But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. (Eph 5:3–4 KJV) What does "convenient" mean...
KJV
New International Reader’s Version and Evangelism
I run a weekly outreach ministry mainly attended by lower-income adults with low educational and reading levels. The KJVs they got who-knows-where are often unintelligible to them, but they seem to truly want to learn and understand. (They listen so much better than...
Excellent Insights on the KJV from Rod Decker at the Bible Faculty Leadership Summit
Too often the KJV as a translation has been credited with various forms of influence when it is really the biblical message—Scripture—that deserves the credit. The fact that there was no other commercially available translation for nearly three centuries and none that...
New Category: KJV
Over ten years ago, one of my God-given spiritual leaders said in a class that King James Onlyism is actively seeking converts and that, unfortunately, seeking peace by refusing to address the issue was not an option. Conflict was coming, and we needed to go on the...
Another Example of Language Change in the Last 400 Years: Punctuation
Three minutes ago I discovered another passage I had been misreading for years because I always thought of it in 400-year-old KJV language: As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he...
NASB Less Literal
Comparing Bible translations is a very complex matter. One small example: The New American Standard Bible is generally (and, I think, rightly) considered to be the most “literal” of major English Bible translations. (“Literal” is a notoriously tricky word that I won’t...
An Approximately 25-Year-Old Misunderstanding with 400-Year-Old Roots
Today I’m writing about the funny, interesting, and powerful story of Elijah for eighth graders. And just now—just now, after 25 years of being a Bible reader—I realized what the King James translators meant when they have Elijah say, “How long halt ye between two...
Another Verse in the KJV That Can Be Easily Misunderstood
A few years ago I turned on the TV (don’t ask why; I had no excuse) and flipped over to the Church Channel. There I beheld a white, 40-something charismatic preacher jumping around the stage before a wildly clapping and shouting audience. He read the following verse...
Two Questions for KJVOs
1. Has anyone else noticed that the standard language in the doctrinal statement of Crown College (and the approximately 130 other churches and ministries that use it verbatim) is inherently contradictory? "The King James Version of the Bible is the only English...
Another Problematic KJV Rendering
“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” All modern translations render that last phrase with another word: “who suppress the truth.” In contemporary English, to “hold the...
Zeal-of-the-Land Busy
I’m still reading God’s Secretaries, and I’ve arrived at a section in which Nicolson details the umpteen rules the KJV translators were supposed to follow. The second is this: 2. The names of the Profyts and the holie Wryters, with the other Names in the text to be...
Lane Dennis, the ESV, and the Internet Age
Once upon a time, I was preaching as a special youth speaker in a church in the South. It was my fourth or fifth time there. The pastor was KJV-Only, and I knew this, so I converted all the ESV quotations in my sermon to KJV quotations. I was preaching from my...