Baptist Bible Study Bulletin (No. 10; Vol.

1; 2019) The Bible Controversy

The Bible Controversy – God only gave us one Bible – it is authoritative, inspired, preserved, and received by the Lord’s
churches. The Bible controversy hinges on a few issues: The Doctrinal Issue – Did God promised to preserve His words? What
does the Bible teach about its own inspiration and preservation? Or perhaps there are no Scriptural foundations for believing
in perfectly preserved words? The Textual Issue – What original Biblical language texts represent or fits within the truth of
verbal preservation? The Translation Issue – Should the Bible be translated dynamically or formally? These resources will help
clarify many of these issues. We must have confidence in the promises of God regarding verbal preservation otherwise we
have no settled text, and/or the “text critics” must decide what are the words of God (and this by a committee vote).

A. The Doctrinal Issue:

1. Thou Shalt Keep Them: A Biblical Theology of the Perfect Preservation of the Scriptures. Published by Pillar and
Ground Publishing, second edition, 2003. Edited by Kent Brandenburg – Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, El Sobrante,
CA. This book exposits some of the Biblical passages that teach on its own preservation, availability, method of
preservation, textual corruptions from the apostolic period, doctrinal perversions resulting from textual alterations,
preservation and canonicity, and preservation and separation.

2. The Lord God Hath Spoken: A Guide to Bibliology – Published by Bible Baptist Press, revised and expanded, 2015. By
Thomas Strouse, Pastor of Bible Baptist Church, Cromwell, CT and seminary president of Bible Baptist Theological
Seminary.

3. One Tittle Shall In No Wise Pass: Destroying the Scholarly Myth that God Did Not Inspire the Vowels of the Old
Testament – Published by The Old Paths Publications, Inc., 2009. By Chester W. Kulus – Pastors Calvary Baptist
Church, Plymouth, NH (and another congregation in Tilton, NH). Dr. Kulus also wrote another book on the veracity
of the numbers as recorded in the Bible: Those So-Called Errors.

B. The Textual Issue:

1. The Lord Gave the Word: A Study in the History of the Biblical Text – Published by the Trinitarian Bible Society, 1998.
By Malcolm H. Watts (1946-present) – Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Salisbury, England.

2. The King James Version Defended (recently edited and re-titled: Text and Time, available on Kindle) – Published by
Christian Research Press, 6th edition, 2018. By Edward F. Hills (1912-1981) – was an American Presbyterian textual
critic and scholar. Dr. Hills’ other book explores the textual issue in more details: Believing Bible Study.

C. The Translation Issue:

1. The Future of the Bible – Published by Thomas Nelson, 1978. By Jakob Van Bruggen.

2. The Making of the English Bible – Published by Carcanet New Press, 1982. By Gerald Hammond.

3. Accuracy of Translation – Published by Banner of Truth, 1998. By Robert P. Martin.

Notable works:

➢ David O. Fuller’s trilogy: Which Bible? True of False? (The Wescott-Hort Theory Examined) and Counterfeit or
Genuine? (a defense of Mark 16:9-29 and John 7:53-8:11). This set presents a typical apologia for the Received Texts
edited by Dr. Fuller (David Ottis Fuller, 1903-1988) – He was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary in
Princeton, NJ, and pastored Wealthy Park Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, MI for forty years.

➢ David Cloud’s Why We Hold to the King James Bible is excellent and includes relevant research. He also wrote, The
Glorious History of the English Bible. Bro. Cloud has numerous other titles to consider about the issue: The Bible
Version Issue – this is similar to a Bible institute manual; For the Love of the Bible; The Bible Version Question &
Answer Database, etc. (www.wayoflife.org)

➢ Dave Olson’s Understanding the King James Bible presents a reader-friendly defense of the King James Bible. 80
pages of good and insightful information. (www.help4upublications.com)

➢ Jack Moorman has several titles of note: Forever Settled; When the KJV Departs from the Majority Text; etc.