All right, the haters are going to hate on this one today. I am going to review the book Why We Hold to the King James Bible, with a very hyper-literal cover design. Some people do not like the King James Version of the Bible. Some people do not think we are King James enough, even though it is all we use, exclusively, and we would not hold any other version of the Bible; still, maybe we are not King James enough. And some people do not like the author of the book. But with a book like this, I really appreciate someone taking the time to write it, and today I wanted to review some of my top takeaways from it and why I think it is so helpful for our church. If you are new here, my name is Pastor Ryan Rench, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Temecula, California, and I have been reviewing several books from our resource desk. This is today’s highlight.
What I Appreciate About It
One of the things I appreciate about it is that it is very, very clear. You have no question where the author stands on a particular subject. You never have to wonder, “Is he a little fuzzy on that? Is he a little shaky on that?” He just plainly says where he stands, and I can respect and appreciate that. The next benefit of this book is that it is laid out like a reference. I think it is a compilation of a lot of his previous writings on the King James Bible, compiled into one book. I do not know that it was written from start to finish; it does not necessarily seem like it. But if you have a specific question on a specific topic, this is a good book to bounce around in and learn about one particular area of the King James Version debate, I guess you could say, that is out there.
Another thing I appreciate is that it balances the original languages and the English language; there is a section for each. Some books lean really heavily one way or the other, and I like where he lands on the Greek and the Hebrew: not dismissive of them, but not leaning so heavily on them that he dismisses every English version out there, as if we cannot know whether we have God’s Word. Some people take it as though their faith is in some originals out there, and if we happen to discover more originals, maybe they would correct the Bible we have been reading for the past couple thousand years. I would not believe that. I would think the true churches of God are the pillar and ground of the truth, and their use of the Scriptures throughout all this time adds validity to the Scriptures we hold. That debate carries down into the various translations we have in English, and the King James Version of the Bible has been on proven ground. So I appreciate that he does not shy away from the Latin versions used in the translation process, the various versions of the Bible that were gathered for research, and the underlying texts beneath the King James Bible, but that he also lands firmly on this being the Bible for us as English-speaking people.
That speaks to another benefit of this book: he is honest about the difficulties. We cannot pretend there are no difficulties, or that it is all cut-and-dried or completely black and white. But I believe that, by faith, there are answers to those difficulties. I believe there are logical, reasoned, and reasonable answers to many of the questions that are brought up. So when I hold my Bible, I believe I can fully trust it without having to question whether it is God’s Word. For me there are areas I accept by faith, and by faith I believe that we as English-speaking people have the Word of God in our language. There is a part of my black-and-white mind that is very cut-and-dried, so part of me has to accept by faith: do I have the Word of God or not? I am so thankful that this is a topic I can rest in and truly believe that we do have God’s Word. When I read my Bible, I am not questioning or wondering whether this is what God is saying to me. I can open this Book, read it in English, and believe I am hearing God’s voice for myself. I appreciate that about the Bible, and it is books like this, which I read several years ago, that really helped me, and I appreciate that.
There are certainly plenty of resources out there on the topic of the King James Bible. The tone of this one is perhaps less abrasive than Ruckman or Riplinger, perhaps more abrasive than my own tone, but I can respect and appreciate the stand he takes. If you do not like the tone, just skip that part and go to another section of the book.
The Five Sections
That is another beauty of this book: it is broken into five sections, and you can bounce around, like I said earlier. The first main section is the doctrine of preservation, which I believe is still valid after studying the arguments both for and against, the Psalm 12 passage in particular, and all of that. I appreciate the work done on the preservation of the Scriptures in this book. The second section deals with the underlying textual basis of the King James Bible as opposed to all the other versions out there: the Textus Receptus, the TR. There are many modern versions today based on the TR, but I believe the King James Version is the one that holds closest to it, and exclusively to it. Even the New King James, for example, has a handful of little references outside the TR, or aligned with readings outside the TR. So we hold exclusively to the King James Version of the Bible, with the idea, “Man, if it ain’t broke, do not fix it,” that kind of thing. That section of the book deals with that. The third section deals with the Greek and Hebrew and the others, and then with the modern versions translated into English from those underlying texts, the various English versions of the Bible out there. The fourth section analyzes the changes between some of those versions and the actual doctrinal differences. One of the greatest arguments for updating the language of the King James Version is the claim that no doctrines are changed. But that section of the book was actually pretty helpful. It does not necessarily go line by line through every difference between the King James and other versions, but it takes quite a lot of examples to show changes in wording. When you take all those changes in wording collectively, you can see how they would lead to a doctrinal change, perhaps even to somebody’s understanding of a core doctrine being different, because it is not as strong as it was in the King James. It is convincing to me, at least, to see so many examples all in one place, and I appreciated that about the book. The last section is the legacy, the heritage, of the King James Bible. It goes into the lives of the translators, the translation process, and how the Bible has been used for generations.
So if you are looking for some quick answers from a perspective that says we can benefit from studying some of the underlying roots of words, for example, but also that we do not have to go outside our English language to understand and apply God’s Word, I appreciate that balanced perspective. That is where I am on that. So this is a fine book toward that end, and I hope it can help you. It is a long one; you can see how thick it is. But again, if you need a reference for the various topics you are studying, I encourage you to pick one of these up. Well, God bless you, church, and please grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We will see you in the next video. God bless you.
