Pure Cambridge and Acts 11:12

The Pure Cambridge Edition is a nice and accurate printing of the King James Bible. This printing of the King James Bible can be found online, for example at Bible Protector PCE, KJVPCE.com, and Pure Cambridge Edition. However, some supporters set it up as the (one and only) correct printing of the King James Bible, against all others. According to Matthew Verschuur in “How to Know the Pure Cambridge Edition of the Bible,” a Pure Cambridge Edition of the KJV can be identified because it by its conformity to the following test in 12 places.

• 1. “or Sheba” not “and Sheba” in Joshua 19:2
• 2. “sin” not “sins” in 2 Chronicles 33:19
• 3. “Spirit of God” not “spirit of God” in Job 33:4
• 4. “whom ye” not “whom he” in Jeremiah 34:16
• 5. “Spirit of God” not “spirit of God” in Ezekiel 11:24
• 6. “flieth” not “fleeth” in Nahum 3:16
• 7. “Spirit” not “spirit” in Matthew 4:1
• 8. “further” not “farther” in Matthew 26:39
• 9. “bewrayeth” not “betrayeth” in Matthew 26:73
• 10. “Spirit” not “spirit” in Mark 1:12
• 11. “spirit” not “Spirit” in Acts 11:28
• 12. “spirit” not “Spirit” in 1 John 5:8

Verschuur also adds that the Concord Cambridge Edition has departures in the following areas, where the correct PCE text has (among other things) “rasor” instead of “razor” (Numbers 6:5, et al.), “inquire” instead of “enquire” (Genesis 24:57, et al.), “counseller” instead of “counsellor” (2 Samuel 15:12, et al.), “expences” instead of “expenses” (Ezra 6:4,8), “ancle” instead of “ankle” (Ezekiel 47:3; Acts 3:7), “Geba” rather than “Gaba” at Ezra 2:26, and lower case “spirit” at Acts 11:12, 28 and 1 John 5:8.

I have mentioned the test before in passing. Now let us look at it more directly. One of the identifiers of the Pure Cambridge Edition is the lower case “spirit” at Acts 11:12. Using this as a test case shows the arbitrary nature of choosing this printing as “the correct, perfect and final text of the King James Bible.”

• “And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting…” (Acts 11:12)

However, in this same edition the Spirit in Acts 10:19-20 who bids Peter go, doubting nothing, is capitalised “Spirit.”

• “While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.” (Acts 10:19-20)

The Spirit/spirit in Acts 11:12 is the selfsame Spirit/spirit in Acts 10:19-20. How can it be that it is correct to capitalise the word in Acts 10:19 and not capitalise it in Acts 11:28? If it is not wrong to capitalise “Spirit” in Acts 10:19, it cannot be wrong to capitalise it in Acts 11:12. Defenses of the distinction devolve into disconcerting disputations, of doubtful merit. If one will be led of the Spirit of truth rather than the spirit of defending a particular printing at all costs, this is easy to see.[i]

The problem with “PCE-ism” is not the Pure Cambridge printing itself, but rather the arbitrary induction of only one early inexactly-dated 1900s printing of the King James translation as “the” Bible. This subtly shifts the time-honored, God-given interpretation method of comparing Scripture with Scripture to a new-fangled method of interpretation based on one typography frozen in time.

This Cambridge printing of the King James Bible is clean, nicely done, and highly recommended. However, it is not the one and only final edition to the exclusion of all other King James Bibles. If your Bible has “Spirit” instead of “spirit” in Acts 11:12 (and 11:28) don’t throw it away! Continue to use it, with God’s blessings. It is the Spirit of God speaking in those places.[ii]

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[i] This could also cause a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of who the Spirit is in Acts 11:28. However, be aware, it is the responsibility of the Bible reader to interpret based on context rather than English capitalisation, which has not always been (and may not now always be) standardized. For example the 1611 Barker printing has lower-case “s” in Acts 10:19, 11:12, and 11:28, the 1618 Norton & Bill printing has capital “S” in all three places, while the 1631 Barker printing has a lower-case “s” in 10:19 and capitalization in chapter 11. See also endnote 2. Note, however, that trying to find the best printing of the King James Bible is not immaterial. If the Bible is God’s word (it is), then we should want the best printing of it, with the least number of typographical errors, defects (smudges, page bleed-through, etc.), and so on. But we should not let it become a dogma inhering in the defense of the King James Bible.

[ii] It is well to note that the history of this (capital versus lowercase) is entrenched in the history of the English language, which has gone through many uses of and attempts to standardize the capitalization of words. See the 1611-1768 chart for some history of the printing of these verses in the King James Bible.