Arthur Farstad on Geneva and NKJV Bibles

Arthur Leonard Farstad (1935-1998) was executive of the New King James Version, and co-editor (with Zane Hodges) of a Greek Majority Text New Testament. He was a theologian who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Additionally, he was a co-founder of the Majority Text Society, as well as editor of the Grace Evangelical Society journal.

“God has used many Bibles...And the Geneva, the people who founded America did not use the King James, they used the Geneva. They thought the King James was too ‘high church.’ It said, ‘Church’ instead of ‘congregation’ and ‘bishop’ instead of ‘overseers.’ The Pilgrims and Puritans of Plymouth Colony didn’t use the King James. The foundation of our country was on the Geneva Bible.”

Arthur Farstad, about the Geneva and King James Bibles on the John Ankerberg Show “The King James Only Controversy Revisited – Program 2.”

This statement by Art Farstad demonstrates how some of the Christian urban myths get spread. Leaving the case of what the Pilgrims used (for which, see my “Bibles at the Pilgrim Hall Museum at Plymouth”), let’s consider the reasons given for the “people who founded America” using the Geneva Bible instead of the King James Bible – the words “church” and “bishop.” This is easily falsified by actually looking at a Geneva Bible instead of just taking the word of an authority. These “people who founded America” would have had ready access to the 1599 Geneva Bible (but the same facts are true concerning the 1560 Geneva). An easy check is available at BibleGateway, though scans of the original are available online also. The word “church” and “churches” are used in 113 verses in the Geneva Bible New Testament (1 less than the KJV). “Congregation” only appears 3 times in the Geneva New Testament, two of which have nothing to do with the New Testament church. Bishop appears 5 times in the Geneva Bible, four in reference to a church office, and once in reference to Jesus (Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-2; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 2:25). This compares to six times in the KJV. The Geneva Bible did not shy away from the words “church” and “bishop”!

No doubt Art Farstad believed this to be true. Most all of us – yes, even scholars – more readily tend to accept without proof that which we already believe. His believing it to be true does not make it so. Apparently he never checked! Sadly, such myths get spread around. “This must be true – some scholar said it!”

“Originally it was planned to use the Majority Text for the NKJV, not the TR used in the KJV. This was changed near the end of the project. Strangely enough, the one who talked Thomas Nelson into not using the Majority Text was Zane Hodges himself. (He was not, however, on the translation team.) Zane argued that a version should not be based on a Greek text that had not been on the market for a few years to allow time for scholarly appraisal. Also, many felt that this updating of the classic KJV should not introduce another Greek text, like the English Revised had done in 1881 before the Westcott-Hort text (also 1881) had a chance to be evaluated.”

Arthur Farstad. The above statement is found in “Why I Became a Majority Text Advocate,” which is an “Unpublished paper by Arthur L. Farstad when he was at Dallas Seminary.” It is posted on the Dean Bible Ministries website of Robert L. Dean, Jr.  Dean earned a ThM and PhD at Dallas Theological Seminary (where Hodges & Farstad taught).

This statement by Arthur Farstad about the New King James translation suggests that the work on it began with the Majority Text as its textual basis, and then was changed to the Textus Receptus. It would be good to know more about this, and if Farstad discussed or wrote more about it elsewhere. That “start and change” could help explain some of the inconsistencies in the New King James translation.