Only KJV Bibles Used, But Not 'KJV Only'

Church uses only KJV Bibles but does not believe in criticising churches that don't

Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 Posted: 2:02:32AM HKT

The original 1611 King James Version Bible on display.

Debate over whether the King James Version of the Bible is the only reliable translation has created disunity and tension between churches.

KJV-Onlyists, as they are called, hold that the KJV is the only Bible translation that should be used in churches and have criticised other translations.

For local Reformed congregation Criswell Tabernacle, the use of the KJV Bibles is not a life and death issue.

While the church believes that the KJV and NKJV are the only reliable translations thus far, it stops short of demanding that all churches use them.

Among the reasons are that the Bible itself is silent on the matter, Willy Ng, the church’s pastor, highlighted in a recent article posted on the church website.

It is also against the example set by the Lord Jesus Himself who, together with His apostles, used the corrupt Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament Scriptures according to the recordings of their teachings in the New Testament.

The question of whether only translations deemed reliable should be used was never a concern of the Lord and His apostles, he added in the article dated August this year.

“Why then should we make an issue out of something, which evidently was of no concern to our Lord or His apostles? Are we wiser than they are?”

In spite of his openness toward the usage of other Bible translations, Pastor Ng encourages church members to “use the best”.

Some churches, like Criswell Tabernacle, believe that the KJV Bibles offer the only faithful translation of Scripture because, firstly, they are based on the majority of surviving manuscripts in regard to the Greek New Testament.

KJV-Onlyists believe that the original autographs have been divinely and perfectly preserved in these manuscripts for the very reason that they exist in the majority.

Secondly, the KJV is a ‘word-for-word’ translation as opposed to most modern translations that are ‘thought-for-thought’ translations.

On the other hand, modern translations tend to rely on a smaller number of manuscripts but these are the oldest that have been discovered and some of the earliest church fathers have used readings found in them.

In any case, there is no disagreement on the content of essential Christian doctrines or commandments between the two text types, scholars say. And the two texts types agree nearly 98 percent of the time. Moreover, there is always support for what the original said, one is never left with a mere conjecture.

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com