400 Years and Still Going Strong, a Brief History of the KJV 1611
Chad Johnson
May 13, 2011

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 forever. Psalms 12:6-7 KJV

I have people ask me all the time why I so strongly believe that the King James Version is the on English Bible for English-speaking people. There are many reasons, but for me the main reason is a textual issue.

By textual I mean the original manuscripts from which the Bible is translated. Let me say before I go any further that I realize there were other attempts to translate the word of God into the English language.

The thing is these translations were translated from the same manuscripts as the King James Bible.

These men did not attempt to translate the Bible to English for money of fame. They did it our of a true love for the Savior and a desire for the common man to have the word of God in their language. Many of these men lost their lives at the hands of the state church.

The state church knew if man could read the word for themselves, they would see their lies and false doctrine. Some today do not take the Bible as infallible.

They think some of it is not relevant for today.

They word of God is not open for private interpretation. The Bible means what it says and says what it means.

We must understand the context of the scripture and believe it. There are really only two kinds of Bibles: those what are translated from the traditional Received Text and those which are translated from the modern critical text.

The Bible was inspired by God and also preserved by God. Why would God inspire and then all it to become contaminated?

The King James Bible is based upon the Masoretic Hebrew text for the Old Testament and the Textus Receptus or received text for the New Testament. Up until the 1800s, the word of God was not questioned by professed Christians.

Then a new idea of textual criticism came about and faulty modern manuscripts were used instead of the traditional texts.

Almost all of the new versions of the Bible are based upon the Westcott-Hort texts of the 1800s. The translations made almost 10,000 changes to the Greek New Testament. Those changes immediately became factors in understanding the text and translating it.

Many of these men denied the deity of Christ, the virgin birth and the doctrine of the Trinity. So, we must start right if we are to finish right.

I thank God that even in a world full of attacks on the Bible, He has preserved His word.

Amen!