Is the Preface to the King James Version Really an Embarrassment to the KJV-Only Movement?
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 essays supporting the ratification of the United States Constitution, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Madison himself is commonly known as the Father of the Constitution. Federal judges, when interpreting the Constitution, frequently appeal to the Federalist Papers as a contemporary account of the intentions of the authors.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Peter Berkowitz observes:
Most astonishing and most revealing is the neglect of The Federalist by graduate schools and law schools. The political science departments at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and Berkeley—which set the tone for higher education throughout the nation and train many of the next generation’s professors—do not require candidates for the Ph.D. to study The Federalist.
I think there may be a parallel with the Preface to the King James Version, The Translators to the Reader. If one wishes to understand the KJV, the purposes and intents of the translators themselves, the Preface is the authoritative source. And what it reveals is the exact opposite of the claims made for the KJV by those in the KJV-only movement. The KJV-only position argues that only the KJV is the perfect Word of God without any error. It is no wonder, then, that KJV-only advocates purposely avoid the Preface since it is an embarrassment to their false claims.
Some have taken exception to my use of the word embarrassment in my previous posts concerning the Preface. But surely it’s embarrassing to claim something about a document that the very words of the document itself contradict. Some who have commented on my posts have argued that I should not use the word because I can’t point to any KJV-only advocate who admits being embarrassed by the Preface. Well, naturally, what do you expect? To admit that they are embarrassed by the words of the Preface would be in effect to admit that they are wrong about their KJV-only position.
Some try to get around the statements in the Preface by asserting that they themselves are not arguing for the infallibility of the translators, but the product of their work—the KJV itself. They seek to draw a parallel between the translators and the authors of Scripture, arguing that just as the authors of Scripture were flawed men, yet produced an infallible product, so the translators of the KJV. But this will not do. The only way the KJV, or any edition of it, could be infallible and inerrant is if the persons who produced it were under the same superintending ministry of the Holy Spirit as the authors of Scripture. And anyone who makes such an assertion is not just wrong but spouting heresy.
But even if one argues that the translators of the KJV were superintended by the Holy Spirit in the same way as the original authors, there is still a huge problem. The authors of Scripture, though fallible humans, argued that when writing Scripture they were infallible spokesman for God. About his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul said, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Cor 2:13). And later he adds, “If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command (1 Cor 14:37).” But, of course, the exact opposite claim is made by the translators of the KJV. They clearly distinguish the work of translators like themselves from the authors of Scripture: “For whatever was perfect under the sun, where Apostles or apostolick men, that is, men endued with an extraordinary measure of God’s Spirit, and privileged with the privilege of infallibility, had not their hand?”
So, admittedly, no KJV-only advocate is going to admit that the Preface is an embarrassment to their position, but what else can one say about a view of the KJV that is utterly and thoroughly contradicted by the very words of those who produced it?
I see that many many Christians, churches, pastors and people are being greatly deceived with this argument–and it is the tool that the devil uses to divide and conquer(causing anger, hate, division, and incorrect thinking)……Be very careful to do much research(But first pray asking the Holy Spirit for direction, then use much common sense)…….This is exactly the link I found useful for research and why is also in the information…….
http://www.biblebelievers.com/believers-org/counterfeit-kjv.html
Stephanie, I would like to ask you a question about the web page you posted if I may. If it was acceptable for people to update the spellings of the KJV in the 1769 edition, as the author of the web page indicates, why is it not acceptable for publishers to update spelling today?
Because the King James Bible is in the publick domain and not copyrighted, these worldly publishing companies think they can make minor changes to the standard text so that they can please certain groups which translates into extra sales for them. That’s the way the modern world operates to day. All the common ordinary Bible believer wants is the same Bible that his grandmother had and the same Bible her grandmother had and the same Bible her grandmother had etc. that’s all.
Just give us the text that has established itself as the standard text of the Holy Bible, an old fashioned, Christ exalting, devil kicking, Authorized King James Bible. To the best of my understanding this is the 1769 edition of the 1611 King James Bible with a few minor printing errors and spellings corrected along the way in the 1800’s.
Also of interest is that God directs in the Bible IF we want wisdom and discernment, we should ask him–not people of the world……My 2 very young children have NO problem with the KJV–people use it as an excuse to make the versions more worldly and eventually taking out such things as hell and satan–God also warns about changing the Bible by taking things out and adding things–so we should be wise enough to heed his warning……Once we start changing that, we are on a down hill slide–how many other things do we change? What else do we compromise? Small deceit to begin and how much more do we not realize?
I trust that God through the Holy Spirit will reveal to me what I should know in the correct timing……All I want is to FULLY honor and obey the Lord without the worlds changes to make it EASIER…
I am not looking to argue–just saying that we should NOT be so quick to judge or condemn the KJV Bible believing Christians—-we should be seeking unity and allowing God to reveal things and perhaps gently in love speaking the truth as God intends for us to do…
This is the crux of the matter: “The only way the KJV, or any edition of it, could be infallible and inerrant is if the persons who produced it were under the same superintending ministry of the Holy Spirit as the authors of Scripture. And anyone who makes such an assertion is not just wrong but spouting heresy.”
If someone believes that “same superintending ministry” took place, the preface is irrelevant, because you have two distinct documents (the KJV Bible and the preface) with distinct authors (the Spirit and the translators). It is a complete waste of time to say it is embarrassing, because someone who holds this view will never be embarrassed. Different documents, different authors.
You will never prove that view is heresy by citing the preface. One demonstrates heresy (and refutes it) by citing Scripture.
And you cannot prove it is heresy by creating a new doctrine that says Scriptures human writers always knew they were writing inspired Scripture. Some undoubtedly did know, but the Scripture does not teach anywhere that this was always the case.
Inspiration is drastically different than preservation. And to assume that the Bible authoring movement of the Holy Spirit is even different than…let’s say, than the movement of the Holy Spirit in how He works, guiding a Christian as he witnesses or preaches is close minded. There are some KJV onlys that give a bad name to those that believe similarly. And finally, who would be so prideful to admit their work was divinely inspired or preserved. Did Paul ever tell the churches to keep his letters because they were divinely inspired? No, he admitted his inability to do what he ought, and God used him anyway!
Stephanie said, “I am not looking to argue–just saying that we should NOT be so quick to judge or condemn the KJV Bible believing Christians—-we should be seeking unity and allowing God to reveal things and perhaps gently in love speaking the truth as God intends for us to do…”
In my experience, precisely because of the doctrine of seperation, the KJV-only folks are the last ones seeking unity and avoiding condemnation of fellow believers. That’s one of the main reasons (nothing else doctrinal) why IBC pastors will literally have nothing to do with me. Where’s the unity?