Six Types of King James Only

I find attempts to categorize King James Bible Only positions interesting. I have posted on this subject in the past. Recently my attention was directed to “Six Types of King James Only - Are They All Extremists?” at A Nickels Worth Bible Reviews, by Tim Nickels.[i] Nickels labels 6 different King James Only positions. I don’t think he did a great job. However, (1) I find it to be more honest than the 5-part categorization of James R. White; and (2) I find it interesting that someone of his ilk chose not to regurgitate White’s categories (many or most of them do). He has apparently put some of his own thought into it.[ii]

I took the liberty of summarizing (below) the six categories created by Nickels.

Six Types of King James Only, by Tim Nickels.

• 1. King James preferential. They prefer the King James because of its history, beauty, and language. They believe it is a superior English translation and like it above all others.
• 2. King James superior. They believe that the King James translation philosophy and textual source (Masoretic and TR) are superior; they do not claim it is the only inspired English translation.
• 3. King James exclusive. They believe that the King James is the only translation that should be used for an English-speaking audience; they believe that the modern translations are corrupt and that they are based off corrupted sources.
• 4. King James inspiration. They believe that the King James is not just a faithful translation but the translation process itself was inspired (so we have double inspiration – m the inspiration of the original languages and the inspiration of the English translation).
• 5. King James inerrancy. They believe that the King James is the only inerrant and perfect word of God. The King James is even better than the original languages because the KJV translators were inspired (one can therefore use the King James to correct the Greek and Hebrew).
• 6. King James extremist. They believe that the King James is the only legitimate Bible for all languages; that is, every language in the world needs to translate their Bibles from the King James Bible. Everything else is corrupt. Any deviation away from the King James is Satanic and corrupt. Some even claim someone cannot be saved apart from the King James Bible.

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[i] Tim Nickels is an ordained Assemblies of God minister, and the pastor of Lakeside Worship Center in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. 

[ii] I nevertheless see this as a fail. I know folks who hold positions like numbers one and two. The question is whether these should ever be called King James Only. For example, Confessional Bibliologists who hold the Bomberg/Ben Chayyim Hebrew and Textus Receptus Greek as authoritative, specifically deny that their position is King James Only, even though most of them tend to use only the King James Bible. To them it is not primarily about the translation, but especially about the original language texts.