GUEST ARTICLE

THIRTEEN FACTS ABOUT KJV ONLYISM

Without a doubt many fine Christians read the King James Version of the Bible. However, some people have gone to remarkable extremes in their efforts to exalt the KJV over all other versions of the Bible and have caused division and disunity in the Body of Christ. Some of these people believe one is unsaved or some kind of misinformed, inferior Christian if he doesn't use the KJV when preaching and writing. These things should not be. The following brief outline are facts that the KJV Onlyites will probably never tell you:

The 1611 KJV included the Apocrypha, which contained various heresies in it. For example, in Tobit 12:8,9, 1611 KJV we read:

For almes doth deliuer from death, and shall purge away all sinne. Those that exercise almes, and righteousness, shall be filled with life.

The KJV is based on the Textus Receptus, which was formulated by Erasmus and edited by Stephanus and Beza. Erasmus was a Roman Catholic priest, who died a faithful Catholic.
Erasmus dedicated his 1516 edition of the Greek New Testament to Pope Leo X.
Erasmus depended mostly upon two twelfth-century manuscripts and had no Greek manuscript which contained the last six verses of the book of Revelation. He translated those verses from the Latin Vulgate into Greek.
Erasmus wrote of Mary as "my salvation" and "my refuge." Furthermore, he wished for "salvation through Jesus, but not without his Mother."
The 1611 KJV translators believed that one should read a variety of translations and not just their own!
The 1611 KJV translators also recognized the importance of a translation that was understandable. For us today, the archaic words in the KJV are a major hindrance in understanding God's eternal message. A few examples are:

almug, algum, chode, charashim, chapt, earing, gat, habergeon, hosen, kab, knob, ligure, leasing, maranatha, nard, neesed, pate, pilled, rabboni, raca, ring-straked, stacte, strake, sycamyne, thyme wood, trode, wimples, ouches, tatches, brigandine, ambassage, occurrent, purtenance, bruit, fray, cracknels, nusings, mufflers, anathema, corban, talitha cumi, ephrata, aceldama, centurion, quarternion, delectable, sanctum sanctorum, carriage, let, pityful (for full of pity), wot, trow, sod, and swaddling clothes.

Certain English words have changed their meanings since the 1611 KJV was translated and hinders one's comprehension of Scripture:

Did you know that in the King James Version of the Bible the word "advertise" means "tell," "allege" means "prove," and "conversation" means "behavior"? That "communicate" means "share," "take through" means "be anxious," and "prevent" means "precede"? That "meat" is a general term for "food," and "anon" and "by and by" translate Greek words which mean "immediately"?

The present editions of the KJV contain words for mythical non-existent animals. For example: unicorn(s) and satyr. See Num. 23:22; 24:8; Dt. 33:17; Job 39:9,10; Psa. 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isa. 34:7,14.
Staunch Calvinist Theodore Beza was one of the editors of the Textus Receptus. The KJV translators had his changes, which included "If they shall fall away" in Heb. 6:6. Such a misrendering helps to preserve Calvinism’s perseverance of the saints. Adam Clarke's commentary shows the errors of that as being: (a) the word "If" was unjustly inserted and (b) the tense is aorist, meaning it should be translated in the past tense, "HAVE fallen away." Another distortion occurred at Heb. 10:38!
The final critic who went over the whole KJV as editor was Dr. Miles Smith, who was a Calvinist.
Richard Thomson was one of the translators of the 1611 KJV. He was a known drunkard, who was never removed from the translating committee.
Few KJV Onlyites seem to realize that the 1611 KJV was not the first English Bible, neither is it the edition of the KJV that most read in our day.

Dan Corner

Evangelical Outreach
PO Box 265, Washington, PA 15301

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/kjvonly.htm