“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
In 2008 I took a group of people on a trip to see the important biblical places in the Middle East. We arrived at St. Catherine’s Monastery guesthouse in Sinai, Egypt for a late supper. It was already dark. The monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery located at the foot of the traditional site of Mt. Sinai. St. Catherine’s is said to be the oldest, continuously inhabited Christian Monastery in the world. But it certainly was NOT the monastery that interested me! It was Mt. Sinai! The next morning as I stared up at the 7,498 foot summit of Jabel Musa (Gebel Mousa) my mind took me to Exodus 19:16 ff, which gives the account of Moses being on Mt. Sinai early the morning when God visited him. It was about 1280 B.C. There was thunder, lightning, loud trumpets, fire, and smoke. The whole mountain shook. As I looked at Mt. Sinai I thought of what it must have been like when Moses received the first stone tablets of the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God three and one half millenniums earlier. It was on Mt. Sinai that Moses received the very first written communication from the Lord God Almighty. It was on Mt. Sinai that the written progressive revelatory journey of God speaking to man began. I was reminded of the words of a friend of mine who wrote, “These sacred words from the Ten Commandments have shaped the world and its ethical system for 3,500 years.” (A Visual History of the English Bible by Donald L. Brake; Baker Books; p. 25).
However, you will recall, things got off to a rough start when Moses came down from the mountain. Moses threw down and broke the first tablets God had written when he saw the people dancing naked and worshipping the pagan golden calf. (Exodus 32:19). God instructed Moses to judge this gross idolatry and the Levites killed 3000 Israelites.
Though God judged their sin, He is still a God of mercy. He said to Moses, “Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.” (Exodus 34:1). But, in spite of this bad start, it is on Mount Sinai that God began to communicate with human beings in written form using the language that the people knew. God continued His progressive revelation for the next 1500 years until the canon of Scripture was closed with the book of Revelation.
How God Revealed His Word(s) To Us
“There are at least 36 different authors, who wrote in three continents [Europe, Asia & Africa], in many countries, in three languages - Hebrew, Aramaic (Genesis 31:47; Jeremiah 10:11; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:21-26; Daniel 2:4-7:28) and Greek. The Bible is written from every possible human standpoint. Among the authors were kings, farmers, mechanics, scientific men, lawyers, generals, fishermen, ministers and priests, a tax collector, some poor, some city bred, some country born, thus touching all experiences of men, extending over 1500 years.” (Smith's Bible Dictionary; by William Smith; published 1884; p.91)
How The Old Testament Came Together
There are 24 books in the Jewish Bible (Old Testament). However, these 24 books cover the same material that we have in our 39 book English, non-Catholic Bible Old Testament.
I have an antiquarian Bible Collection that includes Hebrew scrolls, Bible portions and Bibles from as early as the 1200’s. I find it interesting that ancient English Bibles identified some of the 39 books of the Old Testament by different names than we have today. Here is a listing of the ancient name differences – 1 Samuel is called 1 Kings, 2 Samuel is called 2 Kings, 1 Kings is called 3 Kings, 2 Kings is called 4 Kings, 1 Chronicles is called 1 Parlipomen, 2 Chronicles is called 2 Parlipomen, Ezra is called 1 Esdras, Nehemiah is called 2 Esdras, Song of Solomon is called Song of Songs.
The Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are sometimes referred to as: the "Five Books of Moses," because the writings themselves identify the author as Moses. It is also called the "Pentateuch," a Greek term meaning "pente (5) teuchos (volumes)," or the "Books of the Law", or the "Torah" (a Hebrew word meaning "instruction"). These books were originally written as a single unbroken scroll. Sometime before the 2nd Century B.C. it was divided into the 5 books that we see today.
There are about two dozen verses in the Hebrew (Old Testament) Scriptures and about half that many in the New Testament Scriptures which state or strongly imply that Moses was the author of the first five books of the Bible. “Ancient Jewish and Christian writers, such as Ecclesiasticus, Josephus, Philo, and Origen were essentially in full agreement that the Pentateuch was written solely by Moses. The Mishnah and the Talmud also confirm this. Tradition during the first millennium of Christian history agrees with this belief.” (R.K. Harrison, "Introduction to the Old Testament," Page 497 [cited in R.B. Dillard & T. Longman III, "An Introduction to the Old Testament," Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, (1994) Page 39].
The Pentateuch itself claims Mosaic authorship. “In Exodus 24:4 we read: ‘And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord.’ These were placed 'inside of the Ark of the Covenant,' according to Deuteronomy 31:26.” (The Indestructible Book by W. Ken Connolly; Baker Books 1996; p.14)
Joshua affirms Moses was the author of the Pentateuch (Josh. 1:7-8; 22:5). 2 Chronicles 34:14 also confirms that. When we move into the New Testament Jesus confirms Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (Luke 24:44; John 7:19).
I find it interesting that for years critical “scholars” claimed that nobody was supposed to have known anything about writing until a much later period so Moses could not have written the Pentateuch. The discovery of cuneiform tablets at Tel el-Amama dating from 1380 A.D. described contemporary events that were also recorded in the book of Joshua. Hence, Moses was indeed literate.
God’s progressive revelation continues. Later Joshua added to what Moses had written (the book of Joshua). Still later Samuel “told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord” (1 Samuel 10:25). Much later “Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord…” (2 Kings 22:8).
These passages from the Old Testament show that the records gradually grew and were safely protected. There is also historical material outside the Bible that indicates the process of the development of the Old Testament Canon. Jewish tradition teaches that Ezra, a priest and scribe, collected and arranged the order of the books in the Hebrew Bible in about 450 BC. Kenyon writes. "Taking the latest dates assigned by good authorities, the Law was fully recognized as inspired Scripture by about B.C. 450, the Prophets (including the earlier historical books) about B.C. 300, and the Hagiographa (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles) about B.C. 100." (Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts by Kenyon; p.28).
The Old Testament was settled! And we know that God promised to preserve His Word(s)! We read in Psalms 119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” Another verse reads, Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” The question is who was in charge of preserving God’s Word, the Old Testament? Paul answers the question” “Unto them (the Jews) were committed the oracles of God.” Romans 3:2b. The Talmudists first were the copiests. They had an intricate system for transcribing the scrolls. You can find a list of these rules on page 14 of my book, The Indestructible Book: Examining the History of our English Bible. The job of meticulously copying the Old Testament was passed on to the Masoretes. They did the job from about 500 through 900 A.D. They were likewise meticulous in their copying, following the strict rules that had been established previously and adding some of their own.
H. S. Miller, writing in his book “General Biblical Introduction”, says: “Some of these rules may appear extreme and absurd, yet they show how sacred the Holy Word of the Old Testament was to its custodians, the Jews, and they give us strong encouragement to believe that we have the real Old Testament, the same one that our Lord had and which was given by inspiration of God.”
Sir Frederic Kenyon concurs writing, “the Massoretes undertook a number of calculations which do not enter into the ordinary sphere of textual criticism. They numbered the verses, words, and letters of every book. They calculated the middle word and middle letter of each. They enumerated verses, which contained all the letters of the alphabet, or a certain number of them; and so on. These trivialities, as we may rightly consider them, had yet the effect of securing minute attention to the precise transmission of the text; and they are but an excessive manifestation of a respect for the sacred Scriptures which in itself deserves nothing but praise. The Massoretes were indeed anxious that not one jot nor tittle, not one smallest letter nor one tiny part of a letter, of the Law should pass away or be lost.” (Our Bible and The Ancient Manuscripts; Kenyon; p.33).
THE TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
“There are two basic texts in existence in Hebrew, a corrupt one, edited by Ben Asher, and the true one, edited by Ben Chayyim. Both texts are still referred to as “Masoretic” so care must be taken as to which text is being referred to.
The Ben Asher text was based on a text called the Leningrad Manuscript (B19a; also called simply L), which was dated around 1008 A.D., and differs widely from the Traditional Hebrew Masoretic Old Testament. The Ben Asher is exhibited in Rudolf Kittel's Biblia Hebraica (BHK, 1937) with all of his suggested footnote changes, as well as in the Stuttgart edition of Biblia Hebraica (BHS, 1967-77) with all of their suggested footnote changes. It had apparently not dawned on Kittel (and others) that the Ben Asher version was based on a small handful of corrupt manuscripts. Both of these false Hebrew texts (Biblia Hebraica (BHK & BHS)) offer in their footnotes about fifteen to twenty suggested changes per page (changes from the authentic Ben Chayyim Masoretic text). This adds up to about 20,000 to 30,000 changes in the entire Hebrew Old Testament text. One or the other of these false Hebrew texts, either BHK or BHS, are used as the basis for the Old Testament in virtually all modern Bible versions.
The true text of Ben Chayyim on which the KJV is based is the authentic Hebrew Masoretic text. It is called the Daniel Bomberg edition or the Second Great Rabbinic Bible (1524-25). This is the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text represented by the vast majority of existing Old Testament manuscripts. The Ben Chayyim Masoretic text was the uncontested text of the Old Testament for over four hundred years. In fact, Rudolf Kittel, in his first two editions of 1906 and 1912, used that text in his Biblia Hebraica. It was not until 1937, that he changed his Hebrew text from the Ben Chayyim to the Ben Asher text. Kittel found a large and receptive market in the rapidly growing modernist camp that had grown to hate the traditional texts of both the Old and New Testaments.
In 1516, Daniel Bomberg published a text of the Old Testament under the name “First Rabbinic Bible.” This text was followed in 1524 by a second edition that had been compiled from ancient manuscripts by a Hebrew scholar and converted Jewish Rabbi named Abraham Ben Chayyim. Today this work is called the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text, and is the text that underlies the Old Testament of the King James Bible. The word "masoretic" comes from the Hebrew word "mesor" meaning traditional.
THE APOCRYPHA or DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS
The actual word apocrypha is derived from the Greek word "abscondita," which historically identified writings which had an obscure origin or which were heretical. The Apocrypha is a series of books, written between B.C. 250 and A.D. 100, which exemplify the “superstitions” “traditions,” “imaginations,” and “commandments of men.” The Apocrypha consists of 15 books of Jewish literature written during the intertestamental period (the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament). Some of them have historic value, but all are spurious, of unknown authorship, and without claim of inspiration or authority. Some are legendary and fantasy. All extant copies of the Apocrypha are written in Greek, not in Hebrew.
According to Torrey, the Jews not only rejected the Apocrypha, but after the overthrow of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they went so far as to destroy, systematically and thoroughly, the Semitic originals of all extra-canonical literature, including the Apocryphal. The feeling of the leaders at that time, Torrey tells us, is echoed in a later Palestinian writing (Midrash Qoheleth, 12,12): “Whosoever brings together in his house more than twenty-four books (the canonical scriptures) brings confusion.” (The King James Version Defended by Dr. Edward F. Hills; Chapter 4).
No canon or council of the Church for the first four centuries recognized the Apocrypha as inspired. Many, but not all, of the great church Fathers of the early church spoke out against the Apocrypha or confirmed the exclusion of the Apocrypha by their count of the Old Testament books. Included are Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop Melito of Sardis (170 AD), Tertullian, and Hilary of Poitiers.
So, why was the Apocrypha in English Bibles?
"The Apocrypha had been introduced into the English version of the Coverdale Bible in 1535. However it noted – “Apocrifa. The bokes & treatises which amonge the Fathers of old are not rekened to be of authorite with the other bokes of the Byble, neither are they founde in the Canon of the Hebrews.”
“The King James version in 1611 placed them between the Old and New Testaments instead of mixing they within the Bible. They began to be omitted from about 1629…” (The Apocrypha also called Deutero-Canonical Writings by Lloyd Thomas; http://ftp.iafrica.com/l/ll/lloyd/Apocrypha.htm). In fact, the King James translators did NOT view them as having the authority of Scripture. The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England clearly states that the Apocrypha have no scriptural authority." ...[the Church of England] doth not apply to them to establish any doctrine.
The Westminster Confession says, "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings."
The New Testament Manuscripts
The foundation of our Old Testament in the English Bible (Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthews, Great Bible, Geneva, Bishops and King James) is the Traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text that was collated first in 1516 and finally in 1524 by a converted Jewish Rabbi named Abraham Ben Chayyim and published by Daniel Bomberg. Just as there are two conflicting lines of manuscripts in the Old Testament, the same is true in the New Testament. The corrupt line is called the Alexandrian, Egyptian of the Eclectic text which consists of roughly 50 manuscripts. The true line of great New Testament texts is called the Antiochian Text, Textus Receptus (TR) or the Traditional text. Last time I checked there are more than 6000 Greek manuscript portions of the New Testament. 99% of all manuscripts support the Traditional text that underlies our King James Bible. It was the basis of Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthews, Great, Geneva, Bishops and King James Bibles. Virtually all modern Bibles have used the 1% ever-changing Alexandrian Greek Text or Eclectic Text in their translation – Revised Version (1881), American Standard Version (1901), RSV, NASV, LB, NSRB, JB, TEV, NEB, NIV, GNB, NRSV, NAB, NCV, NBV, HCSB, NLT, ISV, ESV.
There is a HUGE PROBLEM with this line of manuscripts. Brooke Foss Westcott and F. J. A. Hort of Cambridge published a text based on Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus in 1881. Novum Testamentum Graece by Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland, now in its 28th edition, largely builds on the text of Westcott and Hort. Allow me to give you a brief glimpse into the problem. Scott McKendrick of the British Library says there are 35,000 corrections and edits in Sinaiticus. Scholars believe Vaticanus was overwritten letter by letter in the 10th or 11th century with missing portions supplied in the 15th century. All this activity makes precise paleographic analysis impossible! In other words, nobody knows for sure what the text originally said! In fact the two manuscripts do not even agree with themselves. There are more than 3000 variations when the Gospels in Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are compared.
The foundation of our New Testament in the English Bibles from 1526 (Tyndale) to the King James Bible of today is the Greek Traditional, also called the Antiochian Text and the Textus Receptus. There are MORE than 8000 differences between the Traditional text that underlies our King James Bible and the Eclectic Text that is used in the modern translations.
The Formation of the New Testament Canon
The New Testament Church was born on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after the death of Christ (and Passover) around 36 AD. We read about this in Acts 2. We know from the record that about 3,000 people received Christ as Savior on that day and were biblically baptized. In those early days the Apostles, by their oral teachings, were the ones that guided the church. Acts 2:42a says, “And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine.”
Few people realize that for the first 10 to 20 years of the Church’s existence they had no New Testament writings. The Apostles taught what they had personally learned from the Lord Jesus. When the Disciples of Christ witnessed, they did so based on what they had learned from the Apostles. In preaching, the Old Testament was used, bringing in Jesus' fulfillment of it. In other words, the Old Testament was interpreted Christologically (in light of Christ). A good example is found in Acts 8:26-39. Isaiah 53 formed the basis of Philip’s message.
The New Church grew in numbers. As time passed, the Apostles, eyewitnesses, and early disciples began to die, often by martyrdom. The Holy Spirit moved on their hearts to leave a written record for future generations. The Apostle John notes this in John 20:30-31. He wrote, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
The first New Testament books penned were written by Paul – Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Romans. These were personal letters written to the churches that Paul had established on his three missionary trips. They were written between 49 and 58 AD. While no one knows for sure when the 27 books of the New Testament came together into one book, one author says, “At a very early period, probably before the end of the first, or the beginning of the second century, the books of the New Testament were collected into one volume, having before this been used separately as they were severally written, or could be procured in the different Churches.” (The Evidences of the Divine Origin, Preservation, Credibility and Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures by S. Austin Alliborne; American Sunday School Union - 1871; p.21)
Where Is The Bible Today?
To answer that question, “where is the Bible today?” we need to understand Inspiration, Preservation and Translation.
A major battleground in 21st century Christianity focuses on the nature of the Bible. At one end of the spectrum, theologians claim the original texts of the Bible have been so corrupted and mutilated that they are lost and therefore they are seeking to restore it as best as they can, though they never expect to be completely successful. At the other end of the spectrum are those who claim the King James Bible is advanced revelation, given by inspiration of God and superior to the Hebrew and Greek. The views at each end of the spectrum are errant as I see it.
Let’s focus on the influential “Critical Test” group of theologians who claim that the Bible text is so corrupted and mutilated that it has been lost. They seek to “restore” it so it is closer to the original, yet they are not confident that they will ever be able to do that. How do I know?
This is what the editors of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament are seeking to do. They tell you this in the beginning of their 24th edition of the Greek New Testament –
Novum Testamentum Graece seeks to provide the reader with the critical appreciation of the whole textual tradition… It should naturally be understood that this text is a working text (in the sense of the century-long Nestle tradition); it is not to be considered as definitive, but as a stimulus to further efforts towards redefining and verifying the text of the New Testament.
To be sure, the Critical Text crowd is continuing on in their quest. They are up to their 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament. Dr. Bobby Adams has compared the 27th Edition to the 28th edition and finds that there are 35 changes made from the previous edition!
My dear friends; if the text from which the translators of the new Bible versions is “not to be considered as definitive,” then there is NO WAY their translation can be considered definitive. How can you trust a Bible that you are not sure is the Word of God?
At the other end of the spectrum are those who believe…
The King James Bible is advanced revelation, the apex of Bible transmission. They claim the King James Bible itself was given by divine inspiration and is superior to the Hebrew and Greek in which the Scripture was originally given and in fact even corrects the Hebrew and the Greek. They assert that every foreign language translation made today should be based on the King James Bible.
In light of the heated controversies over the issues of the nature of the Bible, inspiration and preservation I feel compelled to explain what the Bible says about it.
2 Timothy 3:16 reads “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” The word inspiration is derived from the Greek word θεοπνευστος – theopneutos (2 Timothy 3:16), which literally means “God breathed” or more accurately, “breathed into by God.” Charles Ryrie writes that inspiration is – “God’s superintending of human authors so that, using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error in the words of the original autographs His revelation to man.”
Dr. H. D. Williams wrote – “Inspiration is the miracle whereby the Words of the Scripture in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek were God-breathed and ‘once delivered’ (Jude 1:3) using ‘holy men of God’ and their vocabulary, who perfectly recorded them ‘once’ as they were ‘moved’ along by the Holy Spirit in such a way that ‘all’ the Words written are infallible and inerrant in the sixty-six books of the canon of Scripture.”
Do We Have God’s Words Today?
You will note that in each of the above definitions of inspiration the Bible talks about God inspiring only the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek writings – the originals! He has not done it again. The natural question is, since we do not have the originals, do we have the Word of God? The answer is YES! God HAS PRESERVED His Words for Us!
Preservation Is Not Inspiration
A Bible that was perfect, fully inspired by God only in the original autographs (which are no longer available), would be of no value to us today unless God had preserved His Word perfectly for us today. In fact, God promised to preserve His Word(s) for us, despite what many so-called Bible scholars say. One example is Dr. Larry Oates, professor at a Midwestern Baptist University. He said, “God could have preserved His words but History proves he did not.” (http://hin.stparchive.com/Archive/HIN/HIN12211999P02.php).
The LORD promised to preserve His Words!
Psalms 119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
Psalms 33:11 “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.”
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
Psalms 12:6-7 “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
Psalms 100:5 “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Mark 13:31.)
I hold to what Baptists have historically held to. God HAS preserved His WORDS as He Promised! The London Baptist Confession of 1677 and 1689 says –
“The Old Testament in Hebrew, (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament Greek (which at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations) being immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical…”
God inspired His Words once and, as He promised, has preserved His Words in the Traditional Hebrew, Aramaic Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Traditional Text of the New Testament. “God’s preservation maintains all the authority and Holy Spirit power that God originally placed on and in His words.”
Now, just as there is a preserved line of manuscripts (the Masoretic Hebrew – Ben Chayyim or Bomberg edition – and the Greek Traditional Text also called the Textus Receptus), there is also a corrupt line of manuscripts as well. The Ben Asher Hebrew exhibited in Kittel’s BIBLICA HEBRAICA and the eclectic Greek text rooted in a very small number of corrupt Greek manuscripts are the basis for the Modern Versions of the Bible.
So, where is the Word of God for English speaking people today?
After a seven-fold purification process of 85 years we have the King James Bible!
It started in 1526 with William Tyndale’s New Testament, but he was burned at the stake in 1536 before he could complete his translation of the Old Testament.
Myles Coverdale printed the first complete English Bible in 1535. He used Tyndale’s New Testament, but because he did not know Hebrew he translated from Luther’s German and also Latin.
Tyndale left John Rogers his Old Testament translation work and so he used Genesis through 2 Chronicles and filled in the rest with Coverdale’s OT and printed the Matthews Bible in 1537. For his efforts Bloody Mary burned him at the stake.
Next we come to the Great Bible of 1539. Myles Coverdale merely revised the Matthews Bible.
Next we come to the Geneva Bible (1560). This is the first Bible translated completely from the Hebrew/Aramaic Masoretic Text and the Greek Traditional Text.
In 1568 the Bishops Bible was issued but the translation was awkward.
Finally, in 1611 the King James Bible translation was published. Virtually all English translation activities ceased for 290 years.
Is our King James Bible Inspired?
Did God again speak to the King James translators in like fashion as He spoke through Moses, David, Isaiah, Paul, or John? Or, “Did God re-inspire the King James translators?” There are many who believe that He did. But a translation is NOT inspiration.
Dr. David Sorenson gives us a clear answer –
There is absolutely no record or claim that the King James translators, erudite and godly as they were, received any such second inspiration. A careful study of their work and the subsequent publishing process absolutely militates against any such notion. The King James Version as a translation is not inspired!
God inspired His words only when they flowed from the tip of the pens of the various Scriptural authors. He has not done so again. I do NOT believe in double inspiration of any type, no matter who promotes it.
While God has not re-inspired the King James Bible, “I believe that the King James Bible is God’s Word kept intact in English.”
The King James Bible translators had God’s preserved words in front of them as they worked with the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Traditional Text! They did NOT need to be re-inspired; they simply needed to faithfully and accurately translate those preserved Words – and that is what they did! That outcome is…
The King James Bible is God’s Word kept intact in English.
The King James Bible preserves, by accurate translation, the Hebrew/Aramaic Masoretic Text and the Greek Received Text for English speaking people, and by accurately translating these texts our King James Bible maintains all the authority and power that God placed on and in His Words.
The King James Bible is therefore God’s Preserved Word for English speaking people.
While the modern versions may contain the Word of God, the King James Bible IS the Word of God for English speaking people.
