Why King James Version Only?
There are two problems with modern English translations, like the NIV or ESV:
The Wrong Text
God’s Promise to Preserve His Word
“The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” Psalm 12:6-7
“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
God promised to preserve his Word from generation to generation, and also that no reading of scripture would be lost. and as history shows, the Word of God has continued to be kept and used by Christians throughout the ages, even if at times it was much harder to find.
It was Greek manuscripts of the bible that came into Europe after the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, that ignited the Protestant reformation as scholars like Erasmus showed that the text of the Catholic Church had been corrupted by comparing it to the Greek. Many bible translations into European language were produced during this time using the Greek text that had been preserved and received (Textus Receptus). The King James Bible was also translated during this time, and its use has continued unto this day.
Modern biblical scholarship, however, has taken a different approach to the text of Bible, instead of viewing the original text as preserved and handed down, they have taken it upon themselves to ‘reconstruct’ the text due to supposed errors that have been prevalent for millennia. This has resulted in many changes being made to the Greek text of the bible, based on manuscripts that have been discovered or uncovered recently. If certain parts or reading of the bible have been lost over time and need to be re-added in than we argue that God has not been preserving His Word.
Changes to the Text
The following verses are removed from most modern English versions of the bible, like the NIV or ESV.
Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Mark 11:26, Mark 15:28, Luke 17:36, John 5:4, Acts 8:37, Acts 15:34, Acts 24:7, Acts 28:29, Romans 16:24, 1 John 5:7
These include famous passages such as:
“For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” Matthew 18:11
“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Acts 8:37
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” 1 John 5:7
Additionally, the following passages usually contain a warning in the text the reads something like this “[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include…]” Mark 16:9-20 (the ending of Mark), John 7:53-8:11 (The Woman caught in Adultery).
Many other changes are made to the text which only a few example are shown below:
Luke 2:33 (KJV) “And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.”
Luke 2:33 (NIV) “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.”
The bible is clear that Christ had no earthly father, this change only creates confusion about the doctrine of the virgin birth.
1 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…”
1 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) “ Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh…”
The this small pronoun change turns a direct statement of Christ’s deity into a vague pronoun.
Never-Ending Updates
Modern bibles are constantly changing and updating as scholars continually update the underlying texts as either new texts are unearthed or methods of deciding which reading to use are updated. The Greek texts used today are on their 28th (Nestle-Aland) and 5th (United Bible Societies) editions and will continue to update and change the bible. with translations constantly updating the keep up.
The result is that what your modern bible says today, was different yesterday and will be changed again in the future. Who knows what they will decide to include or remove next. Meanwhile, the King James Version has remained constant since 1611, its updates have only been to modernise spellings and punctuations. If the foundation of our faith, the Word of God, keeps changing, then cannot be certain about anything, but thank God that He has preserved his Word to us and we know that, just like Him, it will never change.
The Wrong Translation
Poor Scholarship
The 47 translators of the King James Bible were exceptional scholars, proficient not only in Hebrew and Greek but in many other ancient and modern languages. Lancelot Andrewes alone is said to have mastered fifteen modern languages in addition to Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Chaldee and Syriac. These men did not merely consult grammar books and lexicons; they immersed themselves in the full range of Greek literature—classical authors, the bible, writings of early theologians, and the modern Greek of their time. Several, including John Bois, attained such fluency that they could compose original works and converse in both biblical Greek and Hebrew.
By comparison, few, if any, of the translators of modern English versions possess the same breadth and depth of linguistic mastery. While many are competent in Koine Greek and biblical Hebrew, rarely do they also know cognate languages and the lifelong immersion that characterised the 1611 committee. As a result, modern translators tend to rely more heavily on lexicons, commentaries, and the consensus of previous English versions rather than on the intuitive grasp that comes from decades of direct engagement with the original languages in their full historical, literary and spoken context. This difference in approach largely explains why, whenever modern versions depart from the wording of the King James Bible, they almost invariably depart in the same direction and often in nearly identical phrasing.
The result is two-fold. Firstly, modern English versions read very poorly, the translation is often very unnatural and awkward. Compare the style of these verses for example.
Micah 6:8 (KJV) “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;…”
Micah 6:8 (NIV) “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good…”
This stems from the NIVs translation philosophy of making every verse as gender-neutral as possible.
1 Corinthians 11:1 (KJV) “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV) “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”
The reading is awkward as to imitate someone usually has negative connotation of mockery but we are told to become like Christ, not to copy him, which seems ingenuine.
Secondly, Poor translation often leads to doctrinal errors, or maybe perhaps, they are on purpose due to bias.
John 3:36 (KJV) “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
John 3:36 (ESV) “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
The ESV is implying that if anyone is not obeying God’s commandments that they will not be saved, whereas the KJV makes it clear that it’s those that no not believe that will be damned.
The following changes are indicating that salvation is hard and a process that we go through. The Bible is consistently clear in the KJV that salvation is simple and easy, it’s just that there are few that get saved.
Matthew 7:14 (KJV) “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Matthew 7:14 (ESV) “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV) “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV) “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
This translation implies that people are in the process or being saved which is not only unbiblical, but also saying that people are perishing or dying as an ongoing process is nonsensical.
Political Correctness
Certain words are partly or completely removed from modern translation of the bible because they are either too harsh or not politically correct, words such as:
hell, devils, sodomite, effeminate, bottomless pit, brimstone, damnation, fornication, whoredom and many others.
The words they are replaced with, like “the grave” instead of “hell” weaken the doctrine. and instead of “fornication”, “sexual immorality” leaves it up to reader and the society to determine what is immoral. All of these changes weaken doctrine and weaken the severity and seriousness of certain sins.
Further more, versions like the NIV have completely overhauled the bible to make it gender-neutral.
This is not an exhaustive list of reasons or examples. Contact us if you have any questions.
Additional resources and references | Sermon by Pastor Stucky | kjvcompare.com | Trinitarian Bible Society