"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

Matthew 24:35 declares: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

This verse does not support KJV-Only or Verbal Plenary Preservation doctrine, for several critical reasons:

The verse addresses Jesus’ words, not written Scripture. In Mark 13:31, Jesus declares “my words will not disappear.”[1] The statement concerns the permanence of his spoken teaching, not the textual preservation of a fixed biblical manuscript. Jesus made no claim about protecting a particular written text or translation from scribal variation.

Multiple textual versions exist. Mark 13:31 and Matthew 24:35 are not identical—Matthew introduces “insignificant changes” in the phrasing[1], yet both versions circulated as authoritative Scripture. If Verbal Plenary Preservation were true, these variations would contradict the doctrine’s core claim that God preserved every word exactly.

The saying uses metaphorical language. “Till heaven and earth pass away” is a figure of speech for permanency[2], not a literal promise about textual transmission. The verse guarantees the truthfulness and ultimate fulfillment of Christ’s message, not the mechanical preservation of every letter in every manuscript.

The original context concerns the Torah. Luke’s version likely represents a more original saying where the disappearance of heaven and earth metaphorically expresses the permanence of Torah, though Matthew’s version may use the phrase idiomatically to mean “never.”[1] The eschatological discourse version (Matthew 24:35) shifted focus from the Law to Jesus’ words—a theological reframing rather than a statement about textual preservation.

KJV-Only advocates sometimes appeal to this verse, but it simply doesn’t address manuscript transmission, textual criticism, or translation choices—the actual concerns of that doctrine.

[1] David E. Aune, Revelation 17–22, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 52c:1119.
[2] John G. Butler, Jesus Christ: His Sermon on the Mount, Studies of the Savior (Clinton, IA: LBC Publications, 2005), 7:145–146.