Lesson 2: Biblical Evidence for Preservation

The Bible provides us with helpful perspective about what to expect regarding the continuation God's written words in the world throughout history. This is especially important to understand because the original manuscripts themselves are not available.

Some verses which may appear to teach about preservation of Scripture do not.

Psalm 12:6-7

Verse 7 may seem to teach that God will preserve the words of Scripture forever, but this is not the case. Instead, both of the words “them” in verse 7 are masculine pronouns, but the word “words” in verse 6 is a feminine noun. Therefore, “them” refers to the “poor and needy” of verse 5, not the “words” of verse 6. This teaches that God will preserve the “poor and needy” forever, which follows the theme that David introduced in verse 1. He feared that godly and faithful men were disappearing, but the trustworthy promise of God assured him that this would not happen (v. 6).

Psalm 119:89

Though this verse may seem to say something about Bible preservation, it doesn’t speak about preservation at all. Instead, it speaks of the fixed, permanent and unquestioned authority of God’s Word in heaven similar to what Jesus said in the Model Prayer (Matt 6:10).

Some verses teach about the preservation of Scripture directly.

Psalm 119:152, 160

Both verses appear to provide a guarantee that God will preserve the Scripture, especially the Torah (also called the Pentateuch, which consists of the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis through Deuteronomy). In verse 152 David refers to the “testimonies” of the Lord and in verse 160 he refers to the “judgments” of the Lord. These are allusions to the Torah.

Matthew 5:17-18

These verses mention the smallest letters and pen strokes of the Hebrew language. More specifically they refer to the Hebrew Old Testament and may be a direct reference to the preservation of Scripture. But they may also be an indirect reference instead, referring not to the actual written markings of Scripture, but to the unchanging authority of the Old Testament in every detail. The reason for saying this is based upon what Jesus taught in Matthew 24:35.

Some verses teach about preservation indirectly.

Isaiah 40:8

This verse affirms the permanence of God’s Word, but it is not a direct reference to the written Word of God alone. It refers to anything that God ever says, whether spoken or written. Since Scripture does not record everything that God ever says, then this is not a direct reference to Bible preservation.

Matthew 24:35

This verse may appear to offer a direct promise of preservation, especially for the New Testament scriptures, and especially for words of Jesus himself. But when Jesus refers to “his words,” he broadens his focus beyond the words recorded in the four Gospels and the New Testament. Like Isaiah 40:8, he refers to every word that he ever speaks at any time. Since we know that he said many things which are not preserved for us in Scripture, we know that he is not directly promising the perfect preservation of Scripture (cf. John 20:30-31 and 21:25). Instead, he is promising that nothing he ever says, whether written or not, would ever lose authority.

John 10:35

When Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken,” he did not mean that the manuscripts of Scripture cannot be destroyed or become unavailable. Instead, he taught that Scripture cannot be rendered invalid, erroneous or without authority at any time. Once God speaks, whatever he says remains true and authoritative forever.

1 Peter 1:24-25

Here Peter quotes from Isaiah 40:8 in a way that applies directly to the Scripture. But though he mentions the teaching of the apostles, he focuses on the gospel message rather than every word of the New Testament.

Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:11 and 2 Timothy 3:16

These verses teach us that God did not give inspired Scripture for the benefit of the original readers alone. For instance, one reason why God provided the Old Testament was so that believers today would be able to benefit from them. This includes both church leaders specifically (2 Tim 3:16) and believers generally (Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 10:11). Since the original manuscripts no longer exist, then we should expect God through providence to preserve the words throughout history that he inspired.

Revelation 22:18-19

This and other similar verses issue a grave warning (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Prov 30:6). This warning is not for those who commit an honest copyist mistake or who make a poor choice in translation, and it is not directed to those who encounter differing manuscripts and endeavor to make the best choice. It is directed to false prophets who deliberately distort or knowingly alter the words of Scripture, claiming that God said one thing when they know that he did not.

The Bible provides a framework for what to expect in the preservation of the original words of Scripture.

Biblical evidence indicates that God preserves the words of scripture within the many ancient manuscripts that remain in the world today. Believers throughout church history have understood and accepted this conclusion. Overall differences among the thousands of available manuscripts are minor and do not alter the gospel or any significant doctrine. In providence, God has permitted such variations to occur. Since Scripture does not promise anything different, we can trust that the manuscripts remaining in the world today provide us with God’s original words and are sufficient for his purposes (2 Tim 3:16-17).