The reach of the KJV has been far and wide—farther and wider than any book in history—but understanding the KJV comes only from reading it, hearing it, and absorbing it. My book, Verily Verily, isn’t an academic exercise, and neither is this blog. My goal is to spark in you an interest in picking up the KING JAMES BIBLE again. Spend time with it.
I recently reread the entire 1611 KJV myself. I selected an edition that is without sectarian trappings of any kind—no footnotes, commentaries, or devotional comments. I ignored my grandfather’s old Scofield Reference copy on the shelf, and my Thompson Chain Reference from high school youth group. Instead, I picked an edition that was recently published by a university press, aimed at the textbook market. The Old Testament accounts for 1,039 pages. The Apocrypha (Grandpa would not have approved—but it was included in the first KJV), 246, and the New Testament, 317. That’s 1,602 pages all together; so I knew that if I read ten pages a day, I’d finish in six months.
It was a journey I’ll never forget. You should try the same, in this 400th anniversary year. Don’t just take my word for it; and don’t just read this blog; read the KJV itself.
Showing posts with label C. I. Scofield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C. I. Scofield. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
King James only Folks
Every translation since the KJV has attempted, in one way or another, to speak to modern readers. To some Christians, this smacks of giving in. My grandfathers would have pealed an amen! to the idea of standing fast on the KJV, but the average Christian today has little reason to consider the small differences between English Bible versions worth fighting for or sufficient to dictate doctrine.
In truth, not even the KJV translators themselves believed that the KJV was the single worthy translation of the Word of God. That's one of the misnomers of the KJV-only crowd. Nowhere do the translators claim that. Many of today’s most prominent evangelicals—men whom you might think would be traditionalist enough to advocate KJV-only, don’t. Important evangelicals of the recent past as diverse as Billy Graham, James Dobson, and Carl F. H. Henry haven’t taught that the KJV is the only true translation for at least a few decades.
In the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s first decade at Liberty University, other translations were endorsed. Even C. I. Scofield, a champion of the KJV (and my grandfathers’ preferred interpreter of the Scriptures), wrote in one of his thousands of footnotes to his once-popular Scofield Reference Bible:
"The writers of Scripture invariably affirm, where the subject is mentioned by them at all, that the words of their writings are divinely taught. This, of necessity, refers to the original documents, not to translations and versions; but the labours of competent scholars have brought our English versions to a degree of perfection so remarkable that we may confidently rest upon them as authoritative."
In truth, not even the KJV translators themselves believed that the KJV was the single worthy translation of the Word of God. That's one of the misnomers of the KJV-only crowd. Nowhere do the translators claim that. Many of today’s most prominent evangelicals—men whom you might think would be traditionalist enough to advocate KJV-only, don’t. Important evangelicals of the recent past as diverse as Billy Graham, James Dobson, and Carl F. H. Henry haven’t taught that the KJV is the only true translation for at least a few decades.
In the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s first decade at Liberty University, other translations were endorsed. Even C. I. Scofield, a champion of the KJV (and my grandfathers’ preferred interpreter of the Scriptures), wrote in one of his thousands of footnotes to his once-popular Scofield Reference Bible:
"The writers of Scripture invariably affirm, where the subject is mentioned by them at all, that the words of their writings are divinely taught. This, of necessity, refers to the original documents, not to translations and versions; but the labours of competent scholars have brought our English versions to a degree of perfection so remarkable that we may confidently rest upon them as authoritative."
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