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Tuesday, November 06, 2018

Another Scheme for Categorizing “KJVO”

Back in April of this year, I wrote about Categorizing “KJV-Only” beliefs and My View of King James Only. Last week in a Baptist Board post, Pastor Bob Presswood related that when he was a moderator of the Bible Versions & Translations forum of the Baptist Board a number of years ago, he and a couple of other forum moderators came up with different classifications of the KJVO position. He further noted that those definitions have been modified so that those now on Baptist Board are quite a bit different from the older ones.

Here are 6 categories that Pastor Bob posted, which he says resemble the ones they originally put up the Baptist Board. I share them here for informational and comparison purposes.

Group #1
This is a group of people who know little or nothing at all about the text issue. However, they have read some of the new translations and they do not like them. They do not like it that the modern versions leave out verses and large passages. They do not like the fact that many verses have been changed in such a way as to weaken or water-down many crucial doctrinal statements. This group of believes that the modern versions are inferior. They do not necessarily believe that the King James Version is in every way perfect, but they believe that it is the clearest and best. They have a distrust of all new versions. They want the King James Version to be used in their personal devotions, in their camps, and in their youth programs. They are strongly opposed to switching Bibles in their church and Sunday school.

Group #2
This group has studied the text issue and believes that the Traditional Greek Text is the right text to translate, and believe that the King James Version is the best translation of that text. They do not believe that the TR or the Majority Text is perfect in any one printed copy. They believe that the King James Version is the clearest and most accurate translation that we have in English today. They do not necessarily believe in the inspiration or inerrancy of any copy or translation, but they believe that the Traditional Text and the King James Version are, by far, the best, and so far above all others as to be beyond compare.

Group #3
This group believes that the Textus Receptus, usually one of Beza’s editions, is the perfect Word of God. They believe that all of the people who worked on the TR up to the point of the printing of that edition were able, collectively, to find all of God’s words. They believe that all of God’s words were preserved in the ancient manuscripts, versions, and translations and that God gave wisdom to such people, as Erasmus and Beza, so that all of the words of God were found and put into that edition of the TR. They believe that that edition of the TR is verbally identical to the original autographs. They believe that the King James Version is an accurate and trustworthy translation of the TR. As a result, they believe it is the best translation and do not want any other.

Group #4
This group believes in the Majority Text. They believe that if we exclude the few Alexandrian manuscripts and simply count the number of times a certain reading appears in the Byzantine manuscripts, that that will result in the correct reading. This group is strong King James Version Only advocates because the King James Version has in almost every case the majority reading. They believe that all modern versions, with the possible exception of the NKJV, are grossly inferior. Many in this group find many objectionable readings and notations in the NKJV also.

Group #5
This group believes that the King James Version translators were able to find all of the words of God. They do not know exactly what materials the translators had available, or exactly what their reasons were for using each word. They believe that God providentially gave the translators wisdom and guided them so that they translated all of the words correctly. As a result, they believe the King James Version is the perfectly preserved Word of God in the English language. They believe the errors in the King James Version can be attributed to printers and copyist errors.

Group #6
This group believes for the most part what group #5 believes, except they take it a step farther. They believe there are absolutely no “provable” errors whatsoever in the King James Version. The other groups would consider this group as “extreme.” They believe that the King James Version translators were inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen the words of God into the English language. They believe the King James Version is accurate to the point of correcting the manuscript evidences. They believe that the modern versions are Satanic, counterfeit bibles. They believe that salvation is dependent upon hearing the true Word of God from the King James Version; all other versions represent “corruptible seed.” They consider all users of modern versions to be liberal in doctrine and practice.

Descriptions of these various groups were collected in part from the following source: Seventy-five Problems with Central Baptist Seminary’s Book The Bible Version Debate, Lloyd L. Streeter, LaSalle, IL: First Baptist Church of LaSalle, 2001

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