Few things will rally (and sometimes rile) good brothers on every side as quickly as a new post about the King James Version. This week, I was reminded of that with the release of the article “Pleading for the Plowboy.” If you haven’t read it, you can do so here. Would you consider my thoughts regarding the article and the varied responses? Here they are:
- Some do hold to an extreme position.
They will NEVER change. They will likely separate from those who don’t hold their position. They will consider any version other than the KJV to be apostate. In fact, after I shared the above article this week, one brother posted that very statement Some even believe that unless you were saved from the King James Version, you aren’t truly saved, because it is the “incorruptible seed” of 1 Peter 1:23. Others believe that the King James translators were doing Divine work equal to the work of the “holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (see 2 Peter 1:21). I have one friend who even teaches that “translations are superior to the Originals,” citing the use of the word “translated” in Colossians 1:13 and Hebrews 11:5 along with the illustration that occurred in Jeremiah 36:27-32. Of course, he only believes this in relation to the King James Version. Some positions are just more extreme than others, but they are increasingly the exception and not the rule..
- Many hold to a variety of “lesser” positions.
Most pastors, I think, are somewhere in this group and are literally “all over the place” in their views. One of my friends, who has written extensively about the issue, this week called himself “King James CONVINCED but not King James CRAZY.” Another called himself “King James ONLY but not King James UGLY.” Another friend jokes that there are at least 32 positional degrees when it comes to this matter. He may be right! Some believe the KJV is THE ONLY; others believe it is THE BEST. Some believe it is IRREPLACEABLE; others believe it could be REVISED. In this last group (the “could be revised” one), there are still more views. Some acknowledge that it COULD be revised, but simultaneously contend that it SHOULDN’T be. Others acknowledge that it COULD be, but that it WON’T be, citing a plethora of different reasons (King James and the Anglical Translators were the pinnacle of translation ability, 1611 English is superior to modern English, and so forth). There are others who will acknowledge that the KJV COULD be revised, but quickly add that they don’t EXPECT it to be. Others believe it SHOULD be revised and would gladly use a 2025 or 2026 Revision. Some would want to keep the current pronouns and others to modernize them. Of course, there are many who also believe the revision has already been done (in the NKJV, MEV, and the KJ21, for instance). My point is this: it is simply undeniable that positions vary greatly within the IFB world.
- It is important how we respond to each other in this matter.
In my opinion, we can give incredible leeway. For instance, there are many, very Godly men, who are KJV-only, love God and His Word, and are kind, gentle, and as gracious as can be. They hold to their position and aren’t likely to change. One can “forbear them in love” and should (Ephesians 4:1-3). After all, “charity thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5), and “by this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). On the other hand, there are dozens of men who are Independent Baptist Fundamentalists, like the author of the article referenced above, who take a more open position regarding translations. These are Godly men who love the Lord. They are IFB to the core and would die for the Word of God. They would go to jail with me and you for the cause of Christ. They believe in Inspiration and Inerrancy. They believe God has preserved His Word even though their application in some way disagrees with the view of others. Surely we can give them grace too. We can simultaneously state our positions and our love for good brothers. We can discuss our positions without assuming that good brothers have become apostate and are leaving the faith. We can recognize that ech of us take varying positions on any number of doctrines and applications. We can even allow men in our “camp” to do so without separating from them. Brothers and sisters, I believe we can. I pray we will.
- There are men who are liberal and we should confront them, warn others about them, and even separate from them.
I am referring to those who do not believe that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), who do not believe that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21), who do not believe in the miracles recorded in the Bible, and who reject the essentials of the faith. These are unbelieving and apostate. We should confront them, warn others about their false doctrine, and separate from them. I am not referring to these in the points listed above.
5. We should make every effort to give those inside our movement the leniency we give to those outside.
Most will at least occassionally partner in some way with ministries and men that are not KJV. This shows up in the books found in our libraries and in our homes. It shows up in our promotion of and visits to ministries like The Creation Museum and The Ark Encounter. It shows up in our support of “legal” ministries and pregnancy centers, support that often comes through our missions dollars. These are good ministries, serve good causes, and are worthy of our support. It even shows up in the preachers we refer to as “favorites” — men like Adrian Rogers, for instance, who was both Southern Baptist and open to modern versions. I am not declaring that any of these ministries are right in every way! I am just saying that we are willing to acknowledge our differences and still visit them, support them, respect them, and use their resources. I gently suggest that we should be just as kind and gracious to those in our own group who take varying positions as well. After all, they are almost identical to us and are laboring beside us in the harvest!
Can I venture to make one more suggestion? I believe that we are damaging many young men who are considering their position on this matter. They aren’t liberal, but are open to more variance on the translation issue. If the IFB world cuts them off, cancels them, removes them from fellowship, accuses them of apostasy, refuses to support them, and otherwise ostracizes them, they will by default go where they can practice the autonomy of the local church and soul liberty – truths they were first taught in our churches and later in our colleges.
Let’s pray about this. Let’s think this through. Let’s dialogue honestly and openly without fear of religious politics and cancel culture. Above all, let’s give grace and love to good brothers and sisters who hold to a different application.
Thanks for reading.
Every blessing!
Your sincere friend,
Dave Young
Pastor/Evangelist Dave Young 
Thankyou brother! Great Response
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I love the KJV, and came into the “camp” on my own. I will say, however, that preaching through an interpreter to Spanish speaking people opened my eyes to how much time I spend “explaining the English” when I preach! And in interacting with my peers who also preach from KJV, I don’t expect the men in my generation will be very militant in this area. I appreciate the insights!
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As you already know, I appreciate you and especially the way you handle this issue.
When I was a KJV onlyist, and later KJV preferred, I enjoyed talking about it to people who disagreed with me (most Christians!) if they were civil.
Now as someone who is neither only or preferred I enjoy talking about this to Christians who are if they are civil.
I think people who love the gospel, love the Bible, and especially love exposition have a lot of common ground to discuss this. Those that cannot discuss it civilly and be honest (especially about the obvious challenge in readability) will lose their influence over time.
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I’m hardly in the fundamentalist orbit anymore, though I still consider myself to be “adjacent”. The ploughboy article was well-reasoned, and I find myself in overall agreement with him. I have used the NKJV for years now for many of the reasons he details. I am comfortable being labelled a heretic for that, if someone feels the need to do so. I have one Master and only one, and it wouldn’t be the first time I was treated harshly by those who have been called to love as Christ loved. In our circles, we tend to be the church of Ephesus: so concerned with being right that we forget to love. I hope your words here find fertile soil in the hearts of those who read them.
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Thank you for writing this, brother!
Unfortunately I have been on both the giving and receiving end of attacks when it comes to this topic. I used to hold a very dogmatic KJVO position, and I resorted to ad hominem attacks when I felt like I was losing the debate. I look back on those immature responses I had and cringe.
Thankfully, my experience hasn’t been overwhelmingly negative, and men that disagree with me have been mostly loving and patient. It would be really easy for me to point at those instances where I was attacked or gossiped about, and become hyper-focused on those (because they do happen), but I’m thankful that there are guys out there who let love and unity prevail in spite of differences. As a result of that love and patience extended to me, I found it easy to stay grounded during a time when I was susceptible to a knee-jerk cynical attitude that was irrational.
But sometimes I see how other brothers who move away from an KJVO position are treated and think, “Well, no wonder they ran over to that group over there!” I’m not justifying that reaction, but let’s not scratch our heads and wonder why we’re losing young guys from our fellowships—it’s no mystery!
That’s why I especially appreciated where you said, “…they will by default go where they can practice the autonomy of the local church and soul liberty – truths they were first taught in our churches and later in our colleges.” I concur, 110%!
I know it hasn’t been the experience of everyone who has moved away from a KJVO position, but (in my experience) for every one nonsensical overreaction I’ve faced, there have been a dozen-or-so reasonable, or even encouraging interactions. It’s exhortations like this blog post that encourage the latter. Thank you again for this post!
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Thank you for writing this, brother! Unfortunately I have been on both the giving and receiving end of attacks when it comes to this topic. I used to hold a very dogmatic KJVO position, and I resorted to ad hominem attacks when I felt like I was losing the debate. I look back on those immature responses I had and cringe.
Thankfully, my experience hasn’t been overwhelmingly negative, and men that disagree with me have been mostly loving and patient. It would be really easy for me to point at those instances where I was attacked or gossiped about, and become hyper-focused on those (because they do happen), but I’m thankful that there are guys out there who let love and unity prevail in spite of differences. As a result of that love and patience extended to me, I found it easy to stay grounded during a time when I was susceptible to a knee-jerk cynical attitude that was irrational.
But sometimes I see how other brothers who move away from an KJVO position are treated and think, “Well, no wonder they ran over to that group over there!” I’m not justifying that reaction, but let’s not scratch our heads and wonder why we’re losing young guys from our fellowships—it’s no mystery!
That’s why I especially appreciated where you said, “…they will by default go where they can practice the autonomy of the local church and soul liberty – truths they were first taught in our churches and later in our colleges.” I concur, 110%!
I know it hasn’t been the experience of everyone who has moved away from a KJVO position, but (in my experience) for every one nonsensical overreaction I’ve faced, there have been a dozen-or-so reasonable, or even encouraging interactions. It’s exhortations like this blog post that encourage the latter. Thank you again for this post!
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Absolutely spot on, brother.
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Thank you for having the courage to write this honest and well-thought-out article and for the biblical reminder about how we should be treating our brothers and sisters of like faith who have differing views on this non essential issue.
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Hello Nathan, Thanks for your kind words. I appreciate you calling it “courage.” Others would say it is foolish, unwise, a waste of time, and so forth. :). Paul writes to the church at Corinth that if I “have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” For me, I believe this verse applies even to my brothers who differ from me in their applications of this issue.
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Well said brother! So important to be Spirit led verses being movement led!
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Hey Mark, thanks for the comment! Hope y’all are well.
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Thanks Dr. Young. I love an honest discussion about the topic. It is possible to be civil about a controversial matter.
I have said for years that there are four and only four positions on this subject. But it is best to think of what I am about to describe as a spectrum with boxes categories upon it. (Because everything is on a spectrum these days.)
The positions are:
Use It, Believe It
Use It, Don’t Believe It
Don’t Use It, Believe It
Don’t Use It, Don’t Believe It
Obviously, the extremes are in the first and last categories, but there can be folks of all kinds in all of these. There can be good people who don’t use and don’t believe, depending on how they do both.
This is not an exercise in judging the individuals, but a way to categorize them based on their approach to the subject
Know a hardcore Ruckmanite who believes in doubly inspiration? He’s in the first category, and probably on the extreme edge of it.
Know a conservative pastor who believes KJ is what we need to use but doesn’t take a stand in order not to run off church members or visitors who make have strong opinions otherwise? He’s in the second category. No judgment there. He’s doing what he feels he must to keep order and unity in his church.
James White doesn’t believe in the KJ’s superiority and doesn’t use it in his regular use. He’s in the last category, but he is a conservative in many respects. He believes in inspiration and preservation. He’s not a liberal or skeptic.
I do believe Dr. White is wrong on his approach in some areas. He’s got the wrong history on the rise of Islam. It couldn’t have prevented Alexandria readings from becoming mainstream. But I do appreciate that he tries to approach the issue intellectually with some respect to his opposition.
This categorization system has helped me a lot as I move within the spheres of greater fundamentalism and Christianity at large.
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Hello Josh, Thanks for your comments. That organization of “groupings” makes good sense.
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You are quite welcome, and I am very glad you like it. I’ve found it very helpful. The only thing that has been pointed out to me, as I may have hinted toward, is that you can group both positive and negative viewpoints in the same categories. People with both conservative and liberal approaches easily fit in the same box.
It’s not a problem per se. But it may appear as if some have common ground when in reality, they are at each other’s throats.
I find a lot of people, probably a 90% majority, are some shade of those two middle categories. I am even at a loss as to which of the two middle to list first. I see them more as complementary overlaps rather than positions on a sliding scale. I might need to draw up a chart to help illustrate it.
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Could you briefly clarify as to what these two translations are and if they come from the Textus Receptus? MEV, and the KJ21
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Hello Ms. Shelburne: The MEV is the Modern English Version that was produced a few years ago. It is a translation of the Textus Receptus (TR). Many of us have examined it, and although it is well-done in many places, it does have some areas where it needs to be revised. One revision has already taken place and some of these areas were addressed. Some yet need to be. If one is KJV only, this doesn’t change anything. If one is TR, then this is a translation that we can consider. The KJ21 is the 21st Century King James Version. It does not alter the language significantly from the King James Version. The author has eliminated “obsolete words”. The changes in words are based on the second edition of the Webster’s New International Dictionary. It has been interesting that many of those who called themselves TRonly rather than KJVonly rejected these two translations, often without any examination at all. Of course those who are KJVonly automatically rejected these, and that was to be expected. Does that answer your question?
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Wow. Yes, spot on. I hope many IFB leaders take your advice. Thanks for writing!
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