KJV Questions and Answers - Far Eastern Bible College

shall stand for ever” (Isa 40:8), the original autographs were no longerexisting and the Word of God was found only in the manuscript copiesmany generations removed from the autographs. The same can be said ofthe time when Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).(b) By the time Paul wrote to Timothy, “All scripture is given byinspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, forcorrection, for instruction in righteousness …” (2 Tim 3:16), the“scripture” that is mentioned here, especially the OT and perhaps someearlier books of the NT, were no longer the autographs. These wordsimply that infallibility and inerrancy are applicable not only to theoriginally given autographs, but even to faithfully copied apographs.Although there were occasional copying mistakes in the transmissionprocess, God providentially ensured that the majority of the copies reflectthe original readings. These copying mistakes were also graduallycorrected as they were spotted, and eventually removed at the time of thegreat Protestant Reformation from the Traditional Hebrew Masoretic Textand the Greek Textus Receptus underlying the KJV. That is why we say,“We believe in the divine, verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scriptures inthe original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and asthe Word of God, the Supreme and final authority in faith and life.”(22) Did God lose any of His inspired New Testament wordswhen the autographs were destroyed?No, God did not lose any of the words of the originals when theautographs were destroyed. Although we do not have the autographstoday, we have the apographs which reflect the autographs. All thedivinely inspired words of the autographs have been providentiallypreserved in faithfully copied apographs. We affirm with the Westminsterdivines that the original language Scriptures “being immediately inspiredby God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages,are therefore authentical” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 1:8).Providentially speaking, the NT Autographs were neither “lost” nor“destroyed.” The purity of God’s Word has been faithfully maintainedthroughout the whole transmission of the Traditional/Byzantine/MajorityText, and fully represented in the Textus Receptus underlying the KJV.17 th century Calvinist theologian—Francis Turretin—himself affirmed:“By the original texts, we do not mean the autographs written by the handof Moses, of the prophets and of the apostles, which certainly do not now22 KJV Q&A