King James Only

To those who claim that the 1611 King James version is exclusively the "Word of God," we say, "The evidence is unconvincing." Hear Professor Daniel Wallace:

With the recent publication of several different books vilifying modern translations, asserting that they were borne out of conspiratorial motives, a word should be mentioned about this concocted theory. First, many of these books are written by people who have little or no knowledge of Greek or Hebrew, and are, further, a great distortion of the facts. I have read books on textual criticism for more than a quarter of a century, but never have I seen such illogic, out-of-context quotations, and downright deceptions about the situation as in these recent books. Second, although it is often asserted that heretics produced some of the New Testament MSS [Greek manuscripts] we now have in our possession, there is only one group of MSS known to be produced by heretics: certain Byzantine MSS of the book of Revelation. This is significant because the Byzantine text stands behind the KJV! These MSS formed part of a mystery cult textbook used by various early cults. But KJV advocates constantly make the charge that the earliest MSS (the Alexandrian MSS) were produced by heretics. The sole basis they have for this charge is that certain readings in these MSS are disagreeable to them! Third, when one examines the variations between the Greek text behind the KJV (the Textus Receptus) and the Greek text behind modern translations, it is discovered that the vast majority of variations are so trivial as to not even be translatable (the most common is the moveable nu, which is akin to the difference between "who" and "whom"!). Fourth, when one compares the number of variations that are found in the various MSS with the actual variations between the Textus Receptus and the best Greek witnesses, it is found that these two are remarkably similar. There are over 400,000 textual variants among NT MSS. But the differences between the Textus Receptus and texts based on the best Greek witnesses number about 5000, and most of these are untranslatable differences! In other words, over 98% of the time, the Textus Receptus and the standard critical editions agree. Those who vilify the modern translations and the Greek texts behind them have evidently never really investigated the data. Their appeals are based largely on emotion, not evidence. As such, they do an injustice to historic Christianity as well as to the men who stood behind the King James Bible. These scholars, who admitted that their work was provisional and not final (as can be seen by their preface and by their more than 8000 marginal notes indicating alternate renderings), would wholeheartedly welcome the great finds in MSS that have occurred in the past one hundred and fifty years. Why I Do Not Think the King James Bible Is the Best Translation Available Today

As a general rule, it's probably wise to confine one's translation usage to the NIV and those to the left. For personal study, I will often analyze the interlinear Greek, and compare KJV, NKJV, NIV, as well as Darby and ASV (not shown).

Further, those who promote King James Onlyism often assert that using the KJV guarantees corrrect understanding (doctrine) and believing the true Gospel; whereas using so-called modern translations leads to believing false gospels. Based on our experience, we have found this to be untrue. We consider many KJV Only advocates to have embraced some form of humanistic theology and are further unable to discern the difference between Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom and the Risen Christ's Gospel to the Church via the Apostle Paul.

We recommend a few books to help raise believers' general knowledge.

Geisler & Nix's, From God to Us - How we got our Bible, Moody Press, 1974.

Edward Young, Thy Word is Truth, Eerdmans Publishing, 1957, 1976.

Neil Lightfoot, How We Got the Bible, Baker Books, 1963, 1988.

D. A. Carson, The King James Version Debate, Baker Books, 1979.

As we come across helpful links, we will include them here. Inclusion of any particular link/article does not imply endorsement of the source, nor all statements within each article. Please use your discernment.

King James Only?

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