Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Special: Beware of the King James only crowd. Part 2.
Sunday, January 2, 2005
ROM 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.
PRO 6:16 There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: [the seventh] one who spreads strife among brothers.
Some Christians today believe that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is the only legitimate Bible. Furthermore, like the original writings or “autographs” of Scripture, they believe that only the KJV is inspired and inerrant (without error).
1. People who prefer the KJV above all other Bibles but could not be classified as KJV only.
2. People who argue that the underlying Hebrew and Greek texts used by the KJV translators are superior to all other texts.
3. Those who argue that only the Textus Receptus (TR) has been supernaturally preserved and inspired and is therefore inerrant. (The TR is the text on which the KJV was based; there are over 30 editions, none 100 percent identical.)
4. The most dominant group are those who argue that the KJV translation itself constitutes an inspired and inerrant text.
“Responsibility must be laid at the door of the KJV Only camp for the destruction of many a good Christian Church in America and abroad.”
- James R. White
The KJV Only position is forced to make statements about the Bible that in reality undercut the very foundations of the [Christian] faith itself.
The King James Version Debate - D.A. Carson
The King James Only Controversy - J.R. White
Canonicity - R.B. Thieme Jr.
The King James Only Debate - John Ankerberg
Systematic Theology - Lewis Sperry Chaefer
EPH 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
1. The purpose of the written word is to lead us to worship the Living word, TLJC, and there is not one manuscript preserved which is total and complete and without flaws in some way.
2. What we possess is over 2,100 lectionary manuscripts, more than 2,700 minuscules, just over 260 uncials, and about 80 papyri.
The vast majority of these 5,000 or so manuscripts are fragmentary, preserving a few verses or a few books.
3. There have been a lot of different manuscripts found today from all of these different forms and the point is that there is not one manuscript that is totally correct and without flaws.
4. Out of five thousand manuscripts that were compared to the Textus Receptus (the basis for the New Testament text of the King James Version), they had less than 1% difference in text.
5. Before the printing press (15th century), the New Testament and all other documents were copied by hand. People are not capable of copying a lengthy piece of written material without introducing some errors.
6. Only the original authors of the Scriptures were inspired completely by God the Holy Spirit, not the copiers of the Scriptures.
PSA 119:89 Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.
JOH 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.”
The Scripture itself declares it is “perfect,” “very pure,” and “sacred,” PSA 19:7; 119:140; 2TI 3:15.
- NASB
MAT 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”
JOH 10:35 “the Scripture cannot be broken”
1PE 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever,” ISA 40:8.
- KJV
2TI 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2PE 1:21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
The Holy Spirit filled the original writers of Scripture and “carried them along” in the direction He wished so that even though men actually wrote the words of Scripture, they were the very words that God Himself inspired and wanted to be written down forever.
This explains the position of the Christian church for 20 centuries:
Only the original writings by the inspired authors, those who first penned the 66 books of the canon of the Bible, are the actual, inerrant Word of God.
Collectively, as soon as these individuals stopped writing, the canon of the Bible was complete and divine revelation ended.
Today, even though we do not possess the original autographs (the actual parchments or papyri that Scripture was first written on), - and even though meaningful variant readings (copyists differences) exist for about one or two percent of the Bible, we can still know that the copies - collectively taken - give us 100 percent of the original manuscripts.
7. Many times in the distribution of the early manuscripts, because the autograph copy was not at hand, some thought that corrections were necessary to make a passage clearer - in that case, the “correction” was itself an error.
8. There was a man named Desiderus Erasmus, who was originally a Roman Catholic, who stands in line behind the King James Version - which is a good version but not the only one.
Some of the best testimony against the “KJ Only” movement comes from the KJ Bible writers!
What can be more useful than to deliver God’s book unto God’s people in a tongue which they understand?
Building upon their foundation that went before us, we do endeavor to make that better which they left so good.
If they were alive, they would thank us.We never thought we should need to make a new Translation, but to make a good one better.
The translation of the Seventy [Septuagint] dissented from the original in many places, yet which of the Apostles did condemn it?
Psalm 12:7 KJV Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Psalm 12:7 NASB You, O LORD, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.
1450 – Gutenberg printing press 1516 – Erasmus publishes1st Greek NT1517 – Luther posts his 95 Theses1611 – 1st edition of KJV
There are no two Greek manuscripts in the world that totally agree with each other; there are textual differences.
85 % of the texts in the New Testament exhibit no variation at all.Of that remaining 15% at least 90% of that is easily resolved.About 1 to 1 1/2 % of the New Testament - we have to do serious examination.
NAS - REV 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
KJV - REV 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
NAS - Jude 1:25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
KJV - Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.