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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

The Transcendent Word

I use the King James Bible. I make no apology for it. I want no other.  I believe it is the word of God. Nevertheless, there is a truth (as the King James translators themselves said)[i] that the word of God is the word of God even in the poorest translations. God’s word cannot be bound (2 Timothy 2:9). We must admit that, in ways we may not understand, the word of God transcends its written forms (Psalms 119:89; Isaiah 55:11).[ii]

To understand this, we must consider the natural element of the word as presented to natural man in the natural realm. The word of the Lord on tables of stone may be thrown to the ground and broken (Exodus 24:12; Exodus 32:15-16, 19). The word of the Lord in a book can be misplaced, even in the house of God (2 Kings 22:8-13). The word of the Lord on a scroll might be cut with a penknife and burned in the fire (Jeremiah 36:21-23).

The word did not cease when it was broken, lost, burned in its written form. Yet, even the broken will be re-inscribed (Exodus 34:1-4, 27-28). The lost will be found (2 Chronicles 34:15). The burned will be duplicated (Jeremiah 36:27-28).

The word of the Lord will not, shall not, pass away (Matthew 24:35). The word of the Lord in its purest form exists in the mind of God, where it is forever (Psalms 119:89). God’s word is just as eternal, just as sure, as God himself! (Cf. also Psalm 12:6; Psalm 119:160; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:18; John 1:1; 1 Peter 1:23-25.)

There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.


[i] “Now to the latter we answer; that we do not deny, nay we affirm and avow, that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English, set forth by men of our profession, (for we have seen none of theirs of the whole Bible as yet) containeth the word of God, nay, is the word of God. As the King’s speech, which he uttereth in Parliament, being translated into French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin, is still the King’s speech, though it be not interpreted by every Translator with the like grace, nor peradventure so fitly for phrase, nor so expressly for sense, everywhere.” – “An answer to the imputations of our adversaries,” “Translators to the Reader,” Authorised Version, 1611
[ii] “Transcendent” means “surpassing all others; preeminent or supreme.”

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