Truth Unchanged, Unchanging
Book Study
Resources
Click here to go to the free online archive copy of this book.​
I have kind of gone back and forth about including this book, but only because it is not the kind of book that every Christian might get into. I decided to include it because there are so many aspects of this book that make it significant in my personal opinion.
It has eight sections of articles about the Bible, each of which approaches the Bible from a different perspective:
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1. The Origin and Aims of the Bible League
2. Scripture: Its Inspiration, Authority, and Infallibility
3. The Bible: Addresses and Articles
4. The Bible and Archaeological Discoveries
5. Scripture Versus the Theory of Evolution
6. Israel in Scripture
7. Articles Against Modernism
8. "Things that Accompany Salvation"
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There are over a hundred articles, each of which would be well worth reading. I am going to mention a few of these articles, and give you some examples of the depth of this writing.
Part 1: Forward
The Bible League came into existence as a result of C. H. Spurgeon's noble fight for the fundamentals of our Faith during the 'Downgrade' controversy of 18867-1892. In the latter part of the eighteenth century rationalism swept across Germany and in Spurgeon's day it was beginning to make its presence felt in England. A great deal of scholarship and theological activity was being concentrated upon an attempt to discredit the Bible. As a result, college professors and ministers were denying the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy, claiming that the Bible was like all other books, subject to the infirmities of humanity, error included. Spurgeon saw it for what it was: one of the greatest evils ever to have infested the Church. He sounded an alarm which shook the evangelical world, and then withdrew from his denomination on the grounds that he could have no fellowship with unscriptural 'down grade' doctrines. After his death the Bible League was formed to continue his faithful and militant witness to the truth.
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This passage gives you an idea of what this book is really all about. And it is a battle that has only spread and deepened in the many years since its inception. I that the damage that has been done to the integrity of God's Word in the minds and hearts of 'Christians' and 'churches,' even those that hold an orthodox view of Scripture, is almost irreparable.
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Not a single serious-minded Christian can in good conscience just ignore this ongoing foundational attack on God's Word.
Part 2: Bible Translations
While the 'ordinary Christian' [English speaking] usually has little concern about which English translation he uses, there are compelling reasons why many conservative Christians will use only the Authorized Version [KJV]. This is one of the areas included in Truth Unchanged, Unchanging. In an article by Bishop D. A. Thompson, he identified a great deal concerning why the AV [with its underlying Greek texts in the Textus Receptus [TR] family of manuscripts] must be considered as far more reliable than other English translations that are based upon two key manuscripts: Vaticanus and Sinaiticus.​ In the following excerpt he talks about one of the leading arguments for 'trusting' these manuscripts over the TR family of texts.
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"Since the days of Bengel there had been a call, feeble at first, but steadily growing stronger with the passing of over a hundred years, for the discarding of the Textus Receptus (the old Byzantine or Traditional Text), and the construction of a new New Testament text, based on the readings of the oldest manuscripts. These scholars, well-intentioned but most misguided, were obsessed with their slogan that 'the older the manuscript, the closer must its text be to the autographs.'"
[The originals] p.493
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This summation comes after Thompson has clearly identified numerous concerns with these two older manuscripts, and he follows it with further matters of deep concern regarding blindly cherishing the oldest manuscripts.. Let's just look at a small sampling of his earlier remarks regarding these two oldest manuscripts.
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Starting with Codex B [Vaticanus] Thompson says the following:
"Dr. F. H. A. Scrivener states: 'One marked feature, characteristic of this copy, is the great number of its omissions, which had induced Dr. Dobbin to speak of it as presenting "an abbreviated text of the New Testament"; and certainly the facts he states on this point are startling enough. He calculates that Codex B leaves out words or whole clauses no less than…2,556 times in all."
p.492
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Next, after he introduces Codex Sinaiticus, he adds a further concern about the veracity of the two oldest manuscripts.
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"By 1871 Dean Burgon had thoroughly studied the printed copies of these two oldest codices and wrote: 'Ought it not sensibly to detract from our opinion of the value of their evidence to discover that it is easier to find two consecutive verses in which the two MSS differ, the one from the other, than two consecutive verses in which they agree?...On every such occasion only one of them can possibly be speaking the truth. Shall I be thought unreasonable if I confess that these perpetual inconsistencies between Codex Vaticanus and Codex Aleph [Sinaiticus]—grave inconsistencies, and occasionally even gross ones—altogether destroy my confidence in either?'"
(Last twelve verses of the Gospel of Mark, pp. 77-78; in Sovereign Grace Book Club reprint, pp.155-156). p. 492
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It is not my purpose to delve deeply into this Greek manuscripts argument. I am simply highlighting things about this book, Truth Unchanged, Unchanging that I consider worthy of your further consideration. There are literally hundreds of great resources available for going into this controversy fully.[1]
[1] Here is a site that I recommend, since I emphatically hold to the TR: https://comingintheclouds.org/bible-versions/
Part 3: Christ in the Pentateuch
One last example of the riches in this book, this one taken from the article entitled: Christ in the Pentateuch by T. H. Bendor-Samuel, p.399.
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"Christ is to be found in the Old Testament and therefore in the Pentateuch, its initial and basic part, not just as a matter of Biblical prophecy, interesting and instructive to us as we read it today, but because He is the sole answer to human spiritual need and the only way to God."
[And moving down a bit farther…]
"Twilight has given place to daylight but the Christ who was formerly dimly glimpsed, and the Christ who is now completely revealed, is one and the same. Even in the twilight men came to God by Him. Nothing shows more clearly the divine origin of Scripture than its remarkable inner unity. From Moses to Paul is a gap of many centuries, with vastly different cultures and thought patterns, but the character, requirements and provisions of God are consistently the same."
So then, this certainly suggests that the Bible League held to a very Christ-centered perspective on all of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments. It is and always has been all about Him!