"He's our God too." These four simple words adorned an advert I once saw appealing for help to translate the Bible into languages which, as yet, do not have a Bible. This ad was never intended as an argument against the King James Only movement, but it does work very well as one.
As a Christian, I have absolutely no issue with the King James Version. The KJV is a good translation. It is one I have used before, and even I was once briefly convinced by the KJVO movement. Indeed, the Bible you see in the header image is the one I obtained as a result of being convinced of this, and to this day, it is the one that sits beside me as I sleep. And you may notice that many articles on Bible Brain continue to use the KJV primarily. The KJV is a good translation.
It is not, however, perfect. Due to the very nature of the English language, no translation could be. Our language just does not correspond perfectly to the originals, such that a truly perfect translation would be unintelligible. The problem is, for many English speakers, and especially for those who speak English as a second language, it already is.
Needless to say, the KJV uses a very different form of English than we do in normal conversation. In fact, the KJV uses words which, in our time, have changed meaning, and even words which have since fallen out of use. There is even one word used by the KJV which, while it was perfectly normal back then, is now considered a swear word. Ironically, this means one could even make the argument that the King James Version crosses the threshold from a good translation to a sinful one. Not that I ever would, but I wouldn't be able to provide a good counter argument if someone did.
The antiquated language of the KJV means that, while it is ok for some, it is actually a hindrance to others. I've known people who can't even read it, and while I have been able to in the past, I have found that, over time, my own ability to understand it has actually declined. And so we must ask the question of which is more important: The words, or the meaning they hold?
To answer this, we can go to the KJV itself. The New Testament has a number of quotations from the Old Testament. Some are written as a part of the book, others are records of a biblical figure, including Christ Himself, speaking. And yet, what we find is that whenever these quotes are found, the KJV never has them word for word identical. Let us use just a few examples from the Lord's own mouth:
- Matthew 4:7: Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
- Deuteronomy 6:16: ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Here, KJV Jesus "changed" "ye" to "thou", "shall" to "shalt" and "your" to thy.
- Matthew 4:4: But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
- Deuteronomy 8:3: And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
Here, KJV Jesus "changed" "doth" to "shall", "only" to "alone", and "the Lord" to "God".
- Matthew 4:10: Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
- Deuteronomy 6:13: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name.
Here, KJV Jesus "changed" "fear" to "worship", and changed "and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name" to "and him only shalt thou serve".
So not even Jesus, when saying "it is written", used the exact words that are written. There are a number of reasons KJV New Testament quotes of the Old Testament could be inexact, but the point is, even in the KJV, what words mean is more important than what they say. This is because God is trying to communicate with man. If He didn't want us to know what the Bible means, He could have just flat out forbidden translations. "No, you don't get to change my words. You either learn Hebrew, or you don't get my faith." This would not have been hard. But as it stands, Christianity is a faith for all people at all times. If you're an English speaker, God wants to know you as much as a Hebrew, as much as a Japanese person, as much as a member of some isolated tribe on some island somewhere. God wants to know you, and He wants you to know Him. Therefore, if a more modern translation is clearer to you, that is the translation you should use. If the KJV is clearer for you, that is the translation you should use.
Ultimately, the translation you use will not affect your theology. In fact, if you ask a KJV Only advocate to point to just one spiritual problem you will have if you don't use the KJV, the only answer they will ever give is that you don't use the KJV. Contrary to their assertions, the KJV isn't even the only translation, or even the best, that portrays the deity of Christ. When I got saved, I was gifted an NIV. The "Not Inspired Version". The "gay" translation. I was a new believer, I was gay, yet while I was still using the NIV, I went from being a gay liberal to a penitent, faithful Christian. This shows that doctrinal issues do not come from the translation, but from the heart. If you study the NIV cover to cover, you will come up with the exact same theology as you would if you used the KJV. Or the NKJV. Or the HCSB. Or the ESV. Switch translations once a year, the greatest hindrance you will encounter is when you go to look up a verse, you'll remember the specific phrasing in one translation, so it won't show up when you search the others. Even then, you have Google. Type in the verse you're familiar with, Google will spit out the reference, and then when you search that verse on a comparison site, you will find it has different wording, but identical meaning, in all of them.
God does not care which Bible you read. As long as it is a translation, not a re-write like the NWT, that's His word, communicated to you. Study the word, make sure you're connected to some form of church (ideally a local congregation), and always, always pray. Following this advice, there is no spiritual issue you will encounter that the KJV is uniquely qualified to help you with.