Adding to the Word of God is Prohibited by God

From time to time Latter-day Saints are taken to task by other Christians in the matter of The Book of Mormon. How can the "Mormons" add to scripture? That is prohibited by the Bible!

In our modern Bibles, the Book of Revelation is found at the end. And the passage used to object to The Book of Mormon, Revelation 22:18-19, are found at the end of the Book of Revelation. To some this means that as Revelation is the concluding book of the Bible, and those verses occur in the last few verses of that last chapter of that book, therefore nothing can be added. The canon is thereby closed. But the New Testament did not exist when Revelation was received by John. The authorities are unsure, but it is generally believed Revelation was written around 95 AD, and it is not even known whether the book was written last. And that book was a late addition to the canon of the New Testament — which is the only reason it occurs last. It was even disputed by many early church fathers whether it was worthy of being included in scripture at all. In any event, the canon of the New Testament was not settled upon until the late 300s AD. Before then, different authorities disagreed about what was authoritative scripture and which was not.

Verses 18 and 19 read as follows (KJV text):

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 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 out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

Given the previous statements, the book referred to in these two verses are not the entire New Testament, but the Book of Revelation itself. If these two verses applied to the Bible itself, then what does one do with Deuteronomy 4:2 in the Old Testament, which reads:

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

To interpret Rev. 22:18–19 as saying nothing can be added to the Bible would require interpreting Deut 4:2 the same way. Thus everything after that verse (or the book of Deuteronomy) would be additional scripture. But that is not how it is to be understood! These verses mean only that if God reveals to you His word, you’re not supposed to take away from it or add to it! And what do we do with the historical books of the Old Testament, like 1st and 2nd Kings? These books were not written by God, but by men writing down the history of Israel. They were not by any stretch of the imagination written by the hand of God!

So let's concern ourselves only with that which is written by God, or caused to be written under God's inspiration. Let's ask ourselves the question, is God forbidden to add additional scripture to His own word? Does He ever say that He will never add anything more? I should say not! The strongest evidence to this is the New Testament, which is added to the Old Testament. So it seems that we must concede, however reluctantly, that God is indeed allowed to add to His word.

It is interesting that the Book of Mormon speaks of this. God reveals to the Prophet Nephi in the Second Book of Nephi that in the days the writings of the people of Nephi come forth to the world there will be some who object:

“And because my words shall hiss forth — many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible…. Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.” (2 Nephi 29:3,10)

So what is The Book of Mormon? It is another Testament of Jesus Christ. Do we know who wrote it, or caused it to be written? The book itself tells us that it claims to have been written by ancient prophets whose people migrated from the Middle East to the American continent. And that they gave testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Savior of mankind.

I would recommend that interested persons read all of chapter 29 of 2nd Nephi. It is quite illuminating about the fact that God is allowed to add to scripture.

As to whether the Book of Mormon truly is the Word of God, the book itself admonishes us to ask God the question:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

And the Apostle James gives similar advice, in James 1:5...

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.