Why We Use the King James Bible - Part 2

In part one of this series of messages we introduced a quick litmus test we hope will help you gauge the reliability of the particular translation using only Genesis 1:1. We are going to continue on in Genesis and add more evidence of the superiority of the King James translation over other Catholic and Protestant Bibles we happen to have available. Some of this may seem tedious because the points of contention sometimes hinge on single letters within a verse, but over time it will become clear why these apparently small editorial decisions will have huge ramifications later on in the Bible. If you just spot them early on right on the first page of the Bible you can save yourself so much grief later on.

So, moving on from Genesis 1:1 to the following verse, the KJV reads:

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 KJV

This verse matters a lot because it is our first introduction to the trinity. Even without ever hearing the name Jesus or having the prior knowledge of Jesus’ role in creation explained in John chapter 1, right here in the very beginning of Genesis we are introduced to God and the Spirit of God which are both God but also clearly distinct entities.

The NKJV says the following:

“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 NKJV

These two versions are very close, almost identical except for one detail. Was the Holy Spirit moving upon the face of the waters or hovering in one place? It certainly can’t be both, these are mutually exclusive concepts. One is either moving or staying in one place. So, who’s right?

Without going all the way back to the Hebrew let us reason together: Did Jesus walk on water, or did he hover over it?

Knowing other parts of scripture as the translators of the NKJV surely did, it is easy to see why they would want to depict the Holy Spirit as being separated from the darkness over the deep. Darkness and light are mutually exclusive in Biblical cosmology. Here are just a few examples as evidence:

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1st John 1:5, KJV

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” 2nd Corinthians 6:14, KJV

“But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” 1st Samuel 16:14, KJV

So we see that darkness and light are mutually exclusive concepts in the Bible, they cannot coexist with one another. One will always banish the other. Regarding the verse from 1st Samuel, it is crucial to note that being of the Lord is quite different from being from the Lord. We are all from the Lord in the sense that the Lord made all of us, but we are not all of the Lord. More on that in a moment.

Going back to Genesis, we understand the inclination of the translators to make this separation between the Holy Spirit and the primordial darkness, but actually in this instance the King James translators once again made the right decision, even if it seems somewhat counterintuitive. Watch:

2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

-Genesis 1:2-4 KJV

The separation of light from darkness that we understand implicitly as part of our reality, occurred in verse 4. In verse 2 this separation has not yet occurred; therefore it is safe for the KJV translators to report the Holy Spirit which is Light itself moving upon the darkness. And because the KJV translators have been so careful and faithful with the word of God, when we arrive on verses like this one in Isaiah we can be confident that there is no error or contradiction because it has been plainly spelled out consistently from the beginning:

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” -Isaiah 45:7

In last place comes the Catholic NAB version which just says: “the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.” Genesis 1:2

Current scorecard:

KJV: 2

NKJV: 0

NAB: -666

Now to be fair, the Holy Spirit is likened to a wind elsewhere in scripture, but the translators do not care to give him the credit and respect entitled to him in their sloppy translation. The editors of the NAB fully admit in their introduction to the Book of Genesis that they don’t even believe Genesis unless it can be verified by an “non-biblical” source, saying:

“While we do not view the account of the patriarchs as history in the strict sense, nevertheless certain of the matters recounted from the time of Abraham onward can be placed in the actual historical and social framework of the Near East in the early part of the second millennium B.C. (2000-1500), and documented by non-biblical sources.” NAB pg. 2

Since they don’t believe the book of Genesis in the first place it is no wonder that they don’t care that their translation blasphemes the Holy Ghost or blatantly contradicts other parts of scripture as we will see later.

We will end with this word of warning that Jesus gave to the Pharisees:

"Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"

John 5:45-47, KJV

Selah!

As Many As Were Ordained

Acts 13:

44. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

46.Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

47. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

48. And when the Gentiles hear this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

(Acts 13:44-48)

Here is another passage that seems to support the doctrine of predestination. “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” To ordain means to set or to establish a person in a particular position.

You can look at Acts 13:48 to mean that in order to believe the gospel one must be ordained by God to eternal life. But back in verse 46 Paul says something important. To the unbelieving Jews he says, “but seeing ye put it far from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”

So, did God ordain everyone ahead of time to salvation or damnation, or did the unbelieving among the Jews (because Paul and all of Jesus’ apostles were all Jews pertaining to the flesh) judge themselves?

God beckons us all, but we must choose our response to his calling. As established in 2nd Peter, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2nd Peter 3:9).

Matthew 25:41 gives us another clue about God’s position on our eternal destiny. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Hell was intended for the devil and the fallen angels, not for man. The blood of lamb was shed for man to reconcile him to God. This gesture of mercy was never offered to the fallen angels.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man (Hebrews 2:9).

And similarly,

14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

15. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

16. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

(Hebrews 2:14-16)

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. -1st Corinthians 15:29

God is not making it difficult for people to get saved. The gospel has gone out around the world many times. The question is who will believe the report? Who will hear his voice and fell the strangers and hirelings? All we have to do is yield to Holy Spirit. The hard part was done at Calvary.

Therefore Choose Life

“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” Ezekiel 18:23

The spirit drew me to this verse in Ezekiel because it gives us an insight into God’s character and personality. The context of Ezekiel chapter 18 is God speaking to the nation of Israel and maintaining his position as a fair and righteous judge.

There is a doctrine known as predestination, also known as Calvinism, after the Protestant reformer John Calvin. Predestination posits that God already decided from the time of the universe’s creation, who would be saved and who would not. It denies man’s free will to believe or not to believe the gospel. Ezekiel 18 raises some serious questions about this doctrine that Protestants and Reformed Baptists may want to think about.

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right…Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly, he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 18:4-9

These verses in Ezekiel show us two things:

1. Sin is unacceptable and must be judged, but punishment and death are not God’s favorite aspect of his job. He would much rather we judge ourselves, repent, and get right with him than compound our transgressions and force his hand.

2. He will judge our works, but not for salvation. How can his judgement be righteous if the impetus for our actions is on God and not on ourselves?

There are many passages in the Bible that do seem to point to predestination and we’ll examine them in all fairness, but I want to begin with these points because the greatest problem with Calvinism is that it maligns the character of God.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

The question then becomes, if God does not will any to perish, then why does he not use his sovereign will to beckon us all to repentance?

Well consider this: when we get saved we receive the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance in the world to come. But before we receive that we have the un-regenerated spirit of our humanity. That spirit that makes us human was first given to Adam when God breathed into his nostrils and made him a living soul (Genesis 2:7). We believe that this spirit of life includes our intellect, thought life, emotions, and personality. Even though our un-regenerated spirit is prone to sin and corruption, it is still a gift of God in the sense that Adam was a lifeless ball of clay until God bestowed that breath of life upon him – He could not have earned it.

Likewise, when we were helpless infants in our mother’s wombs we had to have been conceived by our parents and then be fashioned by God. It is not something we can do of our own prior volition.

The Apostle Paul does say, albeit in a different context that, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Bold emphasis mine). If that spirit of humanity is a gift from God, and that spirit includes our thoughts and consciousness, then our consciousness by extension is a gift from God and therefore sacrosanct. As a gift from God it cannot and will not be withdrawn or perverted by his actions.

We are free to choose life or death.

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Amen.