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Another Look At "Adding To" Or "Taking From" The Bible
“I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.”
Revelation 22:18,19
Hal Lindsey’s comments on the book of Revelation need to be observed with great care and study. Many in search of truth would readily disagree with many of his ideas. He does make one worthy observation about the book:
“Unfortunately, many Christians of all ages have avoided reading or studying the book of Revelation because they felt it was too difficult to understand...The reluctance to plumb the depths of God’s great plan is the work of the enemy of believers, Satan himself. He has more to lose than anyone else by people learning about the details of his demise. I personally feel that an individual who deliberately avoids studying or teaching this book is getting very close to the same thing as ‘taking away’ from it. It’s so foolish to neglect this jewel of truth when such promised blessings result from knowing its storehouse of treasures!” (notes from pp. 301,307).
Christians have diligently used Revelation 22:18,19 to rebuke and reprove those in other religions who add to or take from God’s word, but we have failed in the same area. While emphasizing the disrespect for God’s word so as to add to or take from, some have willfully ignored large portions of God’s word. Sometimes people will avoid the discussion of a passage that many take out of context to apply to their false beliefs. If someone points out Ephesians 2:8-10 where it says we are “saved by grace through faith”, do we divert their attention to James 2:26? It says there, “even so faith without works is dead”. Do we not believe we are saved by grace through faith? Could our diversion be adding to God’s word, because it does not say, “not of works, that no man should boast” (v. 9)?
How about passages in the Old Testament? What is our attitude toward it? Are we of the opinion, “We don’t need to spend time on the Old Testament. It’s been done away with!” Is that not taking from God’s word? Thousands of passages show the Old Testament to be God’s word (2 Peter 1:20,21). Are those passages not profitable to us (Romans 15:4)? Does man not live by the words which proceed from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)? Do not be guilty of avoiding the word and thus taking from it. Study it and thereby gain approval of God (2 Timothy 2:15).
