The Bible teaches us that we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Cor. 2:11). In other words, if we will search the Scriptures, we will be prepared to resist the Devil's crafty traps. For example, Satan's first words to Eve reveal the whole foundation of his modus operandi: Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: We see that Satan comes to cast doubt on Scripture: "Hath God said? Is the Bible really preserved? Maybe we will find older manuscripts that will show that we have been wrong about the Bible." He has many ways of tempting people to doubt God's words.
Next, we see that Satan (whose first word to Eve was a positive-thinking "yea") comes to deny God's judgment upon sin. He will try to tempt unbelievers into believing that they will never experience eternal torment in a literal lake of fire. And he will try to tempt Christians into believing that there is no accountability for sin in the Christian walk. They can never be punished in this life, or at the Judgment Seat of Christ. They do not have to, "press toward the mark for the prize," so they can, "if by any means...attain unto the resurrection of the dead" (Phil. 3). He comes to directly contradict every warning that the Lord gives to His people and show how it means the opposite.
It is interesting that when we examine the ancient Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, we find these two lies of Satan rebuked. Polycarp uses King James Bible readings instead of the readings found in newer versions (NIV, NAS). Yet, the argument for supposedly "correcting" the KJV was that "older manuscripts" had been discovered since the time of the King James translators. For example, Tischendorf discovered Sinaiticus in a waste basket of a monastery (1844). The manuscript is dated at the middle of the 4th century. The Vaticanus manuscript was released to scholars in the 19th century (by Rome) to help further the restless movement among some scholars for "revising" the King James Bible. It is also dated in the 4th century. Before long, many Christians realized that the Bible was not being "revised" at all; an entirely different text was being substituted for the old on the basis of "new light" and "progress" in textual criticism.
Yet, if these differences in the new versions are supposedly closer to the "originals," why is it when we read the Epistle of Polycarp we find King James Bible readings in contrast to the readings of new versions?:
"...there is nothing improbable in the conjecture of Usher, that [Polycarp] was the 'angel of the church in Smyrna'...His pupil Irenaeus [describes him], '...how he would speak of conversations he had held with John and with others who had seen the Lord...'...The authenticity [of this Epistle of Polycarp] can on no fair grounds be questioned. It is abundantly established by external testimony...We shall not...be far wrong if we [date it] about the middle of the SECOND century." (Roberts, Donaldson, Coxe, "Ante-Nicene Fathers," 1908) This Epistle of Polycarp, while not inspired, certainly contains more validity than these later "bible manuscripts of heretics, centuries later. Let us examine these early Scripture readings of Polycarp and see which version of the Bible they resemble. Even though Polycarp often mixes Scriptures, and quotes freely, we are able, nevertheless, to discern the KJV readings as opposed to the NAS, NIV, etc.:
"by grace ye are saved, not of works." (Polycarp)
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. (KJV)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (NAS)
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"But the love of money is the root of all evils." (Polycarp)
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil... (KJV)
"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil..." (NAS)
======================= "we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself." (Polycarp)
Romans 14:10...for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (KJV)
"...For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God...So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God." (NAS)
======================= "For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist..." (Polycarp)
1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (KJV)
"and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist.." (NAS)
"...sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." (NAS)
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"who bore our sins in His own body on the tree..." (Polycarp)
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree... (KJV)
"...He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross..." (NAS)
====================== The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians is one more testimony that God has indeed preserved His words, as He has promised. It is a rebuke to Satan's, "Yea, hath God said...?" But Satan has not finished. New Testament saints are reminded repeatedly to not be deceived concerning accountability for sin (after salvation) in relation to the coming kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9, Gal. 6:7, Eph. 5:6). It is obvious that there is a grave danger that many Christians will allow men with vain words to deceive them about this subject. Polycarp (no later than 150 A.D., or earlier, and possibly even a disciple of John, as history claims) reveals that early Christians firmly believed there would be serious accountability for God's people when the Lord returns.
There are only two possible views concerning the doctrine of these early, extra-biblical writings. Men such as Polycarp believed in a total loss of salvation (Arminianism), or he believed in kingdom exclusion (Millennial), and punishment at the Judgment Seat, but not a loss of eternal salvation.
The fact that he stresses eternal salvation by grace, not of works, reveals that he used the phrase "the kingdom" to be the Millennium (like Irenaeus, his disciple).
Those who deny possible punishment for Christians at the Judgment Seat must not only ignore scores of verses in the inspired Scriptures, they must maintain that the earliest historical Christians (all of them) were immediately deceived on such an important issue as eternal salvation. Yet, we find the earliest historical Christians (such as Clement to the Corinthians, and Polycarp) not only affirming salvation by grace, not of works, but also teaching that the coming kingdom is obtained byovercoming sin in the walk:
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