Did God Inspire His Word but Not Preserve It?

Did God inspire His Word but not preserve it? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. If you get our voicemail, feel free to leave your question there.

That's 833-843-2673. You can also email us anytime at questions-at-core-christianity.com. First up today, let's go to Danny calling in from Arizona. Danny, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, how are you? Thanks for answering my question. I was a Catholic my whole life, and over the last few months have switched and gone just to a Christian faith and got re-baptized and really been reading the Bible a lot. I've been very excited about the message about salvation. I grew up with faith in works, and then I'm hearing a lot in all the stuff I'm listening to about faith alone. I love it and I believe it. But I was reading the book of James last night in his whole section on faith without good deeds is dead. It really kind of goes in there, a lot of detail, so I just kind of felt torn about it. Actually, I read that last night.

So now I'm sitting there, I saw your show, and I was like, I need to ask this question. But to obey the voice of Christ as He speaks to you in His Word, again, I'm just delighted to hear that. And you're right. We're saved by grace through faith alone. That is to say that faith is the sole instrument of our justification.

Now, that's kind of technical there, but what it means—let me just paint the picture for you. Faith is sort of like an empty hand, and with that empty hand we lay hold of Jesus. Jesus himself, our salvation, together with all of His benefits. And it's not something that we earn. Certainly it's not on the basis of our works. Paul makes this clear in places like Ephesians 2 and Titus chapter 3. Not on the basis of works, but according to His mercy. But good works are important.

Not in that they help us stay saved. If we don't have enough good works, we're going to lose our salvation or something like that. But that we're saved unto good works. That God justifies you, fills you with His Spirit, and calls you to grow in grace and in sanctification.

He's the one who sanctifies you by the power of the Holy Spirit. So how do we make sense of, and is there a contradiction between—this is the question oftentimes—what James says in his letter and what the apostle Paul says, or other apostles say. James chapter 2 is what I'm assuming you're reading. And there James says, what good is it, verse 14, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. So what James is talking about here is a quote-unquote dead faith. And dead faith is not real faith. He's talking about a specific kind of quote-unquote faith.

He says again in verse 14, can that faith save him? That faith that he claims to have. So I think what James is talking about here is what some people have referred to as a nominal faith or a historical faith. It's one thing to say, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, and we've all met people, Danny, right, who claim to be Christians, who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but it's really more of a nominal faith. It's faith in name only. That's very different than the biblical definition of faith, which is resting in and receiving Christ for our salvation. And the person who receives Jesus Christ by faith is also being sanctified and growing in grace, which is to say that faith alone saves, but faith is never alone, because the Spirit of God immediately is at work in that person who believes to sanctify them. Now, that doesn't mean that we're perfect, and that doesn't mean that, you know, the moment you become a believer, it's like all of a sudden now you have these just an immense amount of good works. No, we still struggle with the flesh and to follow after the Lord. Nevertheless, the Spirit of God is at work in us, and Danny, I trust that you've experienced that Spirit at work in you in these days as you've grown in your understanding of the Word of God, as you've grown even in a desire, I'm sure, to follow Jesus and to obey him. And so there isn't a contradiction. I mean, it would be a contradiction if James was saying faith and works save us, and Paul says the opposite. It's not by works, it's by faith.

So we have to understand in context what's happening here. And here specifically, as I said, James is talking about a dead faith, a historical faith. That faith, that faith that says I believe in Jesus but hasn't truly trusted in him, that faith doesn't save anyone, and that faith also doesn't have any good works. God bless. Thanks so much, Danny, for your call and for listening to Core Christianity. We really do appreciate you.

And we are very, very excited that you are getting into God's Word on a regular basis. Well, let's go to another caller from the Midwest who has a question for Adriel. Go ahead. Hello. Hello.

How are you? Well, I'm a little nervous. Oh, don't be nervous. Don't be nervous.

Thank you so much for giving us a call. And what's your question, sister? Well, I have two questions that are a little bit connected. I've recently been with a group of people, and I was really amazed to discover that some of them believe that the Bible was the inspired Word of God, but that it's been changed so many times by translations and all. That it isn't necessarily all correct. And then they also believe that there's no such place as hell, that everybody goes to heaven.

And some of these people have even been through seminaries. Okay. Well... I don't know. What do I do?

I mean, you've got to go to a good seminary. That's the first thing I'll say. But you said, now, is this a new church that you're going to, or is this just some friends that you met? No, it's just... Oh, sorry.

Looks like... Well, here's what I would say. So there are people who say, the Bible was inspired by God. Yes, but we lost it.

Which, I mean, for a moment, just think about that. If God is inspiring his Word, if he would go through all that trouble, only for it to be lost in translation, you got to think, okay, God's got to be more powerful than that. We believe that the same God who inspired his Word also preserved it for us to receive it. So I think one thing that you can do is just bring up that sort of tension there as people say, okay, so you're telling me that it was inspired, that God actually, by the power of the Holy Spirit, inspired people to write these things down, but that he couldn't figure out a way to preserve his Word for subsequent generations.

That doesn't seem to... Better to just say it wasn't inspired at all. So I think that there's a tension there. God's Word was indeed inspired. 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 says, And so we have to believe that the same God who inspired his Word also preserved it for us.

There's also a great misunderstanding here with regard to what's called textual criticism. People think that the way in which the Bible was handed down was sort of like that game telephone, you know, one person got the message and then he whispered it into the person next to him, into their ear, and then it just sort of goes around until by the time you get through the entire circle, the whole message has been completely changed. But the Word of God was received by the church. And early on, from very early on, what they began to do is write those scriptures down. We have thousands of manuscripts, New Testament manuscripts, I'm thinking of here in particular, that we can compare with each other that help us get to the original. What was said so that we can have great confidence that what we're reading when we're reading our NIV or our ESV or our New King James or whatever it is, what we're reading is indeed the inspired Word of God. And so there's a tension with that view, I would say, sister.

It just doesn't seem to make sense. God inspired his Word, but he didn't preserve it. And then there's also a lack of understanding with regard to the process of textual criticism and how that Word was passed down and copied, if you will. All of those things, I think, should give us confidence that when we read the Bible, we can trust in what it says. And the last thing you mentioned was they've also said, well, I don't think that there's a hell. Everybody goes to heaven, the universalists. Well, if you reject the full inspiration of the Bible, if you think, well, there's errors there, then you can start to come up with all sorts of doctrines that contradict what we find in the Bible.

And I think that's what's happening here. The Word of God judges us. We're called to submit to what God has revealed in his Word. And when people start saying things like, oh, I think that there are errors in the Bible because it's been mistranslated. The Mormons do this. Jehovah's Witnesses do this.

Muslims do this. At the end of the day, what ends up happening is you become the judge of God's Word. God's Word stops judging you.

And that's a bad place to be. And so I hope you mentioned this is not a church that you're going to, just some friends. A church that adopted this kind of theology, I would say, is a church that you should avoid. Don't go to churches that have a low view of God's Word. And God bless you, sister, for being discerning. And hopefully you can take some of these insights back to them and maybe push back a little bit. And may the Lord bless you in that.

Great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can always leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also email us anytime at questions at corechristianity.com. Let's go to one of our listeners calling in from Tennessee.

What's your question for Adriel? Hello, Pastor. My question is, I'm in a dilemma. I've been taking classes since 2015 through Christian leaders, and I'm working towards getting my Associate's of Divinity degree. And during the classes, I earned my credentials for licensed minister and wedding officiant. And I told my church pastor about this. Now, the credentials aren't official until they are endorsed by the church. And when I told my pastor about this, he seemed all for it, but then it seems like he blew it off.

They've been sitting on my desk at the house now for almost a year, and I'm not going to keep bugging me. And I was at one church, and I overheard them talking about the schooling, and I'll be honest, I was in the restroom, overheard two elders talking about it, and one elder said, yeah, I looked into it, and this is a fly-by-night ordination mill, which it's not. And I'm just curious, what should I do? Okay, brother, one, let me just say to you, this is what Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, that anyone who desires the office of an overseer, an elder in the church, desires a good thing. That's a good desire.

That's a noble desire. It's a sense of call to the ministry that we have. Now, that sense of call is something that needs to be affirmed by the church. We don't, as individuals, call ourselves into the ministry. Tragically, a lot of people have. Somebody's gifted, and they're able to gather a crowd, and maybe they haven't prepared or studied like they should, and maybe they don't have the character that they should, but they just run for it, and they go for it.

And that's led to a lot of problems. It needs to be something where you have that internal call, that personal sense of desire to serve the Lord in this capacity, but the church is coming alongside of you and affirming that. And that's the responsibility of the church, and it sounds like you've made that sense of call that you have known, your intentions known, and they said, okay, great, we're with you, but they haven't backed that up. And so I think what you need to do is just have a very frank conversation with those elders, with the leadership of your church, and say, look, I'm here. I'm a part of this church. You guys are my elders, my pastors. Are you saying that you don't think that I'm qualified or fit for ministry?

It sounds to me like maybe based on that conversation that you overheard, they have some questions, but perhaps they've just not been courageous enough to have that conversation with you, but it's a conversation that needs to happen. And you want them to be in your corner. You don't want to call yourself to the ministry and do it kind of in this rogue fashion. You want the church to be behind it. And so I think what you do is you go to them and you say, look, here's where we are.

I want to know, one, if you're supporting me in this, and if not, help me to understand why not. And that can be an area for growth for you. Hopefully, not a discouragement, but something where you're getting care and oversight from the leadership there, and they're saying, okay, we think that there's some maybe theological things here or some character things.

I don't know. And maybe it's nothing. Maybe this pastor just totally overlooked all of this and he feels really bad about it and he's embarrassed about having that conversation.

It could be that too. But if not, I think you want to go to them with all humility and say, brothers, help me to understand what's going on here and help me to see where I can grow and where I need to grow if this is indeed something that the Lord is calling me to. And so I appreciate your question. May the Lord bless you and grant you all humility.

And I pray that you have just a good conversation with the leadership of your church that gives you some clear direction in this. Great counsel. Thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's our phone number if you ever want to leave us a voicemail question. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. I want to mention a great free resource we have available to you. We do get a lot of calls regarding the differences between Catholics and Protestants and what we believe and how the two theologies, two doctrines differ. And so we've put together a wonderful booklet for you on that topic.

Yeah, just at the outset of the broadcast today, we got an opportunity to talk to that brother who was brought up Roman Catholic, it sounded like, and then has just really started to study the scriptures, is going now to a Christian church. And a lot of people still have questions. And that's why we made this booklet, this resource. It's called What Still Divides Us.

In other words, what are the big differences between Roman Catholicism and the Protestant Reformation, Protestant Christianity? What still divides us? And there are certainly things that we share, things that we have in common, things that we can say, thank you, Lord, for that.

That's a good thing. And I've said this before, I'm super grateful for our friends, our Roman Catholic friends who listen to the broadcast and call in with their questions. Thank you. But it's important to know what the differences are, too, and to search the scriptures and to grow in our understanding of God's word. And so this resource is going to help you with that.

It's called What Still Divides Us. And you can get it over at corechristianity.com. By the way, when you go to our website, there are some other great resources you can check out as well, including our core questions, our core guides, our excellent Bible studies. And I want to remind you, we are a listener supported ministry. We don't play commercials on this program.

We don't get money from a large church or denomination. We count on people just like you to make regular gifts to keep us on the air. So if you believe in our ministry and our mission here at Core Christianity, we'd encourage you to check that out on our website as well, corechristianity.com. Well, let's go to Renee, who's calling in from Missouri. Renee, what's your question for Adriel?

Yes. Hi, Pastor Adriel. My name is Renee, and I'm calling up because I walk in the park every day, and I try to witness to people. The Lord's shown me that His grace and love comes through His word, and we practice sharing that, trying to share that word with our fellow humans.

And I come across a couple of guys in the park. One's very, very nice, and he listened to me and he kind of dismissed it. But I said, well, you know, just keep it in your mind that our Lord is there for us.

And then another individual, he just explodes. When I mentioned about faith, he likes to talk about politics all the time, which is not a big part of my life. Jesus is a part of my life and His word. And I just was wondering, how do I handle the situations? Well, I guess both of them, you know. I try to, you know, plant that seed, but obviously they have to accept it.

I can't force it on them. Well, first, Renee, I just want to encourage you and say, keep up the good work. May the Lord bless you in those conversations at the park, and thank you for your service to Christ.

And you're absolutely right. We experience God's love and power through His word. And as you share that word with others, you're going to get all kinds of responses.

It's like the parable of the soils that Jesus tells in the gospels. And some people are going to, you know, they're going to be open, receptive, but it's really not going to plant. Other people are going to get upset, furious.

Sadly, today, you know, everything is so politicized. And sometimes for some people, everything has to be an argument, a fight. And so I think all you can do is be faithful to share the word and to pray that God would bear fruit through that word. I was reminded as you were talking of the situation in Acts chapter 17, where Paul is preaching at the Areopagus. And as he's sharing the gospel with these people there in the park, we might say, when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, we will hear you again about this. And so Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Just right there. There's Paul out in the open sharing the gospel, and you get these different responses. Some people are going to get a mock. They're going to laugh. Other people, you know, you see this especially in the book of Acts. They're going to get angry.

They're going to want to fight. Other people are just, yeah, okay, whatever. Or maybe we'll listen to this.

That's just how it goes. And so I think you just continue to pray and say, Lord, give me opportunities to share your word with others. And boy, I'm just so encouraged by that. And may God bless you and keep up the good work. René, thanks so much for listening to CORE Christianity and for your commitment to evangelism.

That is just really exciting. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can email us anytime at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Let's go to John in St. Louis, Missouri. John, what's your question for Adriel?

Hey, I'm George, and I'd like to have some information about financially supporting your ministry. I want to know a question. The violence that's increasing in this country, is that related to the anti-Christ spirit that the Bible reveals that's working right now? And why is there so much lost pornification, pornography on TV, media? Why is that being so accepted readily now? Is that also part of the delusion of, especially in the Western civilization, where there's so much pornography available, especially for young children? How do you keep that away from them? And even, I know so many older adults are addicted to this thing, you know, over 50 and all that.

So how do you stop that and how do you prevent that? And let me stay on the air and hear your comments. Thanks. Hey, John, thanks for your encouragement. A few questions there, some of them complex. But yes, I think with all of these things, the spirit of the anti-Christ is at work and has been at work, you know, John says in 1 John, since very early on.

Already at work doing what? Trying to deceive people about who Jesus is. And we're seeing, you know, the lusts of the flesh and the violence, you know, all those things. Paul says in the latter days, many are going to depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons. People are going to be lovers of themselves, you know, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. So we do see a lot of that stuff today.

And yet we can still have hope because Jesus said, I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against her. And in terms of, well, how do we get help for, you know, you mentioned the addictions that are out there, the fact that parents need to be vigilant because there's so much just pornography on the internet. I mean, everywhere, it's just stumble upon. And so we care about our kids and what they see. And so I think they're just, we need to be aware and we need to be cautious and we need to exercise wisdom as families. And for those, as you mentioned, you know, there are those who are just caught up in it, there needs to be genuine repentance, confessing it as a sin, getting accountability and help and encouragement and bringing it to the Lord.

And by the Spirit, letting the Spirit put to death the sinful deeds of the body, as the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 8. And so we are seeing, you know, a lot of heartbreaking, devastating things around us, but we shouldn't despair. We should be vigilant. We should exercise wisdom. We should walk in the light and in repentance. And we should pray that the Lord would continue to be at work in our lives and in the lives of the people around us as Jesus taught us that his kingdom would come and that his will would be done. And may God do that in your life today. God bless. When you contact us, let us know how we can be praying for you and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.