THE KING JAMES CONTROVERSY


The World, the Word & You! Broadcast
Commentary by Dennis L. Finnan

There is a controversy raging in the Church! Today a grass-roots backlash of some conservative fundamental preachers, has called into question the validity of every new English translation of the Bible many Christians are enjoying today. This growing fanaticism has concluded that a conspiracy of enormous magnitude has been launched against the orthodoxy of the faith, a conspiracy of demonic origins and dedicated, they think, to the destruction of the Word of God! As a result, these well intentioned conspiracy theorists have concluded, that the area of attack is the Bible and the instrument of destruction is the alien infiltrator called, NEW TRANSLATIONS! How real is this fear, and how dangerous is this movement?

This movement has created panic among some Bible believing Christians that has the power to destroy the faith of multitudes and foster distrust, suspicion, and outright hostility among the brethren. The fury and fighting that has erupted in fundamental circles, is over what English translation of the Bible is right for Christians today. A small but zealous group of defenders of the Bible, claim that only the King James version of the Bible is the God approved translation that everyone must use or face the wrath and judgment of God, not to mention theirs too.

This group of protesters claim that the new translations of the Bible that have become most popular, are inaccurate and corrupt versions that eventually will lead to the destruction of the faith once delivered to the saints. As a result, outright rejection of every new translation is encouraged and more, separation from all those who use any such translations is recommended to the faithful if they wish to remain in God's good grace and truth.

Now I'm going to talk about this KING JAMES ONLY CONTROVERSY because I've taken a lot of time to study the issue. In fact, I just finished preaching an entire series of six messages on the subject of the Bible and translations, so I know what I'm talking about. I am worried my friend, deeply worried, that Satan the enemy of all men's souls, especially those who are Christ's, has found a wedge to enter the church and begin a process of destroying the faithful. His attack is the Word of God, and his plan is to unhinge the faithful from loving the brethren and God's Word, the Bible. Now in the brevity of twenty minutes, let me define the argument and give you helpful information to make your own judgment as to which Bible translation is for you.

To begin, I want to catalog the controversy. Basically, there are two camps. One says the King James Bible is the "only preserved," translation of the Word of God, or is a "new" or "re-inspiration" of the Word of God, a supernaturally inspired English text that is now the only inerrant translation for modern man.

Therefore, to use any other Bible, especially to make a new translation from texts other that those which brought us the King James Bible, is tantamount to heresy! The second camp says, inerrancy and faithful reproduction is not limited by translation work, or by availability of certain approved manuscripts. This argument has congealed in the idea that newer English translations such as the New International Version, New American Standard Bible, The Amplified Bible and other works in the conservative Christian world, are false, erroneous and heretical translations that the faithful followers of Christ should condemn and if possible destroy.

What is the argument behind all this? Let me try to put it in a nutshell. There are six arguments by the "KING JAMES ONLY" crowd, as to why the 1611 King James Bible is the only God approved translation for use by the church. Here they are for your perusal:

#1 - THE KING JAMES BIBLE IS THE ONLY PRESERVED TEXT BECAUSE IT COMES FROM THE "TEXTUS RECEPTUS," a published Greek text of the Byzantine tradition in the years 1565 and 1604 by Theodore Beza, a church scholar. The supporters contend that this manuscript and its origin in the "Majority Text," alone fulfills the promise of God to preserve the verbal inspiration of the Bible. The second argument is …

#2 - SINCE THE MAJORITY OF AVAILABLE TEXTS DOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES HAS BEEN BASED ON THE BYZANTINE TYPE OF DOCUMENTS, THEY ALONE REPRESENT THE SUPERIOR AND INFALLIBLE LINE OF GOD'S PRESERVED WORD. All other recently found documents of other traditions such as the Alexandrine texts are therefore inferior and offer corrupt and even dangerous theology.

#3 ALL NEWER TRANSLATIONS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE 1611 KING JAMES VERSION SHOW SERIOUS MANUSCRIPT ERRORS IN THE FORM OF DELETIONS AND ADDITIONS TO THE WORD OF GOD. Some contend that they've found 5,337 changes made that deny the verbal inspiration of God, and great and precious doctrines of the faith such as the blood atonement, and the deity of Christ which alone are preserved only in the King James edition.

#4 THE KING JAMES VERSION ALONE, WRITTEN IN OLD ENGLISH IS THE ONLY GOD HONORING LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS DEITY. Therefore, to use a translation that doesn't address God as "Thee and Thou," offends God and men.

#5 THE TRANSLATORS OF THE NEWER VERSIONS WERE EVIL MEN WHO WERE EITHER HERETICS, OCCULTISTS AND OR HOMOSEXUALS. They claim that many died strange deaths which is implied as judgments from God's wrath for undertaking such translation from unauthorized manuscripts.

#6 A GREAT SATANIC CONSPIRACY HAS COME TO REMOVE THE TRUE BIBLE FROM GOD'S PEOPLE. As such, true followers must root out, fight and resist any change of use from what they believe must be the only inspired, inerrant Word of God in English, the 1611 King James Translation.

Well there you have it, this depicts for us the dark winds of turbulence and destruction that are swirling around the church today. Yet, I submit to ,you these are the main arguments of radical fundamentalists who misunderstand God's verbal inspiration, and mistakenly believe God has personally chosen to divinely superintend only one translation of the Bible in another language.

Yes, the "King James Only" crowd has come to believe God has preferably translated the Bible from the original languages of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic exclusively into English and no other language version carries with it the "authorization" of God!

To understand this error we must define "verbal inspiration." The historic Christian church since its inception has believed in a verbally inspired Bible. It is defined as

"God's superintendence of human authors, so that using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error, God's revelation to man in the words of the original autographs."

As such, true Christians today confess they believe the sixty-six books of the Bible to be the plenary, verbally inspired, infallible and inerrant Word of God. However to be fully Biblical and historical as to the Christian faith, we must say that this belief applies exclusively to the original manuscripts that were penned by the prophets and writers of the Bible itself. Yet, herein is the problem and fear.

If the original manuscripts were inerrant and verbally inspired, what happens when you translate the Bible into another language? The answer is, it may be subject to losing its verbal inspiration. The King James only crowd says God was aware of this problem, so He "re-inspired," or supernaturally "preserved," the original by superintending the translation down through the centuries in an approved or "authorized" line of manuscripts. These manuscripts that are supernaturally preserved are of the Byzantine traditions known as the Majority Text and Texts Receipts, the source for bringing us the King James translation.

Again, here is the problem. I believe the "King James Only" crowd, has misunderstood verbal inspiration. You see verbal inspiration does not mean God "dictated" the Bible. We know God used personalities and styles of the Biblical writers to communicate His very words He wanted men to know. But the words in their context, and what they literally mean, carry the actual inspiration, not the actual words themselves. You see, there is no promise from God of an infallible text type as suggested by the "King James Only" crowd. The reason we say this is God intended that every kindred, tongue and tribe of people should, in time, have the Bible in their own language. If so, the actual words God used in the original manuscripts are not inspired, but again I say their literal meaning in the context they are placed, carries the mark of verbal inspiration and total infallibility. This means one can translate the Bible into another language and in effect use different words, add words, maybe delete words and still have a fully verbally inspired, inerrant and infallible Bible!

Today there are three methods used in translating from one language to another. There is the method of (1) "Word for word," or FORM EQUIVALENCE translation. The King James Version and the New American Standard Bible use this method of translation. This attempts to preserve the actual word order, structure and meaning as much as possible. The second is called (2) DYNAMIC (Natural) EQUIVALENCE, which attempts to carry over the actual meaning of the words to the hearer in the time, place and context originally given. The New International Version and every other modern language translation mainly uses this method. The third is (3) the FUNCTION EQUIVALENCE or "paraphrase" method such as the Living Bible, Philips New Testament Translation, and others.

Actually, I believe that a combination of FORM & DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE is the most accurate means of carrying Biblical inerrancy and verbal inspiration to any other language. Now remembering this, we must ask - what then is causing the fierce controversy? The answer is charges are made that the newer translations are erroneous and heretical because they either delete or add to the Word. The comparison for such claims is of course, the King James translation. If a new translation does not include a word or phrase found in the King James Version, it is considered corrupt. However, again to claim that the BYZANTINE tradition of text is preserved and authorized by God-has no Biblical foundation or claim, whatsoever. The Alexandrine traditions of texts found after the King James was translated are actually older copies and as to translation work, represent a closer view of the original manuscripts which are lost to us today.

The King James crowd charges there are 5,337 changes in the text as compared to the King James version. But if so, I ask, "so what?" When you translate, you will have changes to accommodate the differences in language and meaning. The issue is have the changes actually changed the "meaning" of the original word of God? The answer is absolutely not! All the charges that arise, are centered in the argument that phrases such as the "blood" atonement is altered and left out in the newer translations.

However, if you compare say the King James Version and the New International Version you find the following. The phrase, "the blood of Christ," appears in the King James Version, 33 times. Now in the New International Version it appears 32 times and the one time it is left out, why even great Bible scholars and fundamentalists such as Harry Ironside, and J. N Darby agree the best texts omit this one use in Colossians 1:14. Does this show a conspiracy to remove the blood atonement? Hardly. Now what the King James only crowd doesn't share is that even the King James Version, anyone holds in their hands today, has itself been revised and contains additions and omissions. Yes, that's right. Counting all the changes, the American Bible society confirms that more than 24,000 variants in the text and punctuation are found in the six different editions that came forth from the first edition printed in 1611. Does this mean we can't trust the King James Bible. Of course not! The King James Bible is a reliable copy of God's inerrant, infallible and verbally inspired Word of God, but so are other versions too.

Remember, correct language translation require the freedom to choose words and structure that may vary from the original. To make any translation, across language, will create such differences that are not a denial of verbal inspiration. Why? Because Again, verbal inspiration is carried in the context and meaning of words not the actual word itself. If you faithfully translate the mean in their context as it was meant to be understood by the people of the time it was written, you effectively and faithfully bring verbal inspiration and infallibility over to any language.

So in conclusion. There is no Biblical basis whatsoever for the adoption of the idea that the BYZANTINE texts are superior and the ALEXANDRINE texts are inferior. The King James Bible is not the only inspired Word of God. Yes, there is only one Bible but it can be found in many languages, For God the author of language and who speaks it has said the bible is for all people. Therefore every people on the face of the earth can and should have a reliable copy in their tongue. Making the King James Bible an article of faith, condemning everyone who supports other versions, is unscriptural and may even be Cultic. Our problem today is not having too many texts, but really as one scholar has said, "is an embarrassment of riches, not of loss!"

Let us thank God for the variety of Scripture translations available to us and for those scholars who translate the Bible into the languages of the peoples of the world. But also, let us use the translation that best enables us to hear, understand and obey God's word.

Therefore the choice of translation is a personal one. Let no man, no college, no preacher, no denomination, fellowship or church decide that for you. God's word was meant for you to personally and clearly understand in your own language, even your dialect! Does this mean every Bible out is infallible, verbally inspired and inerrant? Of course not! There are poor and even cultic versions of the Bible today such as the Jehovah's Witnesses' "New World Translation" and others. However, please note - we can have confidence in the King James Version, New International Version, New American Standard Bible and others that have faithfully carried over into our language God's wonderful word.

Today the argument for the King James Bible is centered in the idea that God has authorized only one text type to preserve verbal inspiration. This is erroneous. For this argument carries the idea that any translations taken from the differing text types show great changes and errors. Actually if you compare the two general text types and their conservative translations you will find no denial of any fundamental doctrines of the faith.

In fact, of every 10,000 words in the original languages regardless of the text traditions they come from, perhaps only one word may be at variant with the original. Rather than creating doubt as to "which Bible is reliable," we should rejoice that God has preserved His Bible not in exclusivity of the original words, but in good translations that honor Him and the original text by using the correct and faithful rules of translation work. I trust my Bible. I use the New International Version, and I will stake my life on the fundamentals of the faith it teaches me. I trust you believe God's Word too. For within those pages are the word of eternal life. There, Jesus Christ is upheld as the God of eternity that loves us enough to die for us and pay for our sins in our place. On a cross some 2000 years ago, God Himself died by shedding His precious blood. That cross was a place of heavenly transaction where God judged the sins of all men in the body and person of Jesus Christ. I rejoice to know my sins are forgiven and I'm bound for heaven, not because of my goodness, but Christ's righteousness. My Bible has taught me this and given me a faith to believe. I trust and pray yours has done the same.

As to this argument of translations, it is my desire for PEACE in the church. But peace at the price of compromise and quiet, when error is being promoted, cannot be honoring to God. As one of God's shepherd of His people, it is my duty to teach truth and to defend the Word of God from all attacks, including from within!

I believe those who zealously defend the King James Version as the "only authorized, and approved" Bible are in error, and their goal to keep God's people from having a clearly understood Bible in their own dialect and language today, is a disservice to the body of Christ and a shame to the Lord who bought them with His blood. May God truly bless these thoughts to your heart and grant you His peace. Amen.

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures.A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request.These weekly radio commentaries can be heard in selected areas around the nation. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for 16 years, and serves as General Director. These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of all messages is available upon request also.

For further information, reprints, or a listing of all topics, please write to our speaker, Dennis L. Finnan(dennis@wwy.org), or visit our webpage at [ http://www.wwy.org/ ].