Before I was a Christian, I had people witness to me in various ways. One of those ways was by handing me tracts. Some tracts were okay and then there were Chick tracts. First, I want to say that I am sure there are people that have become followers of Jesus by reading Chick tracts. If nothing else, they are good for making people think. However, they did not do much for me except to make Christianity look a bit less attractive.
I was recently given a Chick tract called “No Liars in Heaven.” You can find out more information about the author here. Although the tract itself never mentions the King James Version, it is basically an argument for KJV and against newer translations. I have no desire to attack other Christians and it does not bother me that some people prefer the KJV. It is a beautiful translation after all. However, I do have an interest in the truth and I want to put some thoughts out there.
The basic idea is that some of the newer Bibles are missing some of the words or even verses that are in some other Bibles. That statement by itself is correct. The question is: Why? In the tract there are some pictures of some mischievous looking publishers with the statement: “Publishers have been quietly removing words out of Bibles for years.” The impression that is given is that modern Bible publishers have been trying to undermine important doctrines and so have been removing some relevant passages. This is serious business. The statement is made: “God will judge those who deliberately dishonor and ignore His warnings. They hated His words and rewrote them.” The idea is that these modern Bible translators will suffer severe punishment (hell, I am assuming) for what they have done.
An important part of this tract is the three biblical warnings about tampering with God’s Word.
“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32 KJV)
“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5–6 KJV)
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18–19 KJV)
Now it could be argued that plenty has been added after at least the first two of these warnings: entire books and even a New Testament. But let us assume for a moment that these warnings are about not tampering with the final canonized text (I actually believe that the Deut. passage is specifically about the Torah and the Rev. passage about that particular revelation). This tract is suggesting that passages that are missing are violations against these commands. Fair enough, I would agree that we must not take away from God’s revealed and inspired Word.
But what about the adding to the Word? All three passages warn against additions and Proverbs actually only mentions additions. If we are going to take these warnings seriously, we would want to make sure nothing has been added. The point is not to have the longest possible Bible, but to have the most accurate Bible, to have the Bible closest to that which was originally written and inspired.
If we are going to do this, where do we start? I will tell you where we don’t start and that is the KJV. Proper method is not to compare with the KJV and then condemn every difference. I understand why this would be attractive. For English speakers, the KJV Bible is the oldest Bible they have access to (not that the KJV was the first English Bible) and instinctively we know we should compare our modern versions with the oldest possible Bible. However, 1611 is not near far back enough.
If we are going to find out what the original Bible said, we need to go back to the oldest Greek manuscripts. Of course none of us can afford to handle them ourselves, nor do we have the knowledge of Greek. However, even with minimal Greek you can have access to the tools to do this for yourselves. Get a copy of the Greek New Testament (USB 4th ed.) with apparatus. Do not rely on a copy of the Textus Receptus. Not because I disagree with the text but because that Greek text only uses a very small number of Greek manuscripts, whereas the USB takes into account a much greater number of manuscripts, many of which are far older than that represented in the TR.
It is good for us to notice when there is a word or even a verse missing from a passage. When we do, we should look it up in the Greek New Testament. When we look to the apparatus (the notes at the bottom of the page), we can find the variant readings. The apparatus will tell us how confident we can be with the suggested reading as well as listing the manuscripts that have each of the readings. We can easily check the dates of each manuscript and discover what is the earliest reading. You do not have to be fluent in Greek to do this, even the basics of Greek vocabulary will allow you to do this. If you have no Greek at all, perhaps it would be good to wait on condemning Bible versions until you have acquired the necessary skills.
The bottom line is that the measure of whether a verse has been added or left out of the Bible is not how it compares to the KJV but how it compares with the oldest Greek text. Have publishers been trying to change the biblical text for theological reasons? In a few cases (such as the New World Translation) perhaps, but in general publishers are trying to keep our English translations in line with our increasing knowledge of Greek manuscripts. While I am thankful for the zeal of my KJV only friends, I believe we should put our focus on defending the truth rather than the KJV.
