With the vast number of English versions of the scripture, I wanted to take a post and explain why I use the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible for all my content.
In this day when so many different versions of the Bible are available, why am I sticking with the KJV, the Bible which was once the most read book in the world, and is being replaced by other versions by most Christian denominations.
You may come to the conclusion that I am one of those old time, fundamental, Bible thumping, Baptists. One of those “KJV Only” people. I was raised that way, and may have been in my early years, but I have had many experiences in my life that resound one statement, reading any version of the Christian Bible is better than not reading a Bible at all.
I have had impacts in my life, such as my grandfather, who I greatly admired, using The New English Bible. My wife one of the two greatest Christian women I have ever known (My mother the other one), using The Living Bible (LB), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and New Revised Standard Bible (NRSV).
The only argument my wife and I have ever had, and we have been married 20 years at the writing of this post, was over the KJV Bible. While we were dating, I was still in the mindset that you used the KJV Bible, or don’t read anything, because the other versions were evil. However, I was never told why the KJV was the only version to use, or any evidence to back up this claim.
I am a very analytical person, and even though I have faith, when it came to the scriptures, I had to wonder, why did so many versions exist, and the main question, is there only one inspired Word of God.
This question has caused me over the years to study this topic very often, and conduct much research into the question is there just one Bible that is inspired and created by God for us to use in our daily walk. My research has led me to much evidence backing the KJV. First published in 1611, and revised along the way, it was for a very long time (about 400 years) accepted as the best version of the scriptures we have in English print. Many still consider it that today, I am personally in concurrence with that assessment.
I am not going to list all of that manuscript and theological evidence in this post. One, because there is so much I could talk about this subject for days. Two, all the evidence is out there for anyone with a clear mind to the factual and circumstantial evidence to find for your selves, don’t just take someone’s word for something this important, research it. Three, all this talk about “original manuscripts” and “original tongues and languages” and this Greek or Hebrew text, for most people just confuses and clouds the real question and answer regarding this issue of what version of the Bible to use.
It is more simplified than that, do you believe in God? Do you believe God in His Love toward us, would provide us a written “manual” to show us how and why we should live for Him? If yes to both of these questions, then do you believe God would preserve that written word in the original form He meant for all eternity.
There are verses in the scripture which answer these questions for us: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.” (Psalms 12:6-7).
I have to note here since we are talking about versions, if you use the New International Version (NIV) Bible, your bible will not document this verse the same, it takes the word them, referring to the scriptures and words of God, and replaces it with the word us, meaning the people, to preserve the people, not the word of God. I am not going to assume why this was done, but I wanted to point out this difference as it is very significant.
It is also interesting that the NIV and other similar versions are copyright protected, the KJV is not, as all people, nations and tongues (languages) should be able to have access to the complete Bible. I personally do not use the NIV Bible for anything other than study comparison. However, I do have a copy of each edition created, because in my experiences, the KJV is being replaced in many churches by the NIV, a move I personally do not agree with.
Back from my tangent, if you answered yes to the above three questions, then there is a Bible right now, that is inspired and preserved by God through the years and will be preserved for eternity. There is a Bible whose words are known well by the devil, who has tried forever to destroy it (The KJV has been hated, despised, and been destroyed more than any other, and yet still exists) and its words are known well in heaven.
What Bible is this one inspired and preserved Word of God? You were expecting me to say the KJV, for me it is, because it is a conviction from God and the Holy Spirit for me after all my research and evidence collection, it comes down to my faith and fellowship with God that provided me the answer.
The decision of what Bible to use for your daily walk with God and to fight your spiritual battles is a very important one, it should be a conviction, not a preference. Would you take a stick from a tree into battle against an enemy with the best known modern weapons. I would assume you would want the best weapon you could have to help you get the victory.
For me the KJV Bible is the inspired and preserved word of God, but to you it may be another version, such as the New King James Version as it is for my wife, who is convicted to use the NKJV or English Standard Version (ESV) for all her studies and walk with God. We still do joint devotions and study the Bible together. As long as you are convicted by God to use the version of the Bible that you use, then you are doing the right thing. A change from my thought process years ago, although for me I know why I use the KJV now, and I can back up with tangible evidence and explain why the KJV is the Bible for me.
It does frustrate me when churches use multiple versions of the Bible for their programs and content. As I demonstrated above with the KJV and NIV verses, I could go on for pages and pages of these same examples of differences in words and meanings of verses from different versions.
If a church uses different versions, soon people will realize there is a contradiction in verses of these different versions and this could cause someone to leave the church, or even turn from the Bible, because after all, how could the Bible contradict itself?
The KJV does not contradict itself anywhere, that I have ever found, and experienced theologians have said that as well, just saying.
Many “KJV only” Christians I believe approach this issue the wrong way, I have not heard many people say they read a certain version because it is a conviction, most of the time they say it is a preference, usually when we as humans prefer one thing over another, it is usually for selfish reasons, not for God’s will. I did not intend again for this post to be negative concerning anyone or their version of the Bible, I wanted to explain why I only use the KJV of the scriptures on this site, and why your version of the Bible may have different wording in verses I use. I also hope it makes you think about why you use the version of the Bible you do, and pray that God would show you his inspired and preserved Word of God for your life.
I want to add one addition to this post, in my experiences I don’t see pastors or churches teaching Christians what study Bibles may be best for their style of studying. My wife and I have discussed this often as we were raised being taught about the different types of study Bibles and how to use each one. We don’t see that anymore, and my wife attended a Bible study group recently where they discussed this topic and many women stated they had never had anyone explain all the different types of study Bibles and ways to use them.
This may be a post by itself in the future, but I wanted to provide some information I was provided many years ago, and I followed it and found it great advice over the years of studying. It was to have one Scofield Study Bible, one Thompson Chain Reference Bible and one Cambridge Bible, which is awesome as it has space along the page edges for your hand written notes. This endeavor may take some money, especially for the Cambridge Bible, and they all come in different versions, of course mine are in the KJV.
It was interesting when we were married, I discovered my wife was provided the same advice. I have also added an insert link below, it is something my wife was provided in a Bible Study class, and from my research is pretty accurate, of course I would have inserted the KJV before the NASB, based on the manuscript evidence, but the chart is a well used reference. I hope this post has been a blessing to someone, In Christ.
The Sword of the Spirit 