I am extremely grateful to Matt Ruma for his amazing study and the countless hours spent researching and compiling this outline. You can find the original audio sermons that Matt presented to the Detroit Church here.
The King James Bible
The first way He reveals Himself to us, is through the creation.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. – PSA 19:1-2.
Another way God reveals Himself to us, is through is His Word, the Scriptures, what we call the Bible.
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. – LUK 24:27
So, for me to really know God, who he is, and my relationship with him, I need a Bible in a language that I can understand, that being English. I would hope we would agree that we want to read a translation the most accurately captures the words expressed in the original Hebrew and Greek, the language that God gave us His words in.
The modern approach to figure out God’s Word is by taking multiple translations and from them determining what is true.
Or in other words, how can all these Bible versions, of which, many will say are not accurate, contain errors, be used to discern truth?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. – JOB 14:4
If we truly desire the truth of God’s Word, it only stands to reason that the translation that we should be reading is the one that we believe is the most faithful, most accurate to the words that God gave us in the original Hebrew and Greek text.
Today, I would like to explain why I believe the King James Bible is the best translation of God’s Word in the English language. God gave us the Bible through the means of inspiration, or in other words, the men wrote exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted men to write.
In his book, Defending the King James Bible, Pastor D.A. Waite is answering the question, “Which English Bible can we hold in our hands and say with great confidence, ‘These are the words of God in English’?”
First, let’s make a case for the fact that God promised 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 forever. – PSA 12:6-7
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. – PSA 119:160
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. – MAT 24:35
How can a person live by “every word” of God if God’s Word has not been preserved?
Waite’s answer to that question is that the King James Bible is a superior translation over other versions based on four reasons:
- Superior texts. The King James Bible is based on superior Hebrew and Greek texts.
The foundation of our Bible is the Old Testament Hebrew text and the New Testament Greek text from which it is translated.
There must be a proper foundation for an English Bible, a Spanish Bible, an Italian Bible, or any Bible that you translate.
It must come from a proper Hebrew Old Testament text and the proper Greek New Testament text.
- Superior translators. From an academic and scholastic perspective, the men who translated the King James Bible were superior in every way to any men who lived before or who live today.
If they are not supremely skilled in Hebrew, Greek, and English, then they’re not going to do a good job.
- Superior technique. It is different from the other versions. Most versions use a technique called dynamic equivalence, while the King James translators used formal equivalence.
How are they going to translate the words in the Hebrew or Greek text to English?
- Superior theology. Theology meaning the science of God and divine things; or the science which teaches the existence, character and attributes of God, his laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe, and the duties we are to practice.
Paul states “but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”
Is the doctrine sound? Are the principles or the things being taught accurate, consistent, and cohesive?
Is anything left out? Anything added? Anything fundamentally changed?
I will add a fifth reason:
- Superior timing. The time that King James Bible was translated and published was like no other, as we will see.
The timing of the King James Bible is impeccable.
A combination of the rise of the English Empire, the printing press to the American colonies, the King James Bible, the Word of God, would cover the globe in just a short time.
Leave a Reply