This Article is My Response to Dr. Hovind’s video on the superiority of the KJV over the NIV and other English translations. His is not an exhaustive argument in favor of the KJV, but I do believe it summarizes many of the primary points of the current scholarly debate KJV proponents are using.
In all things, but especially the Living Word of God, I strive for TRUTH. My allegiance is not to KJV, NIV, HCSB, NASB, etc. but to the most historically, literarily, and contextually accurate Truth available (at any given point in time). That being the case, I find that a half dozen or so of the standardized versions (including the NIV and the original KJV) are helpful to have when it comes to not allowing any specific version to completely monopolize the marketplace. In addition, I find that while not recommended for sermon, memorization, or Bible study use, I think the NLT and similar versions are good for Bible novices or children just beginning in their walk with the Lord. Keep in mind, in the past that children would memorize and understand entire books in Hebrew from the Old Testament. It was in their language. While the Word of God is extremely important to PRESERVE it is also equally important to DIGEST. If people don’t understand the message they’re reading or turn away from it out of frustration and contempt who then are we really helping? The point of it all is to bring people closer to God so they can understand, love and follow Him. The best version is the one that accomplishes that. Bottom Line.
MULTIPLE VERSIONS –
By keeping the original KJV around we then have a standardized English version that is changeless for comparison purposes. However, the newer versions available (referring primarily to the few mass-scholarly accepted standardized versions with the exceptions of a few others) benefit from arguably better, more-thorough, and more scholar-critical translations as well as incorporation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other manuscripts found since 1611. I’ve seen plenty of debates about this topic that have demonstrated value for both positions but I tend to think these discussions become just another example of the “fractions and divisions” Paul warned us about having with each other two millenium ago. We all believe in Heaven and Hell and a Single Creator of the Universe with 3 Distinct Persons but we’re fighting over slightly different variations of the same Book? Honestly, it’s actually quite ridiculous. Is it not more important that we focus our energy and our efforts on FOLLOWING God’s Word instead of arguing about which Word is the “BEST”? After an analysis of Dr. Hovind’s examples I was not sold on using the KJV exclusively, and I would recommend all others to keep an OPEN-MIND. Have a preferred or favorite version but never be so full of pride that you turn yourself off to what you might be able to learn through cross-examination. Please don’t be so proud that you are right! Do you not know what your scripture teaches you! Always humble yourself and allow TRUTH from the Holy Spirit to speak to you at all times. 🙂
Here are my positions in response to the verse discrepancies outlined in the video:
2 Sam 21:19 – Who killed Goliath?
I’m not sure exactly where he’s getting his text from (perhaps from an OLD NIV version but considering that this video was uploaded in 2013 this is a little intentionally misleading. My NIV (c. 2011) which is the newest available (a composite of the 1984 revised NIV and the further revised 2005 Todays NIV) also reads “the brother of Goliath”. In addition, my NIV indicates in the footnotes that the Hebrew does not have “the brother of” and furthermore points to 1 Chronicles 20:5 where it has a parallel account also mentioning Goliath’s brother (Lahmi) being killed by Elhanan. So this is a wash, assuming his verse is accurate, it has long since been fixed.
Acts 8:37
My NIV has the entire 37 sentence in the footnote with “some manuscripts include here” before it. Now I’m not a biblical scholar so it’s not my position to say which is more accurate. My stance is that, contextually, verses 36 and 38 IMPLY verse 37 happened whether it was actually written or not. If we now have 65,000 manuscripts whereas the authors of the KJV only had 5,000 then the authors of the NIV may have had ample reasoning to feel it should be left off. An additional point to make is that regardless of their collective decision to keep it off, the inclusion of it in the footnote (in my version as well as indicated by the footnote letter ‘d’ in this video) suggests the NIV authors’ high degree of biblical accuracy.
Missing Verses
All of the “missing verses” (at least the ones I compared) were also indicated in the footnotes. Again, I think further analysis should be performed to fully understand NIV reasoning for this. I think a most optimistic approach focused solely on truth-seeking and accuracy would be a better use of our energy though. Perhaps leaning towards not using phrases like “missing” and “removed” and “taken out”. I would imagine that these verses would not have been mentioned at all (perhaps only a small percentage of manuscripts even included these verses) so the consensus may have been to take them out entirely but due to the fact that we need all Bibles to remain consistent with a universal organizational number system they needed to keep these numbers to remain consistent. It’s not a “conspiracy” to remove the text, because it’s not hidden. The numbers are clearly still there for all to see that they were not included on purpose!
Hosea 11:12
This is a clear mismatch. However the premise here is a little distorted. The question is not why are all the new translations wrong when the KJV clearly says “Judah is WITH God”. The question is: Which is the MORE ACCURATE translation? The NIV was not created by converting the KJV – it was created translating the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic manuscripts. Apparently, there is a disagreement as to the correct rendering of this passage. When in doubt, I would follow up with scholars to the best answer but I think by using God’s general regard towards Judah in the rest of the text in Hosea or in other books dated to that time period we can render a better idea of accuracy from context. For further analysis the discussion here seemed fruitful: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=26176&forum=36&9
Genesis 27:39
This is different, yes, but it is because the KJV has translated this one INACCURATELY. Yes, the KJV is just completely wrong in this example! To arrive at the same conclusion I have, all one has to do is read and understand the story! Isaac is NOT blessing Esau in this verse. He is telling Esau that because Jacob tricked him and now has his father’s blessing that Esau will now have a tough life. His dwelling is AWAY FROM earth’s richness (because now Jacob will receive their father’s inheritance) and AWAY FROM the dew of heaven above (because now God’s plan of salvation will go through Jacob). Sure, that doesn’t make sense for Isaac to just change his mind and redo it, but that’s culture in antiquity—and a discussion for another time. 🙂
Proverbs 18:24
Again, just like 2 Samuel, this entire example is probably based off of an old NIV that has been corrected since at least 2005 (and possibly 1984). Folks, this one is just clearly manipulative! In the example, paused at 13:54, the KJV reads “A man that hath friends must whew himself friendly.” while the NIV reads “A man of many companions may come to ruin.” NOW, this text has clearly been reviewed and FIXED by BOTH KJV and the NIV. Now (2014) the KJV reads: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” The NIV reads: “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” These now read very similar although the NIV is certainly more legible. Clearly, there is an adaptation here I’m guessing that was found in LATER manuscripts.
John 3:7
I agree, the english word ‘You’ leaves itself open to interpretation. Regarding the difference in Old English vernacular this is a helpful variation. However, I’m not sure how many people actually even knew about that to have that influence their bible study. My NIV, NLT, and HCSB all indicated in the footnotes that the latter ‘You’ was plural. I, personally, recognizing this distinction think the NIV should’ve made it “Everyone” or “All” but my personal opinion is neither here nor there.
Conclusion
Again I would like to reiterate, please keep an open mind and allow yourself to be humble and learnable. The KJV vs the others debate is growing so many Christians to be boastful and arrogant! KJV is a good version, as is the NIV, HCSB, NLT, and others. The version is not critical… living a life consistent with the teachings is though. For further exploration on why we have different versions of the Bible and how to pick the best one for yourself I recommend checking out Dr. Bill Creasy’s article here or Daniel Spratlin’s article here.
Thanks for lending an ear and God Bless,
Pastor Brian S. Holmes
MPoweredChristian.org
#MPoweredChristian
No comments yet.