Adding to Scripture

DEFENSE

These passages do not prove what is claimed.

The two from Deuteronomy deal with the Israelites’ observance of the Mosaic Law. The first says: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (emphasis added).

The second reads: “Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it” (emphasis added).

These exhortations do not mean there are no sources of revelation outside the Law. If they did, they would cancel the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

They would also contradict Deuteronomy itself, which says: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him you shall heed” (Deut. 18:15). Here Deuteronomy specifically foretells the arrival of additional sources of revelation (prophets), which the Israelites are to heed.

The passage in Revelation reads: “I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

“This book” is a reference to the book of Revelation, not the entire Bible. This is indicated by the parallel passage at the beginning, where John was told, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches” (Rev. 1:11).

It is also indicated by the reference to “the prophecy of this book”— Revelation being a prophetic book. And it is indicated by the Greek word used here for “book”: biblion. This was the normal word for a scroll. Revelation fit into a scroll, but the entire Bible never did. It was far too long and consisted of a library of scrolls.

The warning is thus against tampering with the content of Revelation. It does not say there are no authorities besides Scripture.