I hear many people attacking the King James only
movement. Some even go so far as to call
it heresy. But is it heretical to
proclaim by faith that I believe God has preserved His Word in purity for me to
read in my own language? Has not the
preservation of the Scriptures been the cry of Orthodoxy all along? There is nothing heretical about believing
that I actually hold in my hand the living, breathing, pure and perfect Word of
God.
Others have an almost palatable hatred of the idea that there
is only one pure Bible. They backbite
and/or dismiss the idea outright, refusing to even consider it or partake in
dialogue regarding it. This is most
unfortunate. We are supposed to have
teachable spirits and are advised over and over in the Scriptures to consider
wisdom and knowledge. The Bereans were
called noble for searching out a matter.
We should never outright close our ears to a subject. We need to always be willing to hear out a
position. After all, our pursuit is for
truth, not comfort. And we should ALWAYS
be seeking to submit our understanding to the Light of Scriptures. So if someone comes claiming to have insight
into the Scriptures, we ought to hear the matter out before dismissing it. (Proverbs18:13)
If a person is open and sincerely curious as to my position,
and in so being, they inquire as to why I consider this issue to be of
paramount importance, I wish to be able to sincerely answer. Not in defensive debate, but in sincere and
delicate care. And I wish to be able to
convey to that person why it is of paramount importance to them as well! I hope to do that with this short discourse.
As to why this issue is important to me? Let me explain first the premise of my
belief. Why do I believe that this is
something that should even be considered?
Why is it that I make an issue when so much of the church body remains
silent, if not ignorant, of the matter?
First of all are the promises of God within the Word
Itself. I believe God to be true (Titus1:2). I believe that He means what He
says and that He fulfills all that He states.
He does not speak casually or flippantly. He does not make statements, later to be
forgotten. When He declares something,
it is permanent and established as absolute truth for all time. With that said, let us see what He says in
regards to His Word.
Psalm 12:6-7 “The words of the Lord are pure
words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.7 Thou
shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for
ever.”
Whatever intellectual and grammatical arguments can be made
against these verses, it is very clear from a casual reading of the Scriptures,
that God has stated He will preserve His Word forever. The word preserve means to “guard and to
keep.” It is very important to note that
it is God Himself who will do this guarding and keeping. He has promised to protect His Word
forever. Not matter what kind of attacks
man makes against It, God Himself is defending It. Which makes it invincible! We can add to this defense, that God has
stated elsewhere that He has “settled” His Word forever in Heaven! (Ps. 119:89) The word settled has with it the definition
of established and perfect. God has
given us His word in established perfection forever and supernaturally protects
and guards it Himself!
Proverbs 30:5 “ Every word of God is
pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”
The idea of purity implies perfection. His Word is perfect and whole. The word used for pure carries with it a
reference to refinery. Like gold being
refined in the fires. Once gold is
refined, all impurities have been removed.
It comes forth pure and perfect.
Flawless and without blemish. As
is God’s preserved and settled Word. He
has purified it. It is refined and
perfect. Flawless and without blemish. Once an item is pure, nothing more can be
done to it. To add or to take away makes
it something less then pure. If I give
you a glass of pure water and you add something to it (even something
beneficial), it is no longer pure water.
It’s chemical composition has been altered making it something other
than pure. If you take from it, the same
thing occurs. So we can declare that God’s
Word is absolutely flawless and perfect.
Without error or mistake. All
impurities have been removed. It is
pure.
Deuteronomy 4:2 “Ye shall not add unto the word which I
command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the
commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”
Proverbs 30:6 “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove
thee, and thou be found a liar.”
Revelation 22:18-19 “For I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:19 And
if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and
from the things which are written in this book.”
At least these three times, God specifically commands that
man is not allowed to alter the pure and preserved Word of God. In fact, grave consequences are threatened
for those who presume to do so. Not only
will you be found a liar, but if you add to God’s Word, plagues will be added
to you, and if you take away from God’s Word, your part will be removed from
the book of life! To alter God’s Word is
a very, very serious offense. The
intellectual arrogance and presumption taken by an individual who thinks that
they can improve upon God is madness!
God Himself is preserving His Word in It’s purity. He needs no assistance from man, and actually forbids man from doing so!
So based on these verses, I have several premises developed
based on the absolute authority of God’s Word.
One, He has taken it upon Himself to preserve and protect His Word. Two, that preserved Word is pure and perfect
and flawless. And three, God demands to not add or take away from His Word, and
threatens anyone who presumes to alter His pure Word. Yet there is one more point to be made.
Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled.”
Jesus Himself spoke these words while on earth. He stated that not one jot or tittle from the
Word will pass away until all be fulfilled.
That means that every single word of Scripture, every dot of an i, and
every crossing of a t, will be preserved by God in it’s purity until the end of
the world. Every comma, every
semi-colon, every single letter, as Paul pointed out in Galatians when he made
the distinction between the word “seed” and “seeds.” (Gal. 3:16) Further more, Jesus has told us that we NEED
every single Word of God, for it is our spiritual food!
Matthew 4:4 “But he answered and said, It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God.”
It states that we LIVE by EVERY Word of God! Which makes every single jot and tittle
necessary for us! Praise God that He
takes it upon Himself to preserve it for us, or we would be doomed! We know that the Word of God is alive (Heb.4:12), and the life that is in it is the life and Spirit of Jesus Christ
Himself. For He is the Word become flesh
(John 1:1, 14). And we know that Jesus
said we must eat His flesh and drink His blood, and that in saying this He was
speaking spiritually of His Words (John 6:53-63). He is our manna from Heaven and we need to ‘eat’
Him in order to remain spiritually alive.
And according to His own Words, we need EVERY Word of God, for it is our food.
I now have a basic foundation from which to explain my
beliefs and hope in God. He has stated
that He will preserve His Word for all time in purity and perfection without
one jot or tittle missing and that I need it for my spiritual life! He not only preserves His Word, but threatens
those who presume to alter it. So based
on God’s Word and His faithfulness, I can declare with absolute confidence that
the preserved and pure Word of God without anything missing and without any
alterations exists in this world and will exist until the end of time! That is my faith. My faith in God as being true. My faith in God as being capable. And my faith in what He has said. From this solid ground of faith, I can now
build reasonable conjectures and logical inferences.
My first inference is that satan is always going to attack
in the sphere of God’s Word. His very
first attack on mankind was in regards to God’s Word, as he tried to cast doubt
upon what God had said.
Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
His very first scheme was to get us to doubt God’s
Word. And throughout history, his attack
has remained focused on the Word of God.
He has always used evil men to try to snuff out the Word. In the dark ages, his instrument of the Roman
Catholic Institute (RCI), forbade people from reading the Word! And when the Reformation set afoot to put the
Word into every common mans hand, the RCI persecuted and murdered those who
owned the Word! In addition, she
attempted to confiscate and burn all copies!
Today, the devil has changed his scheme, but the attack remains the
same. He transitioned from subtle
trickery, to outright persecution, to the current doubt and confusion. “Which version is the real one,” is the
common cry, IMMEDIATELY casting doubt on God’s Word. In Isaiah 14, did God say “Lucifer” had
fallen, or was it the “Morning Star?” In
Revelation 13, is the mark of the beast “In” the hand, or “On” the hand? In 1st John 4, is the identifying
mark of antichrist those who deny that Jesus “Is come in the flesh,” or is it
just those who deny Jesus? In Acts chapter 8, did the dialogue between Philip and the Eunuch over when it’s
permissible to be baptized take place, or did it not? Is there redemption in Jesus “through the
blood,” or without mentioning the blood? There is so
much confusion and doubt over Scriptures now!
In NUMEROUS places we find differences and even contradictions between
the versions. What hath God REALLY said?
And what about the footnotes in the modern versions that
state something like, “earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not contain
this section of Scripture.” What is the
intent of such a statement? Does it not
IMMEDIATELY cast doubt over what God has REALLY said? Is that not the same whisper of the serpent
in the garden? And what happens as
earlier and more reliable manuscripts are discovered? What if older and more “reliable” manuscripts
are found that exclude Galatians 3? What
if John 3:16 is removed? What if doubt
is cast on the Book of Revelation?
Without the foundation of faith in God’s promises to preserve and
protect, we are left with “best guesses.”
The critical scholar today cannot point to an absolute and pure and
preserved version, because in their eyes, only the originals were promised to
be pure! And we don’t have those today,
so we are left with best guesses.
So why the King James and not another version? Why do I say that the King James is the one
preserved and pure? Well, that takes
logical reasoning and research. There
are numerous reasons why, I will list a few here. One, the King James version stems from the
vast majority of remaining manuscripts (over 99%). All the other versions come from less then 1%
of manuscripts. Two, the way in which
the King James version came to be is astounding! I cannot go into it all now, but suggest you
research how meticulous and educated the process was (and under the authority
of a King…Ecc. 8:4). Three, when you
compare the differences between the versions, the King James is the one who
gives most honor and reverence to Jesus Christ!
It mentions “Lord” where others do not.
It mentions the “blood” where others do not. It identifies “lucifer” where others do
not. Simply ask yourself which one
appears to be the work of the devil? And
four, the other versions stem from the Roman Catholic Institute! The less than 1% manuscripts mostly boil down
to 2 manuscripts, known as Aleph and B.
Both of those come from that antichrist persecutor of the Word of God,
Rome. Why would we EVER trust her to
give us the pure and preserved Word of God?!
So I stand on the promises of God to give me His pure and
perfect Word of God, with nothing missing, added, or taken away. And when I compare the versions, there is one
that stands out like a light in the dark as the obvious and clear candidate to
be that pure and preserved Word. The
King James Version. Why is this
important for you?
First of all, I would not think it necessary to call you a
heretic or to disassemble from fellowship if you read from another
version. Those versions do contain SOME
of the Word of God (where they match the King James). I would hope that you would be teachable and
open to dialogue and I would ask you to seriously consider this issue, but we
could certainly remain in fellowship.
However, if you set about to teach and proclaim the usage of these other
versions in opposition to the King James, OR if you attack the truth of the
King James only movement, I would have to stand in opposition to you. Depending on your tactic and aggression
against the King James, I still may not find it necessary to disassociate with
you, but if you are zealous and vehement in your attacks, I must consider you
an enemy. For you are attacking the very
Word of God, and in so doing, you are doing the work of the devil (even if
ignorantly).
Second, God is not the author of confusion (1stCor. 14:33). In promoting these other
versions, you are adding to the confusion of the new converts and the
unbelievers. Instead of giving them one
pure and perfect Word and advising them to trust in It, you are giving them
multiple versions, sometimes contradictory, and asking them to set aside reason
and logic and accept them all as the pure and perfect Word of God! Or worse yet, you are advising them that we
do not have the pure and perfect Word, and they must rely on “best guesses!” I would rather that you chose one version,
regardless of which it is, and say THIS is the pure and perfect Word of
God. At least then we would have a reasonable
base of dialogue to begin at. Instead
you ask us to accept that contradictory things are at the same time and in the
same way pure and perfect! That is
illogical madness!
Thirdly, when you deny that the pure and perfect Word of God
exists in It’s entirety, and only exists in original copies that are no longer
available, you are only left with your own intellect and reasoning to determine
what is true and what is not. It is
solely up to your mind (fallen as it is) to discern what God has really said
and what He hasn’t. This is private interpretation
and is forbidden by the Word Itself! (2nd Peter 1:20) You must take it upon yourself to look at
verses, examine ‘scholarly’ opinions, and then decide for yourself if that is
really what the Lord has stated. And you
must then decide “how to read” the verse and determine what it “really”
means. Without an absolute standard and foundation,
you are only left with private interpretation.
Fourthly, without an absolute standard, how can you know for
sure that ANY of what you are reading are REALLY the Words of God? How do you know for sure that John 3:16 is in
the original? How can you stand in
absolute assurance that Ephesians 2 wasn’t added after the originals were
written? If you haven’t accepted by
faith that God preserves His pure Word, you have no foundation to stand
on. I have heard Pastors state “such and
such” was not in the original. Well,
then how do you know ANY of it was in the original? How can you make such statements without ever
having SEEN the original? If your faith
is in the originals, and they are non-existent, you can never know for sure if
ANY of what you are reading is really the Word of God!
Psalm 11:3 “ If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
Fifthly, if you accept the opinions and intellect of man to
stand as your foundation of truth, you are on very shaky ground. There is a reason that God forbade adding and
taking away from His Word. Men make
mistakes. Men make errors. Men lie.
Men deceive. God does not. (Rom.3:4) If you are allowing the fallen mind
of men to dictate to you what is true and what is not, you are WIDE OPEN for
deception. Jesus warned us of the leaven
of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6-12). He then
went on the explain that He was referencing their teachings. And that just a little bit of their “leaven”
would leaven the whole lump! When we
start accepting men's opinions as Scripture (which all additions, subtractions,
and footnotes are), then we are susceptible to error. It is foolish to assume that men WONT lie and
make mistakes!
So we can see the danger in not holding in your hand an
absolute and perfect Word of God.
Without it, you are left to the forbidden practice of private
interpretation, and the fallen intellect and honesty of wicked men. Not only that, but you can never be sure that
what you are reading is exactly the Word of God, and as such, you can never
fully be sure that what you are believing about Him is accurate and true. In addition, by supporting the other
versions, you are helping to add to the confusion of new and unbelievers, and I
dare say, even helping to perpetuate the lie of satan in the garden, “Hath God
said?”
In conclusion, here is my plea to those of you in opposition
the King James only movement. Where is
your foundation? In what is your hope
lying? If you do not believe that you
have a pure and absolutely perfect Word of God, then how can you be sure that
any of what you are reading are His actual Words? Do you have a sure foundation? The Word of God is so precious in that we can
rely on it WHOLLY and without fail. A
man who KNOWS that he holds the pure and perfect, wholly preserved, never
tampered with Word of God, can stand in the face of even the most convincing
arguments and doubts. Because he knows
that God is true and every man a liar and what God says is absolute and
perfect. Can you attest to that same
resolve, even when the versions you claim to be the Word of God are
contradictory?
Please understand that there is so much danger in not having
a pure and perfect Word. I don’t expect
you to just believe me and accept the King James, but I do expect you to submit
to the Word. It says clearly that God
has preserved His Word. It states
clearly that it is pure and perfect and that man is not allowed to tamper with
it. So ask yourself, where is this pure
and perfect Word? And don’t just dismiss
those who are telling you it is in the King James. Resolve to yourself that God is telling the
truth and it DOES exist somewhere! And then set
out to find it! Come higher up the
mountain with us. The view is glorious!!
