 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Why I Use the King James Version
by Tom Stewart
January 12, 2005
"Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy
Word is Truth" (John 17:17).
Which Bible do I use? I use the King James Version (KJV,
1611) of the Scriptures because I believe It is, in the Providence
of God, the finest conveyance of the incomparable Word of Life into the English language,
thus, giving the infallible Word of God to the world. "The
Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). The King James Version-- relying upon the Textus Receptus or the
Received Text, which has been known as the Majority Text or Universal Text from the
Byzantine family of Greek manuscripts [MSS] of the New Testament-- preserves against
the corrupting tendencies found in the modern translations. "Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put
their trust in Him" (Proverbs 30:5).
The Alexandrian Text-- once identified as the Minority Text or the Egyptian Text--
with its non-Biblical Apocrypha and Gnostic
tendencies were used to produce the Westcott-Hort Greek New
Testament (1881), which are found in those modern translations.
"18 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" (Revelation 22:18-19). Two liberal theologians, Brooke
Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892)-- both rejecting the inerrancy of the Scriptures and Its literal interpretation,
with Westcott confessing, "No one now, I suppose, holds that the first three
chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal history," and Hort admitting
his inability to assert the "absolute infallibility of a canonical writing"--
based their New Testament upon the Codex Vaticanus (B) manuscripts in the custodial
care of the Great Whore, which is the Church of Rome, and upon Constantin Tischendorf's
Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph)-- found actually in the wastebasket of the Monastery of
Saint Catherine on the Sinai Peninsula in 1859. "Come
out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
The Church of Rome's pleasure in any Critical Scholarship that insists upon the superiority
of the "older manuscripts" of the Alexandrian Text is understandable, for
not only would it slay the Protestant notion of an Infallible Bible; but even better,
it would strengthen their foundation of an Infallible Pope with his false teachings
from the non-Biblical Apocrypha for their Roman Bibles. "If
the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
(Psalm 11:3). Further, there is no need for a "redaction"
of any Old Testament manuscripts, for the Levitical copyists have already faithfully
preserved the Hebrew Old Testament, which can be found in the Ben Chayim or
Bomberg Text of the Rabbinic Old Testament, without the necessity of a mythical translation
of the Hebrew into the Greek in the form of a 250 BC Septuagint (LXX)-- with Origen's
very real and subsequent Hexapla inclusion (third century AD) of the spurious Apocryphal
books later found in the Catholic Bibles. "Cursed
be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully" (Jeremiah
48:10).
Though the Holy Spirit's inspiration of the Original Manuscripts extends to both
the Old and New Testament writings of the Scriptures, i.e., "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2Timothy 3:16), of what value can such no longer
existing Original Manuscripts be to us, if the Almighty has not provided some kind
of preservation by which we might still be benefitted? "6 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" (Psalm 12:6-7). Unlike the handful of 45 Alexandrian
manuscripts, where the Vaticanus (350 AD) and the Sinaiticus
(about 350 AD) disagree thousands of times with each other,
the 5,321 manuscripts of the Textus Receptus of the King James Version speak
with a unified voice, being descended from the Byzantine manuscripts, which come
to us from the original Church at Antioch. "The
LORD gave the Word: great was the company of those that published It" (Psalm 68:11). The most critical question to ask
in determining the validity of the manuscript source of any translation of the Word
of God is, "Did it come through the polluted Roman stream of the Codex Vaticanus?"
If so, have nothing to do with it, for if you do not distrust it, then you
have but small understanding of Babylon the Great. "4 And the woman was arrayed in purple
and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH" (Revelation 17:4-5). [Please
read our Babylon
the Great series of articles ---New
Window for an expose of the lineage of this traditional
enemy of the Almighty and to understand the historic and prophetic significance of
Rome.] Not only has the King James Version of the Scriptures been providentially
blessed in Its use and influence, but a mark of the generations of Professed Christians,
who have discounted or discontinued Its use, has been the lukewarmness of the present
Laodicean Christianity. "15 I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and
repent" (Revelation 3:15-16, 19).
The lineage of the manuscripts used for the King James Version show a chain of custody
dating back to the Church of Antioch in Syria, where the "disciples
were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts
11:26). It is said of the Vaudois [pronounced vo - DWAH], who were
known also as Waldensians, by John Calvin's successor Theodore Beza that the Vaudois
of the valleys of the Piedmontese Alps had received the Scriptures from missionaries
from Antioch of Syria sometime after 120 AD and had completed a translation of the
Scriptures into their native Latin tongue by 157 AD-- the Old Latin Vulgate, which
is distinct from and not to be confused with the later Vulgate of Jerome (380
AD) with its Roman Catholic Apocrypha. "And
the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou
to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also"
(2Timothy 2:2). James A. Wylie (1808-1890)
describes the "apostolicity of the Churches of the Waldensian valleys"
with the observation that "Rome manifestly was the schismatic," while the
Vaudois or Waldenses deserved the "valid title of the True Church," and
even the Waldenses' "greatest enemies, Claude Seyssel of Turin (1517), and Reynerius the Inquisitor (1250), have admitted
their antiquity, and stigmatized them as 'the most dangerous of all heretics, because
the most ancient'" (excerpted from "The History of Protestantism" Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 6 "The
Waldenses - Their Valleys" ---New
Window [1878] by James A. Wylie).
Since the Byzantine Manuscripts commonly accessible to Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) were used in his production of the Greek New Testament, which formed the
Textus Receptus (1516, 1519, 1522, 1527, 1535), their
use demonstrated a continuity with the Vaudois. The Vaudois Christians had likewise
used and preserved the ancient Byzantine manuscripts of Antioch in the form of Latin
Scripture; and, their survival from the wrath of Papal Rome from the time of the
Early Church until the sola scriptura ("Scripture alone") of the
Protestant Reformation (1521) is testament that the True Church
and the True Word of God did continuously testify against the False Church and False
Scriptures of the Whore of Rome-- and triumphed! "For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our Faith" (1John 5:4).
The Vaudois rendezvous with the Protestant Reformation represents a Divine Approval
of the Reformation, in that the Ancient Christian Church of the Vaudois attested
to the Truth of the Reformers, and specifically to the validity of the Scriptures
of the Reformers, which were used to translate the Textus Receptus Bibles
of the Reformation, i.e., the Spanish Reina-Valera (1569),
the Italian Diodati (1603), the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Tyndale New Testament (1536), the Great Bible
(1539), the Bishops Bible (1568), the
Geneva Bible (1560-1599), and, of course, the King James Bible
(1611). "For by
wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety" (Proverbs 24:6). Significantly, men of God, such
as John Wesley (1703-1791) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), have attested to the accuracy of understanding that the Vaudois Christians
were not merely a more recent vintage of Protestant reaction to the Church
of Rome, coming upon the scene through Peter Waldo in twelfth century France (1171
AD), but that the Vaudois were ancient Christians, who preserved
their Christianity along with the Scriptures-- separate from the Church of Rome--
as far back as the early second century AD. "That
in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (Matthew 18:16).
David W. Daniels (author of Answers to Your Bible Version Questions, and kindly
featured by Jack Chick online in the "Bible Versions" section ---New Window, a tremendous resource for those interested
in the King James Version) cites the following concerning the Vaudois---New Window:
Is the Authorized Version (AV) or the King James Version to be considered the perfect
Word of God in the English language? Yes! "And
the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it" (Habakkuk 2:2). Obviously, the Authorized Version is not one and the same as the
Original Autographs; however, the modern translations must often rely upon the Received
Text for substance, for the manuscripts of the Textus Receptus are historically
more numerous than the Alexandrian manuscripts of the modern translations, not to
mention, massively more consistent with one another textually than the rarely-agreeing-with-one
-another Alexandrian manuscripts. "Heaven
and Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away"
(Matthew 24:35). By Providence, the evidence demonstrates that
the King James Version is worthy to be considered God's perfect Word for the English
language. "For this cause also thank
we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard
of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in Truth, the Word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe"
(1Thessalonians 2:13). Modern Liberal Professed Christianity
demands a Bible that may be critically revised to support its emphasis upon the Social
Gospel and Social Justice, thereby establishing their authority to criticize God's
Word. "And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing" (1Corinthians 13:3). "For this is the Love of God,
that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous" (1John 5:3). [For an historical and prophetic perspective
on Liberalism, Modernism, and the Social Gospel, read "The Ecumenical Movement and the Church of Rome"---New Window.] The Roman Pontiff demands a Bible
that establishes the authority of all manner of doctrinal perversion found in the
Apocrypha; additionally, Catholic Tradition is considered equal to the Scripture,
interpretation of the Scriptures belongs solely to the Pope, Papal infallibility
extends over faith, morals, and the Scripture, in short, the Pope, not Scripture,
dictates what must be believed. "O Earth,
Earth, Earth, hear the Word of the LORD" (Jeremiah
22:29). [We speak so strongly against Rome, only because we desire
the salvation and spiritual freedom of her people. For this reason, we offer "An Earnest Appeal to Roman Catholics:
Or, Roman Catholicism Examined in Light of the Scriptures"
---New Window.]
In conclusion, we advocate the use of the King James Version of the Scriptures,
and believe that It should be treated as the Word of God, i.e., "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled,
of the Word of Life" (1John 1:1),
because:
(1) The King James Version is based upon the most accurate and pure text of the Original
Autographs. "Sanctify them through Thy
Truth: Thy Word is Truth" (John 17:17).
(2) The King James Version bears the authenticity of Divine Providence and Miraculous
Preservation. "6 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" (Psalm 12:6-7).
(3) The King James Version dispels confusion over what God said, simply by appealing
to the undisputable text of Scripture, i.e., "What
Saith the Scripture?" (Romans 4:3).
(4) The King James Version prevents the perversion that must come from those who
refuse to embrace the Truth, i.e., "3 If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the
doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
and destitute of the Truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw
thyself" (1Timothy 6:3-5), and
(5) The King James Version resists the tendency of division that results when each
adopts their own variant reading of the Scriptures of the differing Greek texts,
i.e., "20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is
of any private interpretation. 21 For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2Peter 1:20-21).
Amen, and Amen.
"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" (Matthew 5:18).
[For your spiritual edification, please read a compilation of Psalm 119 by Katie Stewart, "In Awe of Thy Word" ---New Window, for a greater appreciation of the Word of God.]
.
Next article "From
the Editor's Desktop"
Section Index for Fellowship
Readers are permitted and encouraged to copy
and freely share this article with others.
.
Homepage 
Holy Bible
.Jehovah Jesus
Timeline .Prophecy Philadelphia Fellowship Promises Stories Poetry Links
Purpose ||.What's New
|| Tribulation Topics || Download Page || Today's Entry
Topical Links:
Salvation || Catholicism || Sound Doctrine || Prayer
Privacy Policy
.
