In Volume 3 Ross takes up two closely related labors: canonicity and transmission, both of which arise from the biblical conviction that God promised to preserve His Word. As Ross set out in the prior volume, that promise is a governing presupposition for the study (Volume 2 summary), and the historical facts—no original autographs extant; no two Greek manuscripts, printed editions of the Greek New Testament, or editions of the King James identical—are plain facts that any theory of preservation must reckon with (Lesson 57 summary).
Ross is careful to define what preservation means in practice. He insists that God did not preserve by keeping a single autograph untouched, nor by supernaturally overriding every scribe and typesetter; instead preservation is visible in a plurality of reliable copies that are available and actually used by God’s people through the dispensation (Volume 2 summative observations). From these scriptural principles—multiplicity, accessibility, and continual use—Ross counsels the student to let Scripture itself guide identification of the preserved text, not to attempt an impossible reconstruction of lost originals (Lessons 56–57 material).
Applying those biblical tests to history, Ross finds the printed form of the Preserved Text aligned with the Textus Receptus and the King James tradition. He argues that the TR was supported by the majority of extant Greek witnesses, was available and in use by Bible‑believing churches across the church age, and so passes the New Testament’s marks for the Preserved Text. By contrast, the modern Critical Text manuscripts fail Ross’s three‑fold test: they lack multiplicity of substantive agreement, were not accessible to believers throughout the dispensation, and therefore were not the stream in common use by Bible‑believing people (Lessons 41–46 summary).
Ross also explores the close relation between predictive prophecy and preservation—following and critiquing writers such as Jeff Farnham who press that preserved prophetic wording validates inspiration and future fulfillment. Ross affirms the linkage that prophecy’s historical fulfillments require preserved prophetic texts to be public and identifiable; but he rejects an over‑rigid demand for absolute verbatim identicality. Volume 2 emphasized the decisive distinction between minor differences of expression that do not alter doctrinal force and substantive alterations that would corrupt the message; this nuance is essential when reading Ross’s assessment of Farnham (Lesson 34 and Farnham discussion).
On canonicity Ross rehearses the historical contours without surrendering the Bible’s own authority as the rule of faith. He shows that the idea of a canon follows Old Testament precedent and that the church’s recognition of authoritative books is rooted in apostolic testimony and the Spirit’s witness, not merely later councils. Ross is rightly wary of the Marcion narrative being used to suggest the church lacked any sense of canonicity until the mid‑second century; instead he points back to apostolic functioning and the early circulation and use of authoritative writings as decisive for the New Testament collection (Lessons 58–59 and Marcion critique).
Finally, Ross sets the work for Volume 3: to trace transmission from the apostles to the 1611 Authorized Version, not as a fanciful reconstruction, but as a historical walk guided by Scripture’s own tests for preservation. His pastoral appeal is steady: we are to examine the facts, read Scripture’s marks for the preserved text—multiplicity, availability, and use—and walk by faith in the provision God has given (Volume 3 focus). For those who love the King James and trust the right‑division testimony of grace, Ross’s study is a sober call to confidence in God’s promise as witnessed through history.