Q: I follow your teachings so much, and now have a question regarding Bible translations. I’ve been hearing a lot of negatives about all but the King James Version. Can you tell me if you’ve studied this, or taught about it at all?
Asked by: Kathleen
A: Kathleen, I want to speak you very personally and thank you so much for asking this question—it’s a prominent question in the minds and hearts of many people.
It is true that the King James Bible is a wonderful translation and it does have an interesting history, but we must understand that all translations have their limitations. None is perfectly accurate ,and throughout the years as scholars have studied the various manuscripts of the New Testament, they have concluded that some of the manuscripts from which the King James were translated are not necessarily the best manuscripts. There may be others that may be more accurate.
Now we should not be concerned about this because the changes are very insignificant. Most of them do not have anything to do with doctrine. But the manuscripts that are used by many scholars today, are generally believed to have a more accurate reading of what the originals said.
So you have various translations and all of them have their strong points and their weak points. For example, there are paraphrased Bibles, and those paraphrases can be used and they can be of value. I don’t preach from a paraphrase, because it is much more contemporary and does not translate the original as literally as some other translations.
I personally use the ESV, the English Standard Bible. It’s a recent translation that has been revised and it also very much more literal and probably more contemporary. You see, language always changes and that’s why even the King James Version has had many, many changes since it was translated in the 1600s. Most people don’t know that.
So the bottom line is this, if you want to use the King James, use the King James, but I would caution you to not judge those who use different translations other than the King James.
Scripture references
- There are no Scripture references.