Why we use the King James Bible
:Fellowship Baptist Church ::
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Reasons Why We at Fellowship Baptist Church Still Use
The King James Bible Exclusively!
THEOLOGICAL REASONS
Some new Bible are dangerous because of the theological bias of their translators. The
Revised Standard Version (R.S.V.) of the Bible was presented to the public as a
completed work in 1952. The notoriously liberal National Council of Churches
authorized it. The unbelieving bias of the majority of the translators is evident in such
readings as Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a young woman shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (R.S.V.)
The difference between this reading and the way the verse reads in the King James
Version (K.J.V.) is very important. The old Bible says that “a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a son.” The liberal bias against the doctrine of the of the virgin birth of Christ is
reflected in the R.S.V. translation of this verse. To make matters worse this liberal
version translates Matthew 1:23, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” This
is a correct rendering of the Greek, but with the incorrect translation Isaiah 7:14 in the
same Bible, the impression is given that Matthew misquoted Isaiah. Not only is the
doctrine of the virgin birth undermined in the R.S.V., but also the doctrine of the
infallibility of the Bible! No fundamentalist Christian would accept as his standard a
theologically liberal translation of the Bible like the R.S.V.
The Good News Bible, (or, properly, Today’s English Version) was translated by neo-
orthodox Richard Bratcher, and purposely replaces the word “blood” with the word
“death” in many New Testament Passages that refer to the blood of Christ (such as
Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 10:19, and Revelation 1:5). Bratcher also replaces the word
“virgin” with “girl” in Luke 1:27. His theological bias ruins his translation.
The N.I.V. (probably the most popular version of recent days) calls into question these
same doctrinal issues, as well as teaching the false doctrine of baptismal
regeneration. In Acts 8:26-40 you will find the account of Philip and the Ethiopian
Eunuch, the N.I.V. completely omits the 37th verse, which says, “And Philip said, if thou
believest with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” This leads the reader to believe that salvation is not a
prerequisite to baptism.
Liberal or neo-orthodox religionists also produced other versions, such as Phillips
Translation and the New English Bible. For this reason we will not use them.
TEXTUAL REASONS
Many in the pew do not know that most of the more than one hundred new versions of
the Bible are not translated from the same Hebrew and Greek texts that the King James
translators used! When somebody says that the translation of a certain verse in the
King James Version is “unfortunate,” usually the problem is text rather than translation.
In the late 1800’s a committee of British and American scholars began work on a
revision of the King James Bible. It was decided by them that the Greek text of the New
Testament used in the translation of the old Bible was seriously defective. Although that
text represented the New Testament as most Christians had accepted it over the
centuries, it was spurned because is disagreed with some of the older manuscripts.
Almost all of the new versions are actually translations of the new Greek text generated
by this committee. This new text is significantly different from the traditional text.
When the reader comes to John 7:53-8:11 even in conservative translations such as
the New American Standard Bible (N.A.S.V.) or the N.I.V., he finds the whole story of the
woman taken in adultery set apart with lines or brackets. A note is place in relation to
the bracketed section that says something like this:
“The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not have John 7:53-8:11.”
Something similar is done to the Great Commission in Mark 16:9-20. What the textual
critics of a century ago were saying is that a large amount of the New Testament read,
believed, preached, and obeyed by most of our spiritual forefathers was actually
uninspired material added to the text! If this new text theory were true, it would be
revolutionary news to the church. However, the new theory is still very controversial.
Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God! A man’s needs will not be met unless he has received “every word”
that God has spoken. So said the Lord Jesus. Jesus also said “Heaven and earth shall
pass away. But my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) With this promise,
Christ assured us that the very words we need in order to live as we should would be
preserved throughout the ages, through wars and persecutions and disasters, even
through the fiery end of creation!
So-called “textual criticism” is more faith than it is science. If one studies the thousands
of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament with the belief that God has preserved His
Word through the years, he will come to different conclusions than one who studies the
same documents with the belief that such preservation is unlikely. Much of the work is
guesswork and many of the conclusions are debatable. For this reason, thoughtful
conservative Christians will decide that it is safer to stay with the traditional text than to
adopt the revised one. The only widely used English versions that are translated from
the traditional text are the King James Version and the N.K.J.V.
PHILOSOPHICAL REASONS
Christians ought to be interested in having the very words of God, since this is what
Jesus said we need! The King James Version is a translation that seeks what scholars
call “formal equivalence” to the original text. Others, however, seek “dynamic
equivalence.” The “formal equivalence” approach seeks to express in English the
meaning of the words in Greek. The dynamic equivalence” approach seeks to express
the meaning of the writer in modern idiom. Anyone who takes seriously our Lord’s
admonition in Matthew 4:4 will want formal equivalence” translation. Most of the new
versions do not offer this to us. The so-called “Living Bible” does not even pretend to be
translation of the words. Copies of this book clearly identify it as a “paraphrase” of God’
s Word. Dr. Kenneth Taylor wrote the Living Bible, and freely admitted that it was his
paraphrase of the scriptures. In other words he was putting the Bible into his own
words. When a pastor reads John 3:16 to his congregation Sunday morning, that is one
thing. When he rephrases it in his own words in order to explain what the verse means,
that is another thing. Preachers make it clear when they are reading God’s Word and
when they are paraphrasing it. It is acceptable to paraphrase the scripture in explaining
it, but it is unacceptable to confuse the paraphrase with the actual Word! The Living
Bible is not a Bible; it is Dr. Taylor’s paraphrase of the Bible. Please keep in mind the
distinction. Sadly, the result of Dr. Taylor’s paraphrasing was not always very helpful
even though he claims to hold “a rigid evangelical position” in his theology.
For example, in 1 Samuel 20:30, he introduced vile profanity in the Holy Writ without
warrant from the original text!
The very popular N.I.V. is a “dynamic equivalency” translation. The looseness of the N.I.
V.’s translation is admitted by the publishers and well known. The scholars who did the
translation believe that it is possible and beneficial to put into English what the writers
of scripture meant rather than what they actually said. One great problem with this
approach is the element of interpretation that is introduced into English. To interpret is
to explain what it means. Experts will say that all translation involves some
interpretation even when this is not the object of the translators. However, much more
interpretation will go on when the composers of a new version try to convey the thoughts
rather than the words. If we let the translators interpret the Bible for us, we might as well
let the priest do it! Our belief in the priesthood of the believer calls on us to reject highly
interpretive versions.
CULTURAL REASONS
Proverbs 22:28 says, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”
In the spirit of the fifth commandment, we are to honor the traditions given to us by the
previous generations of our people. Of course, if such tradition contradicts Scripture, we
are to reject it in favor of what the Bible says.
“Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” – Matthew 15:3
We never elevate tradition to the same level of authority as Scripture. But we should give
our forefathers “the benefit of the doubt.” We should also be careful to preserve all we
can that is truly Christian about our culture.
The King James Version of the Bible has played an important and unique role in the
development of American culture. It can be said that the foundation of our society is the
Holy Scriptures. The theology of the Bible influenced the ideas behind our Constitution.
The language of the King James Bible was scattered throughout our early literature.
The revivals that formed and changed our culture resulted from the preaching of Bible
texts.
For many years, Americans knew a certain amount of Scripture by heart. Many or most
could quote at least the Twenty-Third Psalm, and recognize the Beatitudes, Ten
Commandments, and parts of the Sermon on the Mount when quoted. But now the
influence of the Bible was waned significantly. One reason for the decline of Biblical
influence has been the loss of a standard version of the Bible.
For the first two hundred years as a nation, the King James Version was the Bible to
most Americans. Even after so-called “modern” versions became popular, the King
James Bible continued to be the version memorized, quoted, and publicly read most
often. With the demise of the old Bible, our country has been left without a standard text
of Scripture. Who can quote the Twenty-Third Psalm anymore? Who knows how to
repeat the Christmas story? The question always arises: “Which version?” Everybody
realizes that our nation’s spiritual and moral foundations have been crumbling, but few
have understood how the multiplication of Bible versions has contributed to the decay.
We will stick with the King James Version out of concern for our country’s future, if for no
other reason! Why should conservative Christians join in the mad movement to throw
away the standards that made our county good? Our Constitution is jealously guarded
against change by an elaborate and difficult amendment process. If it takes two-thirds
of Congress and three-fourths of the states to change one sentence in the Constitution,
why should the churches be so willing to accept great changes in the Bible without
serious and extensive “due process”?
PRACTICAL REASONS
Believe it or not, some of the features most criticized in the King James Bible are
among the best reasons to keep it! For example, consider the “thee’s” and “thou’s.” The
King James Version was not written in the everyday language of people on the street in
1611. It was written in high English, a very precise form of our language. In modern
English, the second person pronoun is expressed with one word, whether in singular
or the plural. The word is “you.” Most other European languages have both a singular
and a plural pronoun in the second, as well as the first and third person. The first
person singular pronoun in the nominative case, for example, is “I,” while the plural is
“we.” The third person singular pronoun (also the nominative case) is “he,” while the
plural is “they.” Modern English, however, has only “you” for its entire second person
pronoun uses. High English uses “thou” for the second person singular, and “you” for
the plural! In this way, the King James Version lets us know whether the scripture
means a singular “you” or a plural “you.” “Thou” or “thee” mean one persons being
addressed, and “ye” or “you” mean several. This feature often helps us interpret a
passage.
“Thou” - designates the subject of a verb
“Thee” - designates the object of a verb
“Ye” - designates the subject of a verb
“You” - designates the object of a verb
A personal pronoun beginning with “t” is a singular pronoun. (Thou, thee, thy thine)
“Est” - indicates the second person singular. (The one spoken to)
“Eth” - indicates the third person singular. (The one spoken about)
“Shall” - refers to the first person in the future tense
“Will” - refers to the second or third person in the future tense.
We also find the italics in the old Bible a great help. The translators italicized words they
put into the text that do not appear in the original language. The new translations do not
do this. We appreciate the integrity of the ancient scholars in letting us know what was
added and what was original, and are disappointed that modern translators have let us
down in this area.
The matter of quotation marks is also a question of importance. The King James
Version does not use them, because the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts do not have
them. The reader determines where a quotation begins and where it ends by the
context, and by other means of interpretation at his disposal. The new versions do not
give us the luxury of deciding the extent of quotations ourselves because they have
inserted quotation marks according to the translator’s interpretations of the various
passages. John 1:15-18 and John 3:27-36 present examples of places in the Bible
where the length of the quotation is a matter if interpretation.
Such features make the King James Version the most helpful translation of the Bible in
English for the serious reader. Even the “New King James,” which is partially translated
from the traditional texts, denies us the practical help of high English, italicized
additions, and the absence of quotation marks.
Many publishers claim that the new translations are easier to understand, misleading
people into thinking that they will be able to better understand the Word of God but the
derivative copyright law insist that:
“To be copyrightable, a derivative work must be different enough from the original to be
regarded as a ‘new work’ or must contain a substantial amount of material. Making
minor changes or additions of little substance to a pre-existing work will not qualify the
work as a new version for copyright purposes.”
Therefore, all new Bible versions must change the simple one or two syllable Anglo-
Saxon words of the King James Version into complex, multi-syllable Latinized words.
Consequently, the King James Version reads at the 5th grade level and the N.K.J.V.
reads at the 7th grade level. Because of copyright law, there will never be an easier to
read Bible than the King James Version.
Here are a few examples, (there are hundreds) of where the New King James Version
(NKJV) uses the more difficult words than the King James Version(KJV).
Going from left to right first you have the Bible verse, then you have the word(s) the NKJV
uses and then you have what the KJV uses. As you examine this chart you will notice
that the KJV surpsisingly uses the easier words
N.K.J.V. K.J.V.
Amos 5:21 savor - smell
2 Corinthians 5:2 habitation - house
Ecclesiastics 2:3 gratify - give
Isaiah 28:1,4 verdant - fat
Isaiah 34:6 overflowing - fat
Deuteronomy 28:50 elderly - old
Romans 3:25 sins that were previously committed - sins that are
past
Romans 7:7 covetousness - lust
For all of these reasons, it just makes good sense for conservative, Bible-believing
churches to keep the old King James Bible as their standard text. The new versions
present too many problems and simply are not fit to replace the English version we
have trusted for so long. Let’s stick with the King James! The movement to abandon it
will move us from clarity to confusion, from authority to anarchy, from faith to doubt. We
ought not to make such a move!
For more on this subject see:
www.av1611.org
www.BibleForToday.org