What about the KJV?

My local church uses the KJV, and I preach from the KJV, and I believe the KJV is the Word of God, so this blog is not an attack on the KJV, but a blog on weak arguments I have heard used by man to defend the KJV against other English translations. 

I have heard arguments from people defended the KJV, but when you use the same argument with the KJV, their arguments are not seen to hold water. If people want to defend the KJV, believing it is the Bible to use, they need to be careful not to use double standards. 

For example, in 1Tim 3:16, the KJV says, God was manifested in the flesh, but in the NIV says, He appeared in the flesh, and the ESV says, He was manifested. 

The argument is that the modern translations are attacking the divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ in this verse. But is that true?

First of all, the reason they translate He and not God is because they are translating from a Greek manuscript which says He, and not God. The KJV using a different Greek manuscript, which says God, and not He.

Secondly, let us use the same argument against the KJV. In John 1:18, the ESV says, No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. The NIV says, No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. The KJV says, No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

The same argument used for 1Tim 3:16 against the NIV and ESV attacking the divine nature of Jesus can be used against KJV in John 1:18, because the NIV and ESV uses God referring to Jesus, but in the KJV they do not.

Again, the reason the NIV and ESV translate one way, and the KJV another way in John 1:18 is because they use different Greek manuscripts.

This is one argument that doesnt stand, but falls. The NIV and the ESV are not attempting to hide that God manifested in the flesh because in John 1:14, the NIV says, The Word became flesh, and the ESV says, And the Word became flesh. John 1:1 in the NIV and ESV says, and the Word was God. 

The same for the KJV, the KJV is not trying to attack the divine nature of Jesus in John 1:18, because in John 1:1 the KJV says, and the Word was God, and in John 1:14 says, And the Word was made flesh, and in 1Tim 3:16 says, God was manifested in the flesh.

If you want to show the KJV is correctly translated in these verses and other verses, and other issues, be careful you do not use double standards, and do not forgot the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, because they are important to build up a good case for the KJV, if the KJV is translated correctly in whatever verse(s) you are looking at.

Finally, always remember, if you are a KJV only user, there are many true Christians who use a different Bible translation, like the NIV, ESV and LITV, and Jesus loves them too. 

Atheist and their denial

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27 KJV

An atheist has not faced up to the reality of death and deceive themselves to believe that once you die, that is it, and there is no judgment.

Every person who calls themselves an atheist knows there is a God, but convince themselves there is no God, to deceive themselves to not face up to the reality there is a God, a Holy God they are accountable to for the words they speak, the thoughts they think, and the deeds they work.

An atheist has pleasure in unrighteousness, and to admit they are accountable to God is abhorrent to them, because it means they are accountable to God by His standard (His Law) that opposes their lifestyle, and makes them guilty before their Creator, so they deny God, so they can set their own standard, a standard that allows them and says it is ok to have pleasure in sin, and no God to face in judgment.

But the truth of the matter is they are accountable to God, and simply convincing yourself there is no God, does not take away the reality of the judgment to come. Their atheism cannot and will not change the truth of God and His judgment.

Deconstructionism?

Deconstructionism teaches you can never know the meaning of any written text, but it is whatever it means to you. Obviously, deconstructionism is nonsense.

Deconstructionism can be easily refuted. Take a book written by a deconstructionist, and say that the writer means that the teaching of deconstructionism is wrong, which means deconstructionist are wrong, but the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God, and the only way to heaven is through The Lord Jesus Christ, and without Jesus, the only place a person can go to is hell. If they disagree, they contradict themselves.

Receiving and Rejecting!

Why do some people receive the gift of salvation, and other people do not? You may ask, Why did I receive salvation and why does so and so  reject salvation?

The reason why salvation is received through the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished Work is because of God; For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9kjv) It says in Jonah 1:9, Salvation is of the LORD.

The reason why salvation is rejected through the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished Work is because of man. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God (Romans 3:10-11kjv). All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; (Isaiah 53:6kjv).

So we can see clearly, 1. A person receives salvation through the Lord Jesus, not because he or she is better than those of reject salvation through the Lord Jesus, but because of God and His Amazing grace! God turns a rebellious sinner into a new man in the Lord Jesus. 2. A person who rejects salvation through the Lord Jesus, rejects Him because it is their nature to do so, having an evil heart (rebellious sinner), rather have pleasure in unrighteousness, than the truth.

If you are saved, remember that before we were saved, we rejected Jesus, just like many do today, but God saved us by His grace, otherwise if God did not save us by His grace, you and I would still be rejecting Christ, heading towards an eternity, where we would be lost forever!

Efficiency of Christ's Death!

In the Bible, there are scriptures that speak of the efficiency of Christ's death.

For example, John 10:11, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. It is very clear that Christ gave His life for the sheep. The sheep are everyone who will believe (the believing ones), because in John 10:26, Jesus said to unbelievers, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 

Another scripture would be Romans 8:32, When in the context of these verses, God speaks of believers (elect), when He says, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.

Even in John 3:16, it is the whosoever (the believing ones) who will be saved.

Christ's death is efficient only for the believing ones. Christ secured the salvation for all the believing ones on the cross, because the believing ones are the only ones who will receive salvation by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in Him to save them by His death, burial and resurrection.

The Inspiration of God

In 2Timothy 3:16, we see the words "inspiration of God". In the Greek text, it is the word "Theopnestos" and means literally "Divinely breathed". Theo is the word for God, and pneo is the word for breathe, or breathed out. The word pneo is used 7 times in the New Testament and is used in connection with the wind physically, which breathes i.e. blows like one who breathes outwardly.

Interestingly, the word for the Spirit in the NT is pneuma, the same word used for the wind. Even in the OT, the Hebrew word "rucha" is the word for Spirit and for the wind.

Even the Lord Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about the Spirit in connection with the wind in John 3:8. The Lord Jesus said, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit'. (KJV) Jesus speaks of the operations of the Holy Spirit compared to the wind.

Jesus did that on many occasions. He used the physical to explain the spiritual, like we see with the parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. So just as the wind moves physically to do and accomplish its work, the Spirit moves in a spiritual way to accomplish His Work, and the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit moved on men to write down the Word of God.

In 2Peter 1:20-21 (KJV), it speaks that 'Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost'.

We see the same in John 14:26 when Jesus promised the Holy Spirit when He went to be with the Father after His resurrection, Jesus said, 'But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and brings all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you'. (KJV) The author of scripture is the Holy Spirit; it originated from God and not from man.

The word "moved" in 2Peter 1:21 is a sea-faring term that describes the effects of the wind upon a ship as it blows against its sails and moves it through the water. In the same way, the Holy Spirit moved on the Biblical writers to produce the Word of God in the language of man. The pen men of whom the Spirit of God moved upon understood they were penning God's Word and did with assurance and with authority. In 2Peter 3:15-16 Peter recognised that Paul's epistles were scripture. The reason Paul confidently wrote, 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God'.  The OT and NT (the Bible) is the literal breathe of God.

Definite Sanctification

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: (Jude 1KJV)

The word 'sanctified' here in Jude 1 is in the perfect participle in the Greek, which means that it is a completed action in the past, with present effects. It refers to definite (complete) sanctification and not progressive sanctification. When a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are set apart for God's exclusive use and unique service.

Let me give some examples from the Bible to clearly show what the word 'sanctified' means in this verse. In the Book of Genesis 2:3, when God created in six days, and He rested on the seventh. The seventh day was sanctified (set apart) from the other days because God has rested from His Work. Then we see in the book of Exodus, when God gave the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, God gave a commandment to keep the Sabbath Day holy, which means to sanctify the Sabbath Day, to set apart from the other six days. They were to do their work on six days, but set apart the Sabbath Day, and do no work. It was to be set apart from the other days.

Another example would be the Tabernacle and the furniture. God's Tabernacle and its furniture in the Old Testament was sanctified, set apart as the place of God's presence and for worship. The Tabernacle and its furniture were set apart for God, not like other tabernacles and furniture.

When we come to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, He was sanctified by God the Father as the Christ, the Anointed One. Jesus was set apart for the Father's exclusive use and purposes. The Book of Isaiah calls Him, 'The Suffering Servant'. Christ came to do His Father's will. He was set apart to be the Saviour of the World.

So just like the Sabbath Day was sanctified, the tabernacle and its furniture, and the Lord Jesus Christ was sanctified, believers have been sanctified for God's exclusive use and unique service, not just for one day (the Lord's Day) but for every day. Believers have been set apart by God for Him.

Now understand that Jude is not speaking about sinless perfection, or having complete sanctification, in the sense of no longer able to sin, but Jude speaks here about our position that God has placed us in, positionally set apart in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Every true believer has been born again in Christ Jesus, born from above, has been sanctified by God the Father. Every believer has moved from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light; from the kingdom of the devil to the everlasting kingdom of Christ. The Bible says a true believer is a new creation in Christ (2Cor. 5:17). This is the reason that all true believers can say, 'I am sanctified in Christ', which speaks of passed sanctification, positionally set apart.

Here is one more example- When a man and a woman get married and become husband and wife, they are set apart for his or her exclusive use and purpose as a husband or as a wife, completely, wholly and totally. The same with our Lord, believers have been set apart for Him, and not for this world. The Church (who is the Bride) has been set apart for the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Bride-Groom.