The Baptist Pillar © Brandon Bible Baptist Church 1992-Present www.baptistpillar.com
"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Use The Bible God Uses -
The King James AV 1611
E. L. Bynum
For some time we have printed stickers with the same wording as the title for this article. Apparently some do not understand what it means, therefore they oppose the statement. Others who are critics of the KJV will naturally be offended by the printed message on the stickers. We shall make no attempt to appease these opponents, but we do want our readers to know and understand what we believe about the KJV.
Make no mistake about it, we believe that the Bible is the verbally and plenarily inspired word of God, and that it is infallible and inerrant in all matters of which it speaks. Of course we believe that the original autographs were the inspired word of God. Since no one in the past ever had all of the autographs at one time, and since no one in the present even has one fragment of any of the autographs, we must approach this subject from a different angle.
If God has not preserved His word, as He promised, then we do not have the infallible word of God today. And if we do not have it today, we might as well fold our tents and steal away, for we never will have it. We firmly believe that God preserved His word through the Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Textus Receptus Greek text of the New Testament. We firmly believe that the King James Version of the English Bible is a true and faithful translation of these two providentially preserved texts.
The charge is often made that we believe in double inspiration. They mean by this, that we are teaching that the King James translators were inspired of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is God's word that is inspired. There is no scripture that teaches that even the prophets or apostles were inspired. It was the words that they wrote which are contained in the Bible, that are inspired of God. God never promised to make any men inspired, or to keep them inspired. It is His word which is inspired, and which He promised to keep.
To put it simply, we believe that the King James Version is the inspired word of God, and that is has been preserved for the English speaking people, in the very form that God has purposed. We do not believe that it needs any correction or changes. It simply needs to be read, preached, explained, and believed.
The old confessions of faith testified to the preservation of the word of God. The Baptists issued the Second London Confession of Faith in 1677 and it said: "The Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek...being immediately inspired by God, and by His singular care and Providence kept pure in all Ages...."
Use The Bible God Uses- The King James AV 1611
We say "Use The Bible God Uses" the"King James AV 1611," for the following reasons.
1. Were saved by hearing its message. If they will be honest, they will have to admit this. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (I Peter 1:23) The next two verses also clearly contains the promise that God will preserve His word. For over 300 years God has been using the KJV to save multitudes of lost souls in the English speaking world.
In fact, we make bold to say, that if you removed all the people in the English speaking world that had been saved through the preaching and teaching of the KJV, you would have very little evidence of Christianity left.
2. God has used the KJV for the growth and maturing of the saints. The strongest and most mature Christians that I have met, are the ones that were nourished and fed from the KJV. Even many who have been misled into becoming critics of the KJV, would have to admit they they learned their doctrine and obtained their spiritual growth through the study of the KJV. In over 35 years in the ministry, I have yet to meet one person who was a strong Bible student, who learned his doctrine from any other version.
It is the Bible that can be and is memorized. The multiplying of versions has greatly hindered the memorizing of the word of God. No other Bible has been, nor will there ever be a Bible that will be memorized, as has been the KJV.
3. God has used the KJV to build the strongest and best Bible believing Baptist churches for over 300 years. I am personally acquainted with hundreds and hundreds of independent fundamental Baptist churches, and I do not know even one of them that was built by preaching some other version. Look at the largest Baptist churches in America, and you will find that they were all built under the leadership of men who preached the KJV. Look at the best, and most conservative of Southern Baptist churches and you will find that they were built under the preaching of the KJV.
Some of the great churches of America may now be pastored by men who correct and criticize the KJV, but they were not built by such preaching. These preachers went off to a preacher factory, where they were told that the ASV, NASV, NIV, or some other corrupt translation was better, and they foolishly believed what they were told.
4. God has used the KJV to bring all the great revivals among English speaking people for over 300 years. I do not know of a single great revival, during this period, that came under the preaching of any other version. Of course I have seen the false revivals that have come under such men as Billy Graham, as he sometimes preached from other versions. A careful study might well reveal that the downfall of Graham came about when he began to recommend the Revised Standard Version and other corrupted Bibles.
5. God has used the KJV to challenge and call vast numbers of missionaries during this time. I know of no other period in church history when as many missionaries have been called and sent as has taken place during the reign of the KJV. Even now, there are thousands of missionaries who were challenged and called under the preaching of the KJV. At home and abroad, they are faithfully trying to preach the word of God and establish churches. As the use of the KJV is diminished, so will be the number of sound missionaries who are called.
6. God has used the KJV, because it exalts His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All other versions tend to play down His absolute deity. Whether we look at the Jehovah's Witnesses' corrupt New World Translation, or the RSV, ASV, NASV, TEV, or NIV, we find that they were saved by hearing its message. If they will be honest, they will have to admit this. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (I Peter 1:23) The next two verses also clearly contains the promise that God will preserve His word. For over 300 years God has been using the KJV to save multitudes of lost souls in the English speaking world.
In fact, we make bold to say, that if you removed all the people in the English speaking world that had been saved through the preaching and teaching of the KJV, you would have very little evidence of Christianity left.
7. God has used the KJV because it is His Word, which He has providentially watched over. Even though the KJV only goes back to 1611, nevertheless it is based upon the text and versions which preceded it. These texts and manuscript are the ones that Bible believers have used down through the ages. It is a known fact that 85% to 95% of all ancient manuscripts are in basic agreement with KJV, but not with the modern versions.
Consider God's promises to preserve His word. (1) God's Word is settled forever. (Psa. 119:89) (2) Every Word of God is pure. (Prov. 30:5,6; Psa. 19:7-11) (3) The word of God shall stand forever. (Isa. 40:8) (4) Not one letter to pass away (Matt. 5:17-18) (5) The scripture cannot be broken. (John 10:35) (6) The word of God is incorruptible. (I Peter 1:23-25) (7) The words will not pass away. (Matt. 24:35; Luke 4:4; 16:17; 21:33)
Those who would trace the text of the KJV only back to Erasmus make a serious mistake. While it is true that Martin Luther chose the text of Erasmus to translate his German Bible, it is not true that this was the first Bible with the same readings. The Waldensians who first mistook Luther for a friend, came down out of their mountain strongholds to compare their Bible with Luther's. They found them to be the same. This is documented in "Which Bible" by David Otis Fuller, and "Our Authorized Bible Vindicated" by Benjamin G. Wilkinson.
There are only two streams of texts and Bibles coming down through the centuries. (1)There is the pure stream that the KJV is based on, which is the text of the Bible believers for the past 1900 years. It is the text of the Waldensians, Anabaptists, and the other ancestors of true Baptists. It was the text of Luther and the Reformation. (2) There is the polluted stream that all the modern versions are based upon. It is the text of Origen, Constantine, Eusebius, the Roman Catholic Church, of Westcott & Hort, and all of the apostates today. I have never met a modernist that said that the KJV was the best or the most accurate. They all prefer something else.
None of the popular versions are translated from the Textus Receptus, and this includes the New King James Version. A careful reading of the Preface will reveal that it is not based entirely on the same texts that underly the King James Version. We do not recommend the New King James Version.
The pure stream has produced and preserved Christianity down through the ages. Why? Because the Bible says,"for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name." (Psa. 138:2) The polluted stream has produced Roman Catholicism and apostate Christendom today. The polluted stream of Bibles never has produced anything that God would ever claim, and they never will. While some who prefer them, still profess to believe the fundamentals of the faith, be sure that in the end they will produce apostasy. The devil does not want anyone to be able to say, "thus saith the Lord." He wants people to say,"Yea, hath God said?" And that is just about what he has the modern religious world saying. Many are constantly correcting the Bible, and people are so confused that they do not know what the Lord did say.
We have the Bible today and we are not looking for it. It needs no correcting, revising, or criticism, it only needs to be read, believed, taught, preached, and practiced until Jesus comes.