King James Exclusive

Introduction - Nine Years Later

The following text was written about the time height of "King James Only" debate. Conservative, evangelical Christians, churches, and Bible schools were split down the middle as to whether only the King James Version should be used, or how to respond to the sudden flood of alternate Bible translations. Things quickly got ugly. There was tremendous hostility on both sides and many breaks in fellowship, including schools and mission agencies.

Today things are much better. There are very few King James Only churches or institutions, and the divisive hostility seems to have largely cooled down. The article below was written to encourage the exclusive use of King James by churches who reject other versions, without either accepting the senseless conspiracy-theory KJO arguments, or embracing dogmatic hostility towards all other versions.

- April 5, 2008

King James Exclusive

The Legitimacy of Exclusive Use of the King James Version

by Daniel Stanfield

The reason for this document is show the clear value of the King James Version of the Bible, and to present reasonable argument for it's exclusive use by individuals and churches who prefer it. It is not my purpose to devalue modern translations, some of which are excellent, but to validate the wisdom of the choice by those who use only the King James Version.

There are many people, like myself, who have an extensive familiarity and tremendous appreciation for the King James Version of the Bible. There are many churches and individuals who will not use, or cannot trust, any other translation. There are two very good reasons for this which are irrefutable. The first reason is because the translation is a literal rendering of unprecedented quality by the very best scholarship of that day, as well as the culmination of the life work of many individuals who created the translations on which the KJV was based.

Secondly, the King James Version has proven itself to be the effective, reliable, Word of God. For almost 400 years, it has been used almost exclusively by millions of people throughout their entire lives. It is the only universal standard in the English language and cannot be compared to any other versions, the most popular of which have not existed for more than 35-60 years!

What has happened recently, with the release and popularity of various other translations of the Bible, is a division throughout conservative churches over the issue of acceptance or rejection of these other translations. This has in times become ugly, and a source for rash discourse as well as a strain on associations with churches, schools, and mission agencies. It must be stated, that the reliability of the Word of God is absolutely worthy of the dogmatic resistance to change which has fueled the King James Only stance, and it is foolishly ill advised to lightly substitute an unknown or untested translation for the King James Version.

Unfortunately, those who would defend the KJV, have often divorced themselves from all modern scholarship, rejecting the best critical texts because of "conspiracy theory" paranoia and distorted accounts of archeological history which slander the value of key texts. I will not address this issue here, but will state that these claims against the reliability of the critical texts cannot be maintained in the face careful investigation.

There are, however, many very good reasons why it is perfectly legitimate to exclusively employ the King James Version.

1. Personal Familiarity - Nobody over the age, say 35, grew up under any other English version of the Bible. Anyone being raised in church and in Christian homes, who were brought up under the Word of God, were brought up under the King James Version. Anyone who has memorized Bible verses throughout their life has a stock of King James Version hidden in their heart.

2. Universal Familiarity - The world at large, Christian and otherwise, immediately recognizes Scripture as Scripture when it is quoted from the King James Bible. The confusion of renderings of the Scripture by such a multitude of translations as are now available can only aid Satan in devaluing the Word.

3. Uniformity in Church - It can be rather detrimental to church services and coordinated Bible study for more than one translation to be implemented by those leading and teaching. Often, when open discussion involves more than one translation the variances between translations are very distracting. It is also very difficult to listen to one version while following in another, worse, when versions are worded differently, or even contrarily, it can lead to loss of confidence in Scripture! While this is not necessarily an argument for the KJV, per se, the KJV is the best candidate for a single standard version. Indeed, churches who select any other version as their standard must allow the KJV as well, because of it's universal familiarity and prolific distribution.

4. Referential Familiarity - Any Bible reference published more than just a few years ago will be keyed to the KJV, and will be quoting the KJV. Unfortunately, the new standard for apparently almost all references being published today is the NIV, which is not even a literal rendering of the Greek texts which it uses.

5. Reverential Majesty - The Elizabethian English of the KJV is beautiful to read, and immediately gets our attention when we hear it. It is a flag which signals our brain that the Bible is being read. Our Christian upbringing to stand up straight and shut our mouths is not provoked by modern language editions, also, there is a special appreciation of the "Thee's" and "Thou's" as we consider God. It is not a bad thing to refer to God with majestic language, rather than "You", as it is in most modern translations.

6. Universal availability - The King James Version of the Bible is not copyrighted, and printed copies and software are available in incomparable volume. It is also already in the homes throughout the land, indeed it is reasonable to state that the extreme majority of Bible owners own at least one copy of this version.

7. Uniquely proven - As before stated, the King James Version is the only English translation that can be attested to by millions of people over hundreds of years as the effective, reliable, Word of God. By comparison, no other English version has ANY track record! Anyone who doubts the reliability of any other version, for any reason at all, should rely upon the KJV.

8. Excellent quality - It is worth restating that the KJV is of excellent quality. It is based on the Massoretic text for the Old Testament and the Textus Receptus for the New Testament, both of which are the very best which were known when the KJV was being compiled. It is based on the life works of many men including Erasamus, Luther, Tyndale, Rogers, Coverdale, and others. It is the united work of about 50 scholars from Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge. It was seven years in the making of the original edition, and is the culmination an uninterrupted refining process of English translation which spanned over 85 years. And lastly, it reads very well.