In From This Generation For Ever Bryan C. Ross sets a clear, pastoral frame: the study of God’s Word must begin with the Bible’s own claim for itself. Ross adopts a presuppositional posture—taking the inspired character of Scripture as the proper starting point—because that is precisely the attitude taught in his course notes. This posture does not ignore evidences; it places them on the right foundation so that our defense of Scripture rests on what the Book itself asserts and promises.
Ross lists the assumptions undergirding that posture: God exists; God has magnified His Word above His name; the Word is settled in heaven; God communicated His Word by inspiration; He caused those words to be written so men could have them; and He promised to preserve what He inspired (as summarized in his lesson outlines). These are not speculative assertions but the working commitments of the class, and they point us toward the twin doctrines of inspiration and preservation as inseparable for the believer who desires certainty.
Why such care about words? Ross takes us back to Genesis 3 to show Satan’s method against the final authority of Scripture. The Tempter begins by questioning—“Yea, hath God said?”—then proceeds to subtract, add, water down, and finally deny what God has spoken. Ross traces Eve’s exchange to illustrate these five tactics: question, subtract, add, dilute, and deny. If Satan can unsettle the text, he undercuts the believer’s anchor; thus vigilance for the exact words is not pedantry but spiritual necessity.
The need for preservation is urgent because Scripture itself warns of a famine for the words of the Lord, and Ross reminds us that a final, accessible text is what gives power to preaching and assures doctrine. He emphasizes that the words on the page matter—Amos’ prophecy of a famine of words and Paul’s teaching that faith comes by hearing the Word combine to show that without preserved words there is no stable rule for faith or practice. That is why Ross and his assembly make preservation a live, pastoral concern rather than a merely academic one.
Those convictions shape his practical stance: the King James Bible is regarded in these notes as God’s Word for English-speaking people, produced from the preserved Textus Receptus and translated by literal equivalency, and therefore to be trusted as the faithful English standard. Ross also insists on doctrinal consistency with right-division truth; he affirms the particularity of Pauline revelation in this dispensation and contends that belief about the Bible must cohere with belief about God’s working in time. In his teaching he warns against allowing historical or methodological loyalties to clash with the clear doctrinal commitments taught in the class materials.
For the pastor and the people, Ross offers a plain application: learn where God’s words are, hold them with conviction, and defend their preservation. The work is both scholarly and pastoral—scholarship to understand textual history, and pastoral courage to insist on a final authority in English. The Christian’s task is not merely to prefer a translation but to guard the words God has promised to preserve, so that ministers can feed saints with the Book that stands as the final court of appeal for faith and life.