Marvin L. Weir
The writer of Proverbs challenges us with these verses from divine inspiration: “Every word of God is tried: He is a shield unto them that take refuge in him. Add thou not unto his words, Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar (Prov. 30:5-6). Adam Clarke commented on verse five as follows:
Every oracle of God is purified. A metaphor taken from the purifying of metals. Everything that God has pronounced, every inspiration which the prophets have received, is pure, without mixture of error, without dross. Whatever trials it may be exposed to, it is always like gold: it bears the fire, and comes out with the same luster, the same purity, and the same weight.
Man must choose whether or not to take refuge in God. If a person chooses the refuge God offers, he has protection he would not otherwise have. Although God is very great and incomprehensible in His nature, there is a knowledge of Him that is possible for man to comprehend. A just God would not create a world and human beings to live in it without leaving man something with which to guide his life. God originally spoke to the heads of households, then through the prophets, and today through His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). God sent His Son so that men might have the forgiveness of sins and the opportunity to attain every spiritual blessing including Heaven.
We have complete revelation today—God’s Word, the Bible—a beacon of light in a world encompassed by darkness. Human words are simply a reflection of the human heart, and that heart may not be as pure as it needs to be. But the purity of God and Christ and their Word cannot be denied. The Psalmist said, “Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it” (Psa. 119:140). In the New Testament, John reminds all who will hear: “And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
It is impossible to improve on that which is perfect. The Psalmist stated, “The law of Jehovah is perfect…” (Psa. 19:7). James said, “But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing” (Jas. 1:25). The man of God can be complete because of God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We have access to “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3 emph. MLW). Complete revelation “was once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
It then is sinful for any person to add to or subtract from God’s Holy message. One dare not put his own ideas on an equality with those that are inspired. If one adds to God’s Word, it contains more than divine inspiration. If one takes from God’s Word, it contains less than divine inspiration. Nevertheless, many people add to and subtract from God’s Word because they want to live and act according to their own pleasures. Divine principles must be ignored and inspired truths perverted in order to live a worldly life. This is the price many people are willing to pay to achieve their own selfish pleasures.
The high cost for low living is too great! God’s Word still rings true: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). The Day of Judgment is approaching for all. God will require the soul of any person who willfully lives in disobedience to His will. May we learn that all the human reasoning in the world will not alter or change any of God’s Word!
