GOD’S SPECIAL PROVIDENTIAL CARE OF THE TEXT OF SCRIPTURE

Rev Dr Timothy Tow

 

There are two accounts recorded by Moses on the giving of the Ten Commandments. The first is in Exodus 19:16-21:26; 31:18-32:28; 34:1-4. The second is recorded in Deuteronomy 5:1-29; 9:10-21; 10:1-5. Deuteronomy means second giving of the Law. Deuteronomy is Moses’ instruction to the children of Israel at the end of his life and of what greater importance is the giving of the Ten Commandments? For brevity, I have chosen to discuss from Deuteronomy and not Exodus.

 

The delivery of the Ten Commandments was made on the top of Mount Sinai, over 7,000 feet above sea level. The whole process took forty days and forty nights, amidst thunder and lightning, fire and smoke, the blowing of trumpet and the voice of Almighty God speaking to men. Then God wrote the sentences of the Ten Commandments with His own finger over the two tablets, front and back. In the climax of the forty days and nights, rebellion to God’s promulgation of the Ten Commandments arose from the ground. The people had made a golden calf to substitute for Jehovah saying this was their god, whereupon Moses’ wrath was kindled. When he was confronted by this golden calf, he became so angry that he threw the two tablets of law to the ground. Symbolically, God’s Commandments were broken. The golden calf the children of Israel had made was ground into fine powder and mixed with water for Israel to drink, which was their punishment. Can puny man rebel against God’s Word with impunity?

 

To re-establish the giving of the Law, God commanded Moses to hew another two tablets of stone and bring them with him back to the mountain top. “And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me” (Deuteronomy 10:4-5).

 

The Ark of the Covenant is the only holy furniture kept inside the Holy of Holies. God’s sacred commandments, intact and written on both sides of the two tablets so nothing can be added and nothing can be subtracted, were kept secure from any human intrusion. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).

 

The restoration of the two tables is to show that heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away. Not one letter or even the cross of a ‘t,’ and the dot of an ‘i.’ “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” Jesus says, “The scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

 

To doubly confirm that heaven and earth shall pass away but God’s words shall not pass away, we have the record in Jeremiah 36 of how the prophet asked his secretary Baruch to write words of condemnation against the House of Judah and caused them to be read to Judah. When the roll Jeremiah dictated to Baruch was read before Jehoiakim, king of Judah, he cut it up and burned it wholly in the fire. Did God’s Word become ashes? God told Jeremiah to repeat His Words to be written by Baruch again and add more words for the punishment of King Jehoiakim. Can puny man rebel against God’s Word with impunity?

 

This leads us to the doctrine of God’s special providential care of the text of Scripture. This is affirmed by the Westminster Confession. It states that the Scripture is “kept pure in all ages.” This is doubly attested by David in Psalm 12:6-7, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” The doctrine of the special providential care of the text of Scripture, however, is denied by even some fundamentalist scholars. Dr. Carl McIntire has this commentary to make: “What is interesting about all this is that, in talking about the mighty acts of God and trying to make out of our God a great and powerful God, they have produced for us a God who is unable to give us a record that is true! They believe in the infallibility and inerrancy only in the autographs, but not in the subsequent copies.”

 

We believe the Textus Receptus (Received Text) upon which the KJV is based, is preserved intact for the church so that we can say we have the Word of God in our hands. But those versions that are based on Westcott and Hort who supplant with their corrupt text have made changes and deletions in 9,900 places in the New International Version (NIV). The text underlying NIV is not as the Westminster Confession says, “Kept pure in all ages.” God has preserved for us a pure Bible as He preserved the Ten Commandments for us to this day. Let me say it again, it is the Textus Receptus on which the KJV is based.

 

[The late Rev Dr Timothy Tow (1920-2009) was the founding father of the Bible-Presbyterian movement in Southeast Asia, the pastor of Life BPC (1950-2003) and True Life BPC (2003-2009), and principal of Far Eastern Bible College (1962-2009). The above article was published in Bible Witness, Vol 2:4 (October-December 2002).]

 

 

QUESTIONS ON FAITH AND LIFE

Interview with the Rev Dr Tow Siang Hwa by Dn Lim Seh Beng

Venue: Marriott Putrajaya, Malaysia
 Date: 20 July 2014

In attendance: Doreen, Swee Kim, Siu Chen

 

Dr Tow, thank you for spending the time with us for this interview. Knowing your years in pastoral duty and church planting, we would like to ask you a few questions in relation to matters of spiritual growth, faith and service to God.

 

Firstly, Dr Tow, may we ask a question to address and warn the young people of today. What are the threats facing the faith of our youth today?

 

Dr Tow: We can learn from the account in the Bible on Daniel and his three friends. The situation that Daniel experienced is very similar to the situation of our young people today. The natural trend is for young people to follow the fashions of the land that they live in.

 

In the Bible account, we read that King Nebuchadnezzar changed the names of the young captives. Think about Daniel and his friends, they could quite easily have followed the customs, diet and worship of the land of their captivity, but they did not. Did they forget their God? No, they never forgot their God. That is the lesson to our young people. There is a tendency to hide their religion and to follow the ways of the world. The world has its many places of entertainment these days. So many young people get drawn into these.

 

I have a personal experience where a church member who called to confide in me because her daughter was three months’ pregnant. Our young people must be warned that the sinful pleasures of the world would have consequences such as this.

 

We know from the Bible that God was with Daniel and he prospered under King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was promoted to the position of the Prime Minister. Promotion cometh neither from the East or from the West but from God alone. Our young people would do well to follow the examples of Daniel in the Bible.

 

Dr Tow, what words of wisdom and guidance would you give to believers seeking a closer walk with God in faith and service?

 

Dr Tow: You are asking about a believer’s faith and his spiritual walk with God. Keeping close to God in prayer and reading the Bible is the key. I recall that when I was young, a student in Belfast, I kept a log book in which I recorded the time spent in fellowship and communion with God. This was a regimen which I kept to ensure that I did not forget setting aside time for personal communion and fellowship with God.

 

To believers of today, I would say, keep your personal time of devotion and prayer and Bible reading faithfully.

 

Dr Tow, from your experience, what words of caution would you give to those who are leaders in the ministry or those who are in leadership positions in churches?

 

Dr Tow: Firstly, they must be cautioned against personal weaknesses. Pride may come into a leader’s heart. One must remain humble and lead a godly life. A leader must also keep close to God by prayer and acknowledges that his strength is from God. Wisdom and humility come from God.

 

The warning for church and ministry leaders: the trend today is to be drawn into charismatism and ecumenism. These are the most frightful temptations to the church.

 

The types of music and songs for church have also changed. The trend is to sing songs with worldly tunes and rhythms. Young people like to sing modern contemporary music. These modern songs are shallow in theology, quite unlike the hymns which we sing. The hymns which we sing are rich in meaning and gospel messages. So, churches these days go with the fashion of the world.

 

Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) is easily adopted as worship songs. Once they (the other church leaders) agree to have modern music, all the old hymnals are thrown out.

 

Stay clear of charismatism and ecumenism because it is a snare for young churches and they easily fall away.

 

Dr Tow, lately there has been a debate of Bible versions and more recently the issue of Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP) of the Bible. What is your view on these issues?

 

Dr Tow: We use the good Bible which is the King James Version (KJV) of 1611. In the last 200 years, the world has changed. The teaching of evolution and modernism had changed the world.

 

So what have we now? There are two streams of the Bible. The New International Version (NIV) has replaced the KJV. Before that, the KJV was supreme. This was the Bible of the Reformation martyrs. Why do we maintain the KJV Bible? Years ago, at our Synod meetings, the Mountain churches (BP churches named after mountains in the Bible lands) proposed the use of the NIV, and we opposed them. They were forceful and adamant in wanting to use the NIV, and we stood our ground. Eventually the Synod was dissolved and these younger churches had their way: that’s how the NIV came in.

 

About the VPP, I wrote a book several years ago entitled Beyond Versions. This book expresses the thoughts in my heart. Years before the VPP issue came to the fore, I wrote this book to explain to our young people why we use the KJV.

 

At that time I did not know the term Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP), as that terminology was coined later.

 

Dr Tow, to conclude our conversation, what would you say to preachers or pastors who say that there are mistakes in the Bible?

 

Dr Tow: I will ask them to go to the FEBC (there was laughter in the room).

 

Dr Tow, thank you for taking the time to meet with us.

 

The session ended with a closing prayer led by Dr Tow.

 

[Dr S H Tow is Senior Pastor of Calvary Pandan BPC. The above interview was published in the 30^th Anniversary Yearbook of Calvary Jaya BPC, 2014. The interviewer—Lim Seh Beng—a deacon at Calvary Jaya is now studying for full-time ministry at FEBC.]