Why We Are a Bible-Presbyterian Church
Rev Timothy Tow
The issue in the 16th century Reformation between Luther and the Roman Catholic Church was whether salvation was by works or faith. The issue today between us and modernism is whether the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God. This is a much greater issue, because if the Bible is not to be believed at every point, then it might not be believed at all points. Indeed that is the logical conclusion. Today, so-called bishops and ministers of Christ’s Church, have shamelessly eulogised other religions at the expense of Christ. Others go so far as to say that the way to heaven is paved by all religions. We hear missionaries teach our children that the Bible contains myths and fairy tales and that Jesus’ miracles are not to be believed. The doctrines essential to our salvation are torn to bits because they have first destroyed the authority of the Bible.
In order to uphold the Word of God and defend and confirm the essential doctrines of the Christian Faith, a doctrinal statement is issued by the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC). To this statement we gladly and unreservedly subscribe, and we reproduce it for your profitable study. This statement reads:
“Among other equally Biblical truths, we believe and maintain the following:
a. The plenary Divine inspiration of the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and, as the Word of God, the supreme and final authority in faith and life;
b. The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
c. The essential, absolute, eternal Deity, and the real and proper, but sinless, humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ;
d. His birth of the virgin Mary;
e. His substitutionary, expiatory death, in that He gave His life “a ransom for many”;
f. His resurrection from among the dead in the same body in which He was crucified and the second coming of this same Jesus in power and great glory;
g. Salvation, the effect of regeneration by the Spirit and the Word, not by works but by grace through faith;
h. The everlasting bliss in Christ of all redeemed by His precious blood;
i. The necessity of maintaining, according to the Word of God, the purity of the Church in doctrine and life; and, still believing the Apostles’ Creed to be a statement of Scriptural truth, we therefore incorporate it in these articles of faith.
Yes, the reason why we call our Church Bible-Presbyterian is that we not only desire to preach the gospel but also to defend and confirm it. May Presbyterians who want to uphold the truth become “Bible-Presbyterians” and many “Bible” churches be formed of other denominations of Christ’s Church which are being usurped by modernist leaders today.
(Excerpted from Life Church Annual, Volume 1 [1955]: pp 15-17, emphasis added.)
The Inerrant and Infallible Word of God
Rev Quek Kiok Chiang
All true Christians believe in the Holy Bible as the inerrant and infallible, inspired Word of God, the only rule of faith and practice. This is contained in the creedal statement of the International Council of Christian Churches. Any concept of Christianity not based on the inerrancy and infallibility of the Holy Bible is like a house built upon sand.
The 66 books that make up the Bible— the written revelation of God Himself and His holy will to men were written by over 40 different persons, in different styles and more than 1,500 years apart. Some of them were kings like David and Solomon and others, fishermen like Peter and John, but the 66 books make one complete whole, with one continuous, unbroken central theme—God’s way of salvation for man through the shed blood of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. While books of the world get out of date very easily, this Book has spanned the centuries and stood the test of time, with increasing evidences from archaeological discoveries to substantiate its truthful and accurate accounts.
Inspired of God
How was this possible? The answer is found in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” i.e. God- breathed. Although there were over 40 different men writing the books of the Holy Bible, there was only one Author—the Holy Spirit. It was God who moved the writers to write down what He wanted them to write. He gave not only the ideas but also cause the very words that expressed those ideas to be written, so that these words would convey exactly the meaning or message He wanted conveyed. For example, to the prophet Jeremiah God says (in 36:2) “Take thee a roll of a book and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee.” Ezekiel 1:3 says, “The word of God came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest ….” The Apostle Peter writes (in 2 Peter 1:2): “For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” As John the Apostle, writing in Revelation 14:13 says, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yes, saith the Spirit ….”
Faithfully Translated KJV
Thus God is the Author of the Bible, and since He is the Author there can be no mistake in the Bible in the original languages of Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament. Our English Bible of the King James Version, which was most carefully and faithfully translated from old manuscripts in these original languages, is agreed to be the most reliable translation ever made.
Kept Pure to the Jot and Tittle
We thank God therefore for this precious truth that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God. The Psalmist says, “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (119:89). And our Lord says (in John 10:35), “The Scripture cannot be broken.” “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled” (Matt 5:18).
Only Rule of Our Faith and Practice
And because the Bible has no mistake and cannot make any mistake, it is trustworthy as the only rule for our faith and practice. In Christian faith, there may be some statements in the Bible which we are in our present state of knowledge are unable to comprehend or harmonise, but as Christ has said, “the Scripture cannot be broken,” we must have the explicit faith not to doubt them, but pray to the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth (John 16:13). And in Christian practice, we may sometimes be perplexed, just as we stand at the crossroads, not knowing where to go. But, we can safely turn to the infallible Word of God and get His guidance, just as Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.”
Let Christians stand squarely, without doubting on the inerrant and infallible Word of God, and Satan who caused mankind to fall by making Adam and Eve doubt and disobey the Word of God would be quite powerless with his fiery darts (Eph 6:16).
(Source: Bible-Presbyterian Annual, Volume 5 [1959-1960]: pp 4, 6, emphasis added.)
The Church Reformed and Staying Reformed
(B-P Statements on the Bible through the Years)
Constitution of Life B-P Church (1958)
Article IV.1
We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired of God, and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life. (Bible-Presbyterian Annual, Volume 4 [1958-1959]: p14).
Constitution of Life B-P Church (1986)
Article 4.2.1
We believe in the divine, verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and as the Word of God, the Supreme and final authority in faith and life. (50 Years Building His Kingdom, Golden Jubilee Magazine, 1950-2000, p 51).
Constitution of True Life B-P Church (2004)
Article 4.2.1.1
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);
Article 4.2.1.2
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;
Article 4.2.1.3
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.
To meet the constant attacks on the Holy Scriptures and threats against the Christian Faith, it was necessary for the Bible-Presbyterian Church through the years to qualify and strengthen its statements of faith based purely on the sole and supreme authority of God’s forever infallible and inerrant words.
The Reformed slogan enjoins: Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda (“The church reformed and always to be reformed”). True Life BPC and other likeminded BPCs and Far Eastern Bible College, true to the Reformed and Bible-Presbyterian Faith, are diligently preserving and vigilantly defending the godly paths of the Historic Christian Faith.
