In Defense of the Authenticity of 1 John 5:7

Preface

The writer recalls when godly men with convictions would stand in their pulpits, affirming the infallibility of the Scriptures. The saints throughout the centuries also embraced this doctrine with unwavering conviction. The Scriptures were rightly revered as Holy Oracles, the Voice from Beyond, the Word of the Living God. Therefore, by virtue of the Scriptures being God’s Word, it was understood that they as He, are infallible. But through the years, there has been a gradual falling away. Presently, there are fewer professing Christians who dare confess to the inerrancy of the Sacred Scriptures.

As a young man sitting in the pew, the writer as many as he was not aware of what was taking place in the academic realm. Behind the scenes, ungodly men crept in unaware and gradually took over our citadels of learning. What they could not have taken by a frontal assault, they were able to capture through subtle infiltration. Once they infiltrated our schools, they began to sow their tares. When they were brought into question, they cried, “Academic freedom.” It was not long thereafter that our schools were leavened with heresies. Stanch schools such as Princeton, Harvard and Yale, to mention a few, fell into the hands of the ungodly who had infiltrated their ranks.

Jan Karel Van Baalen, early in the 20th century, wrote exposing the crises that plagues the church. He wrote, “Of later years Unitarian tactics have changed somewhat. Ministers with Unitarian convictions are now advised to stay in the orthodox churches, and work ‘from within’. This procedure is called ‘strategic’ by Dr. Slaten of the West Side Unitarian Church, New York; it is recommended by Dr. Palmer, the editor of the Harvard Theological Review; while Dr. J.W. Day, a leading Unitarian minister, writes, ‘A good many Unitarians are doing more good where they are than they could do anywhere else. They are undoubtedly capturing strongholds that we could never carry by direct attack. They are Modernists of Protestantism who are working from within the fold…We want more of them and we want them where they are.[1]’”

The infiltration of ungodly men into the ranks of the saints is nothing new. Jude wrote warning the saints of this very thing. In Jude 4 we read, “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ungodly men had infiltrated the Anglican Church and in turn many of them sat on the Revision Committee. These men in turn succeeded in mutilating the Sacred Scriptures.

The above statement is quite strong, can it be substantiated? It most certainly can. The Revision Committee in England was to be composed only of churchmen. They were to be men in good standing in the Anglican Church. No others were to undertake the editing of the Authorized Version of the Bible. However a Unitarian, Dr. Vance Smith, was received by the Committee to sit with the Revisionists in revising the Scriptures. Dr. Vance Smith openly denied the Deity of our Lord. Though many in England protested in outraged, Dr. Vance Smith was never removed.[2] This was because the Committee was filled with liberals[3]. These were the kind of men of which Van Baalen warned. But in this instance the ungodly instead of sowing seeds of heresy went to the extreme, they mutilated the Holy Scriptures

The American Standard Committee was organized in 1871 upon the invitation of the Revision Committee in England. By October 1872 the Revision Committee in America was in full swing. Now both committees were now actively working together in revising the Scriptures. However the American Revision Committee was made up of scholars selected from different denominations. Thus the English Revision Committee working together with the Revision Committee in the United States violated the principal that was set forth by the Anglican Church. As it turned out with the two committees working together, the Revision Committee was now made up of approximately one third of the churchman of the Anglican Church.[4] Dr. Joseph Henry Thayer was a consultant on the Revision Committee while serving in the States laboring with the Committee on the American Standard Version. He too was a Unitarian who openly denied the Deity of our Lord. This is not to mention Dr. Philip Schaff that headed the American Standard Committee who sought to Romanize the church in America[5].

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[1] Jan Karel Van Baalen, The Chaos of the Cults, Wm. B. EERDMANs publishing Co. 1958, Grand Rapids Michigan, , P.289

[2] Dr. Otis Fuller, Which Bible, Grand Rapids Michigan, Grand Rapids International Publications, 1972, p. 291

[3] Ibid, pp 296-297

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