Wash Me Throughly

© 19 Colin Melbourne

Q: In your article on the KJV PCE, you mention that the punctuation and spelling were standardised at the turn of the 19th. century, but what about the spelling mistake of throughly in Second Timothy 3:17?

A: Have a silver-star and a lollipop for being keen-eyed and thoughtful, but it is definitely not a spelling mistake.

Remember the rule of thumb;

“Whenever the accuracy of the King James Version is challenged, the error is in the challenger: NEVER in the written word.”

Observing that simple maxim will keep you on the narrow way, and save you much confusion.

Throughly Furnished

Here’s the scripture, 2 Tim. 3:16-17 KJV;

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

I first came across the word throughly when listening to G. F. Handel’s Chandos Anthem Number 3 where both duettists sing the scripture, Psalm 51:2 KJV;

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

On first hearing, I imagined it was a charming Georgian quirk of pronunciation that the Anglicised Saxon Composer had embraced. However, when I checked, I realised, Glory to God! It is indeed the very written word of God: Throughly not thoroughly, as modern bibles thoroughly mistranslate it.

Oh what a mistake we make when we change the written word of God.

As if Almighty God would not preserve the very word He Embodied, and wrote down for us to come to learn from Him.

The thought is preposterous in the extreme.

Settle it Once and For All

If you have the least doubt that the KJV is the inerrant written word of Almighty God in English, you are in an awful place of ignorance and danger.

You will surely be deceived, tossed around in carnal thought, and troubled by demonic teaching on every side.

I challenge every doubter to go to The LORD Jesus Christ today, and ask Him to show you which bible version is His perfect written word in English.

Do that in sincere humble prayer and, in due course, you will be given the most delightful proof imaginable.

What does Throughly mean?

Surely it is the same as thoroughly?

Not so, Halleluia!

The word thoroughly is used only twice in the Holy Bible, and both times (Ex. 21:19, 2 Ki. 11:18) it is used in the modern sense; very much, completely, diligently;

ie. “We went to a concert and thoroughly enjoyed it!”
“I got caught in a rainstorm and was thoroughly soaked!”
“The car is rattling, better get the garage to check it thoroughly.”

Here’s how the Holy Ghost uses the word;

And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

Ex. 21:18-19 KJV

And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.

2 Ki. 11:18 KJV

Throughly In The Bible

Now let us see how The Holy Ghost uses the word throughly, ask the LORD to reveal to you the subtle, but profound difference;

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Gen. 11:1-4 KJV

Make Bricks You Slaves!

It will help you to understand what throughly means in this context, if you try making bricks.

Once formed from a mixture of; water, clay, stone, and fibre, the bricks need to be dried, and then baked in an oven. Usually an earthen covered oven packed with coal and firewood.

Here’s the hint for you budding disciples: If the oven does not reach a sufficient temperature to bake or burn the bricks from their core, they are weak and friable; useless for building permanent structures.

I was born in the North of England, where the finest building bricks have been made since the industrial revolution.

When Americans decided to build their Tower of Babel in Gomorrah (New York), they imported the very best bricks they could afford for the foundations.

The Empire State Building is built upon bricks called Accrington Red Noris made and fired in Lancashire, England.

The idol of American pride stands erect because the foundation bricks were burned throughly: Not thoroughly.

Seek the Lord for revelation, as we look at the next scriptural use of throughly, Job 6:1-3 KJV;

But Job answered and said,

Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.

Hint: Where was Job’s grief located?
Where did the calamities come from?

The LORD through the Prophet Jeremiah chastised Judah, Jer. 7:2-7 KJV;

Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.

For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

Hint: Judah failed to throughly amend their ways and consequently were driven out of the land. What did they lack, what did they need to enable them to amend their ways?

The Holy Ghost through Paul wrote, 2 Co. 11:5-7 KJV;

For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

Hint: Where in Paul, did those words of truth arise?

Finally, the Holy Ghost writes to Timothy, 2 Tim. 3:16-17 KJV;

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Hint: The LORD designates the works good, because they were throughly furnished, so what does that tell us about their motivation and source in the man of God?

From this sample, you will begin to see the subtle difference in meaning between thoroughly and throughly, and its huge significance to every born again believer in The LORD Jesus Christ.

There are eleven instances of throughly in the Holy Bible, check each one and ask the LORD what it means.

Then Discover what What Throughly Means in Relation to a Believer, we will see if you got it right.

 

© 19 Colin Melbourne
Tract image © Chick Publns. Used by permission.

Top image: King Saul attacking Psalmist David,  by Guercino

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