. I even wonder that an RB seminary would welcome him as a podcast
guest to speak to areas of interest to confessional Baptists.
In the end, I want to give my
answer to Mark Ward’s call to “translate” the confession and his offer to serve
on a committee which would take up such a work. My response, quite simply is,
No.
The better option, IMHO, for one
who considers himself to be confessional (and Baptistic) would be to join a confessional RB
church and to sit under the teaching and instruction of that church to grow in
one’s knowledge of Scripture, as well as in his understanding of corresponding confessional
RB beliefs and practices. If one aspires to teach and interpret doctrine,
including that found in the confession, he should express these desires to the
elders of his church so that he might be examined as a candidate to become an
elder or sanctioned as a “gifted brother,” and only then to exercise his
ministry not independently but under the authority of a particular church.
JTR
Monday, February 03, 2025
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Monday, November 25, 2024
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
WM 314: Review: Meade on "I've heard it said the Old Testament is full of errors"
I want to offer a brief review of
a video and an article that was recently posted to the Crossway website
(October 29, 2024) in the series titled “I’ve heard it said.”
This short video (less than two
minutes) features Dr. John D. Meade, OT professor at Phoenix Seminary, and a
recent critic of the Reformation Bible Society and its defense of the
traditional MT of the Hebrew OT.
Meade’s segment is titled “I have
heard it said that the Old Testament is full of errors,” This video (and others
in this series) are meant to address various controversial topics on theology
or apologetics from a contemporary evangelical perspective.
Let’s listen to the video and
then I’ll offer a few observations.
Meade’s video is presumably meant
to defend the authority, authenticity, and integrity of the text of the OT against
unnamed modern skeptics who argue that it cannot be trusted because it is full
of errors.
If you listen to Meade’s presentation,
however, you will find that he does not deny or refute the charge that the text
of the OT is full of errors. In fact, he agrees with and affirms this perspective.
Meade begins by noting, rightly,
that there are no longer any extant autographs or original manuscripts of the
OT books. We do not, for example, have any of the books of the Pentateuch
handwritten by Moses. We do not have autographs but only apographs,
copies of the OT books. The Puritan John Owen speculated that God did not allow
the autographs to be preserved because he knew that men would be tempted to
worship them.
Meade then adds that these copies
of the OT are riddled with human “fragility” and are filled with transmissional
errors. He says it is not a question as to whether or not there are errors, affirming
plainly, “There are errors.”
Meade then suggests, however,
that this admitted situation of an overwhelmingly corrupted OT text should not
lead to pessimism or despair. Despite this confused textual situation, Meade
says, one cannot conclude “We don’t have the Bible.” He assures his listeners,
in fact, that we have “a wealth of manuscripts” (some modern scholars are fond
of saying we have “an embarrassment of riches”).
Our saving grace (or saviors),
Meade asserts are “textual critics” who can compare manuscripts, “sift out” copyist
errors, and “actually restore the original text,” by comparing all of the
evidence.
Meade concludes by saying he is “optimistic,
that we can get back to the original books of the OT.”
Let me offer five observations on
Meade’s presentation:
First, as already noted,
Meade is NOT refuting the charge that the OT is full of errors. He is in basic
agreement with that assertion. The title of the video might well have been, “I
agree that the OT is full of errors, but I am nonetheless optimistic we can
almost fix it.”
His approach here reminds me of the
veritable cottage industry that developed among evangelical scholars a few
years ago in order supposedly to “refute” the textual criticism of Bart Ehrman.
The only problem was most of these men who lined up to “refute” Ehrman confessed
that they basically agreed with Ehrman that the text of the NT was overwhelmingly
corrupt, that traditional passages like Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53—8:11 are
spurious, and that it is the task of scholars to attempt to reconstruct it to some
semblance of what the original might have been. These evangelical scholars did
not so much disagree with Ehrman as to whether the NT text was grossly corrupt
and needed reconstruction, but only as to whether, under these circumstances, it
could still be said to be inspired and to hold authority for faith and
practice.
Meade is essentially suggesting a
similar approach with regard to the text of the OT, though he does not explicitly
cite a “Bart Ehrman” type OT scholar as a foe.
Second, Meade is promoting
in this video a modern restorationist view of textual criticism. This view
suggests that the text of the Bible is rather hopelessly corrupted, but that
modern academic scholars can examine the extant empirical evidence and use
human reasoning to at least “reconstruct” a close approximation to the original
text. Such scholars are typically clear to point out that they cannot guarantee
that the text they reconstruct is, in fact, the authorial text. It will be subject
to change based on new discoveries and methods developed by scholars.
Third, this modern reconstruction
model is a departure from the classic Protestant approach to the text of
Scripture. That view held that the Bible had been immediately inspired by God,
and it has been kept pure in all ages (see WCF/2LBCF 1:8). This view holds that
though the autographs have not been preserved, they remain accessible through faithful
copies (apographs). There were some scribal discrepancies in transmission, but these
were minor and could be easily corrected using those faithful copies and the
consensus of the rule of faith.
With respect to the OT the
Protestant fathers affirmed that these ancient “oracles of God” had been
preserved by the Jews in the traditional Masoretic Text of the Hebrew OT (cf. Romans 3:2). This
text had then providentially come into print at the dawn of the Protestant era
(first published by Daniel Bomberg in 1524-1525). These printed editions of the
Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Old Testament were used as the touchstone and
standard for all the classic Protestant translations of the Bible.
The Dutch divine Petrus Van
Mastricht declared, “Neither the Hebrew of the Old Testament, nor the Greek of
the New Testament has been corrupted” (TPT 1:164).
The English divine John Owen
suggested that to attempt to amend or alter the traditional text would be “to
make equal the wisdom, care, skill, and diligence of men, with the wisdom,
care, and providence of God himself” (Works 16:357).
Fourth, the reconstruction
method is advocating departure from the traditional Masoretic Text, affirmed by
both Jews and Protestants for centuries, in favor of a modern critical text, reconstructed
using reasoned eclecticism.
Fifth, as indicated by
Meade’s answer, and as touched on above, those who hold to this modern view do
not believe that we currently have the text of the OT rightly reconstructed in
hand. They are only “optimistic”—to used Meade’s term— that perhaps a very close
approximation of the text might be achieved sometime in the future, as a result
of the application of modern textual criticism.
Sadly, we seem to be observing the
same undermining of the stability and authority of the OT text, under the
application of modern textual criticism, as has already largely taken place among
many evangelicals and mainline Protestants with respect to the NT text. No
doubt many evangelical scholars making use of this reconstruction method would be
willing to say of the OT text what Daniel B. Wallace has already said of the NT
Text. Something like:
We do not have
now—in our critical [Hebrew] texts or any translations—exactly what the authors
of the [Old] Testament wrote. Even if we did, we would not know it [cf. Gurry
and Hixson, Eds. Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism,
xii].
Let us, finally, return to the
topic. “I’ve heard it said that the OT is full of errors.” Is it possible that
we might still respond to this topic in the way that Van Mastricht and Owen the
Westminster divines and the Particular Baptist fathers did in their day?:
The Hebrew OT is not full of
errors. It was immediately inspired by God and has been kept pure in all ages
in faithful copies. As it did for the ancient Jews and for men of the Reformation,
the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text continues to provide for Bible-believing
Protestant Christians a clear and authoritative canonical standard for both the
sacred books and the sacred text of the OT.
JTR