VILLAINOUS VERSIONS? The Ongoing KJV vs. Modern Versions Debate January, 1997 Do the Facts Really Matter? od’s Word provides the foundation for Christian Is the KJV truly the inspired translation? Has it no faults orthodoxy. Because the Scriptures are “God- or, at least, far fewer faults than the modern translations? G breathed,”1 they must be the Christian’s final How about the fact that many newer versions leave out authority. One understands, then, why some today are verses and parts of verses which are in our tried and true concerned about the quality and accuracy of the many King James Version? Is it not the Authorized Version based modern English language translations of God’s Word. on the Textus Receptus (Received Text)? Should we not Several authors and Christian radio hosts have even claimed remain loyal to the version that has stood the test of time? that the modern versions are tools of Satan, which are All these questions are important ones and ones we should preparing Christians to accept the New Age Movement’s study for ourselves, fairly and with hearts open to truth— doctrines and other “end-times” heresies. These allegations God’s truth. are cause for legitimate concern and, if factual, must be regarded very seriously by God’s people. Yet committed Christians will not merely accept all accusations as veritable, Inspiration: From God to Us but will carefully (and nobly2) consider the evidence of such he orthodox position regarding the inspiration of claims. God’s Word is that the original manuscripts as penned T by His prophets and apostles were fully inspired by God. The Holy Spirit miraculously guided the thoughts and pens of the human authors to compose His Holy Word, fully reliable, trustworthy, and authoritative. Thus the very words I N THIS ARTICLE themselves in the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) can be regarded as “God-breathed.” Inspiration: From God to Us The Holy Scriptures were inspired in the language of the 1 common person. The grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure of a great extent of the Old Testament Scriptures is 2 The Manuscripts simple, earthy, and unpolished. For many years New Testament scholars believed that the New Testament was Who Inspired the KJV? written in a special “Holy Ghost” Greek, because it was so 2 different from the Greek of contemporary secular writings.3 But near the turn of this century archeologists began to 3 The Bigger Issue discover large numbers of ancient papyri fragments. Many were notes to friends, bills of receipt, and other business 4 What the “KJV only” Advocates Don’t Tell Us transactions. All were written in the Greek dialect of the manuscripts of the Christian Scriptures (the Greek New Testament). This dialect became known as Koine Greek, the Who’s Behind All this Controversy Anyway? 5 Greek of the common person. God had spurned the Classical Greek of the refined, the educated and the upper class, and 6 Appendix A had chosen to frame and freeze His enduring Word in the tongue of the poor, the uneducated, and the insignificant. 8 Appendix B His message was and continues to be for all. 1 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV), from the Greek Theopneustos. 3 Eg. Caesar, Gallic Wars (100-44 B.C.); Livy, History of Rome (59 B.C. - A.D. 17); Tacitus, Annals (A.D. 100); Pliny 2 Cf. Acts 17:11 (KJV). Secundus, Natural History (A.D. 61-113). Villainous Versions? January, 1997 Shortly following the New Testament era missionaries of deciphering which variants best reflect the original, and the pushed into frontiers where Greek was not the mother tongue. ongoing study of the original manuscripts is also to be In the second and third centuries a whole new generation of credited with the even greater accuracy of most modern translations emerged: Syriac, Ethiopic, and other vernaculars. versions. These early Christian missionaries shared the Apostle Paul’s One must keep in mind that these variant readings are few conviction that each Christian must be given the opportunity and far between. The differences between the KJV and the to read and understand God’s Word in its written form. But modern translations are mostly differences of translation (i.e. they also realized that translations would always be less than archaic speech versus modern English). Less than one percent perfect, for humans were doing the translating. The translators of Scripture has variants of any significance among the never claimed inspiration. They accepted that the canon of manuscripts. And in most of these cases it is easy to decide Scripture had been closed, that the gift of divine inspiration which manuscript was recopied incorrectly. No debated had been given only to the authors of the 66 books that variant affects any central biblical doctrine or practice. The comprised God’s Word. Now God was allowing fallible differences and doctrinal problems are almost entirely human beings to take His Word to every person. problems of translation, that is, of taking the words and meanings of the original languages and putting them into an English, Spanish, French, or Chinese equivalent. The Manuscripts utenberg’s press turned out the first printed Bible, a Latin Vulgate New Testament, in 1456. Before that Who Inspired the KJV? G date all Bibles and portions of the Biblical text were arge charts abound in which modern versions are written by hand. Hence the term “manuscript.” Today we accused of having removed many important verses have approximately 5500 manuscripts of the Greek New L from the Holy Writ and of having watered down others. Testament. Some of these manually copied documents We are reminded of the judgment pronounced by God in contain the New Testament in its near entirety. Others such as Revelation 22:19 against those who would remove anything the earliest know manuscript dating back to approximately from His Word. A comparison of the KJV and a modern A.D. 125 contain only fragments of several verses.4 The translation will soon reveal that there are words, phrases, and Hebrew manuscripts, although not as plentiful, are generally even verses in the KJV which are not present in the modern in much better condition and of greater accuracy, due to the version, whether it is the NRSV, NIV, NASB, CEV, or astounding precautions the Hebrew scribes (Masoretes) GNB.6 But before we throw out all these versions we need to undertook in manually copying their Holy Scriptures. ask the crucial question: Were these words, phrases, and These manuscripts have been discovered all over the verses actually in the original? Did Paul, Matthew, or Moses Mediterranean world5 and vary in age from several decades actually write these words or were they added in later? The before the birth of Christ to the sixteenth century A.D. verse just prior to Revelation 22:19 also pronounces a severe From the very beginning of the Christian era, biblical curse on those who would add to the Scriptures. That offence scholars have been collecting and studying these manuscripts, is equally great. noting the variant readings and attempting to discern what The standard should be the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscript has the correct rendering when differences are text, not a translation produced in 1611 which has undergone found. Remember, the scribes who copied and recopied the many updates and revisions, so many that the original KJV is inspired text were not inspired themselves, and unfortunately very, very different from the KJV in our possession today.7 some were remarkably sloppy in their copying. In cases where Wycliffe was the first to give English speakers their own manuscripts differ, those manuscripts which are known to be Bible. Then came William Tyndale’s translation. The more accurate in other passages, those manuscripts which Coverdale Bible came next, followed by Matthew’s, agree on that variant while coming from a variety of Taverner’s, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Bishop’s geographical locations within the Mediterranean region, and those manuscripts which are the oldest and thus a shorter 6 New Revised Standard Version, New International history of copying and recopying are considered to be most Version, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary accurate. Of course, this process has many criteria and is a English Bible, or Good News Bible. laborious academic process, requiring a lifetime of research 7 The most glaring error in one of the two original 1611 and study. The amazing accuracy of the KJV is due to the versions of the KJV was Matthew 26:36: “Then cometh dedicated labor of Christian scholars involved in this process Judas.” It should read as our KJV today does, “Then cometh Jesus.” The KJV went through many, many major 4 This papyrus document called the John Rylands fragment revisions between 1611 and 1962. For example, the contains parts of John 18:31-33. It is, of course, extremely American Bible Society examined just six different versions fragile and in poor repair. circulating in the 19th century, and found more than 24,000 5 Later manuscripts come from European monasteries and variants in text and punctuation. See further Jack P. Lewis, churches where monks had copied them and/or placed them The English Bible: From KJV to NIV. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: for safekeeping. Baker, 1991), 37-40. Villainous Versions? January, 1997 Bible, the Rheims-Douay, and finally the King James in 1611. arguments in favor of their Bible because of its more “holy” All were based on the standard Bible of the Middle Ages, the and “dignified” language. In 1611 “you” was used for the Latin Vulgate. The last several were compared with the Greek king, the upper class, people in royalty, and those generally and Hebrew manuscripts that could be found, but in the who were in a social class above one’s own.