24/06/2021
A NOTE ON THE KING JAMES VERSION- PART I
There are some people who believe the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is superior to all other English translations of the Bible. This movement is called the “King James Only”. Adherents of the King James Only Movement are largely Evangelicals who believe that the KJV is the most accurate English version of the Bible ever translated. They also believe that other English versions of the Bible produced after the KJV were corrupted.
Is this the true situation of things?
The KJV is by far the most popular English translation of the Bible. It is the 3rd Authorized English version, the 1st and 2nd been the Great Bible (1539) and the Bishops’ Bible (1568) respectively. The translation was commissioned in 1604 by King James VI & I primarily to correct the translational inaccuracies the Puritans observed in the Bishops’ Bible which was then in use in the Anglican Church. It was also noted that the Bishops’ Bible did not reflect the ecclesiology and the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its beliefs about ordained clergy accurately. These observations gave birth to the new translation.
The new translation (KJV) was published in 1611 and became an instant success. Several editions were produced after the first edition. The popular KJV in circulation today is the Oxford standard edition of 1769. Since its first edition, the KJV dominated the landscape of the English-speaking world until the mid-20th century when newer translations began to challenge its dominance.
To an objective mind, the KJV which was first published in the early 17th century cannot be the most accurate English translation of the Bible. In reality, this version of the English Bible is plagued by certain shortcomings which the reader needs to be aware of to avoid interpretation errors.
The KJV was translated with fewer Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible compared to the volumes we now have. The Old Testament portion of the KJV was translated from a group of Hebrew texts (the Masoretic texts) that were transcribed between the 7th to the 10th century AD. Modern Bible scholars who seek to understand the Old Testament scriptures use a variety of sources apart from the Masoretic texts. These sources include early Greek translation (Septuagint), the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac translation (Pesh*tta), the Dead Sea Scrolls, and quotations from rabbinic manuscripts which are mostly older than the oldest surviving Masoretic texts and sometimes present significant differences.
The 3rd edition of the Erasmus version of the Greek New Testament (Textus receptus or the received text) was used in translating the New Testament portion of the KJV. Erasmus used seven partial late Greek manuscripts which were of Byzantine origin, except one, to compile the Textus receptus. Five of the manuscripts date the 12th century while two date the 15th century. Erasmus had three manuscripts for the Gospels, four for the Pauline epistles, two for the other epistles, and only one for the book of Revelation which was not complete. He translated the last six verses of Revelation out of a Latin version of the New Testament because they were not available in any of the manuscripts.
Also, Erasmus inserted the “Johannine Comma” (1 John 5:7) into the Textus receptus which is not in most of the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. He added this verse, which he found in a 16th-century minuscule Greek manuscript (Codex Montfortianus), to stop those who were accusing him of imbibing Arianism (the belief that Jesus is not God).
Many Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible have been discovered after the first translation of the KJV, which were used by the translators of more recent English translations. For example, the Dead Sea scrolls, a large catchment of Hebrew manuscripts, were discovered between 1946 to 1956. There are now over 5,800 New Testament manuscripts that have been categorized into four groups by text type. These include the Alexandrian, Western, Caesarean (the Gospels only), and Byzantine text types.
The Alexandrian text type is the basis of modern Bible translations. Most New Testament textual critics believe it is the closest representative of the autographs for some reasons. For example, the Alexandrian manuscripts are the oldest found New Testament manuscripts to date. Some of the earliest Church Fathers’ scriptural quotations are found in them. Again, the Alexandrian texts are more often considered to be the ones that can best explain the source of the variant readings found in other text types.
Also, the English language used in the KJV is now archaic. The meanings of several of the words that were used have changed over time. These include words like "conversation" which now means "conduct," "study" which now means "diligence", "communication" which now means "sharing" etc. This outdated language may make it difficult for the modern English speaker to have a good understanding of Scripture. Moreover, the English vocabulary was limited at the time the translation was conducted. Hence, some of the keywords may not have been translated appropriately from the original language due to this constraint.
The other reality about the KJV we have to face is that the understanding of the Hebrew and Greek languages at the time it was translated was limited compared to what obtained at the time the more recent translations like the American Standard Version (1900) and the others that came after were translated. It is natural that the KJV would have some translational errors while these newer translations would be more accurate. The reader needs to be aware that several English translations after the KJV now reflect the contents of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible more accurately. Even the KJV now has a modern version (New King James Version) that reflects the contents of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible more accurately.
An excerpt from "Basic Principles of Biblical Interpretation" (to be published soon)
To be continued...