AN AVID KJV DEFENDER'S STATEMENTS THAT DESERVE PONDERING

TORCH EDITOR: The following is taken from THE FUNDAMENTALIST DIGEST. The editor is DR. DON JASMIN.

Dr. Edward F. Hills was an ardent defender of the KJV. His book entitled The King James Version Defended is a classic treatise on the Bible preservation issue.

Hills also authored a second lesser known volume defending the TR and the KJV entitled Believing Bible Study (1967, 1977) in which he delineates additional valuable insights concerning the Bible text issue. The writer is printing a few excerpt gems from his resourceful book along with the subtitles as Hills gave them.

The History Of The New Testament Text: A Battle Between Christ And Satan

"When we received the Traditional New Testament as the true text, then we see the history of the New Testament text as a great battle between Christ and Satan. Always Satan has been corrupting and mutilating the true text. Always Christ has been preserving it through the guidance of His all-governing providence.

And this battle is growing right now. As Bible-believing Christians therefore, we follow every detail of this long conflict with intense interest and gladly volunteer to fight this good fight of faith with all our might in our own day and age (2 Timothy 2:3)" Page 33

The Bible Versions And The Logic Of Faith

"During the past century, many translations of the New Testament into English have been published. The first two, the English Revised Version (188) and the American Standard Version (1901) versions, were done in the style of the King James (Authorized) version, but afterwards modern English was used.

Some of the best known versions are as follows: Weymouth's (1902), 29th Century (1904), Moffett's (1913), Goodspeed's (1923), Williams (1937), Berkeley (1945), Revised Standard Version (1946), Phillips (1952-58), Amplified (1948), New American Standard (1960), New English Bible (1961), Living Bible (1962-67), Beck's (1963), Today's English Version (1966), Jerusalem Bible (1966) New American Bible (1970), New International (1973).

The avowed purpose of all these new versions, especially those in modern speech, is to encourage young people and new converts to read and study the Bible. Our contemporary teenagers, it is said, who spend most of their time watching TV and listening to albums of rock and roll, are certainly not going to be interested in a Bible written in the language of the old King James.

Hence, if you wish to make any progress in winning your people to Christ, the first thing to do is to put your King James [Authorized] Version in the attic and go out and buy yourself a modern-speech version, preferable one of the latest. Then you may be able to make converts and get them really interested in studying the Bible.

This is a plausible argument, almost invincible at first sight. But the facts have proved it false. Modern-speech versions do not promote an interest in Bible study among young people Ä or old people either, for that matter. Never since the Reformation has there been a time in which the Bible has been less read and studied among Christians than today.

Family worship and Bible reading have become a rarity even in professedly Christian homes. Memorization of Scripture is also largely a thing of the past. Even converts read the Bible much less than they used to.

The Scripture verses which once interlaced their testimonies are now absent, and one senses that they have never been brought face to face with the authoritative Word of God. In fact, it is only among the readers of the King James Version that due love and reverence for God's Word may be found. (Bold added by Torch editor)

Far from promoting an interest in believing Bible study among young people, these modern versions are much more likely to spread doubt and unbelief. For they all rest upon a foundation of naturalistic New Testament textual criticism which ignores or denies the providential preservation of the holy Scriptures and treats the text of the New Testament like the text of any other book.

Hence, it is inconsistent for us orthodox Christians who say that we believe in the providential preservation of the Scriptures to use these modern versions that ignore or deny the providential preservation of the Scriptures.

But if we go ahead and do this anyway, then God will punish us with loss of faith in the New Testament text. For if we ignore the providential preservation of Scripture, then we can be no more sure of the text than of the text of any other book.

And this skepticism will grow and eat away like a cancer until our whole Christian faith is well nigh gone. For since we no longer believe in the providential preservation of the New Testament, how can we believe in the infallible inspiration of the original New Testament manuscripts?

For why would God infallibly inspire those original manuscripts if He did not intend to preserve their texts by His special providence down through the ages?

And if the writers of these original manuscripts were not infallibly inspired, how can we be sure that their record is true? How can we be sure that Jesus really said what these New Testament writers represent Him as saying? How can we be sure that Jesus really was the Son of God?

Such is the logic of unbelief which begins with the use of these modern-speech New Testament versions and ends in complete uncertainty about everything.

The tendency therefore of modern versions is not to encourage Bible study among young Christians and new converts, but rather to lead them away from the Bible by introducing them to the logic of unbelief.

Hence if we wish to interest young people Ä and also older people Ä to the study of the Bible, we must do just the opposite. We must instruct them in the logic of faith and then show them how this logic leads them safely and surely to the true Bible text" (pp. 54-55).

The King James Version Å The Only Authoritative English Bible

"Of all the English Bibles now in print, only the KJV is founded on the logic of faith. Therefore, only the KJV can be preached authoritatively and studied believingly. Many conservative Christians deny this.

They try to use their modern English versions in the same way that believing Bible students use the KJV. But the logic of the situation soon asserts itself and makes this impossible.

For all these modern versions are founded on a naturalistic New Testament textual criticism which ignores or denies the special providential preservation of the holy Scriptures. Hence if you use these modern versions, you never can be sure that you have the true New Testament text.

Even worse, you cannot be sure that the original N.T. scriptures were infallibly inspired. For if God has not preserved these Scriptures down through the ages by His special providence, why would He have infallibly inspired them in the first place? (Bold added by Torch Editor)

How can you be sure that you have the true New Testament text? Only by beginning your thinking with Christ and proceeding according to the logic of faith. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). If you are a born-again believer, the Holy Spirit bears witness in your heart that this Gospel message is true and that you are a child of God (Romans 8:16).

Therefore, because the Gospel message is true and because our salvation depends on our knowledge of Christ and our faith in Him, God must have left us an infallibly inspired record teaching us who Christ is and how to believe on Him.

Therefore, the Bible is God's infallibly inspired Word which has been preserved by God's special providence down through the ages. And the Bible must have been preserved not secretly in holes and caves but publicly in the usage of the Church, the Old Testament through the Old Testament priesthood and the new Testament through the New Testament priesthood, namely, the universal priesthood of believers.

And the providential preservation of the Scriptures did not cease with the invention of printing. For why would God watch over the New Testament text at one time and not at another time, before the inventing of printing, but not afterward? Hence, the formation of the Textus Receptus was God-guided.

The Textus Receptus, therefore, is a trustworthy reproduction of the infallibly inspired original New Testament text and is authoritative. And so is the KJV and all other faithful [foreign language] translations of the Textus Receptus (p. 88).

Questions To The Reader: Do You Or Don't You?

Reader, do you or don't you believe in the special, providential preservation of the Holy Scriptures? If you don't believe in the special providential preservation of the Scriptures, how can you believe in the infallible inspiration of the Scriptures. For why would God infallibly inspire the Scriptures if He did not intend to preserve them by His special providence?

If you do believe in the special providential preservation of the Scriptures, then how was this preservation affected? Were the Scriptures preserved secretly in holes and caves or on forgotten library shelves, or were they preserved in a public way in the usage of Christ's Church?

If the true text was preserved in the usage of the Church, did this special, providential preservation cease with the invention of printing? Does God preserve the holy Scriptures at some times but not at other times?

If the special, providential preservation of the Scriptures did not cease with the invention of printing, was the formation of the Textus Receptus providentially guided? If not, what printed N.T. text would you say was providentially guided?

If the formation of the Textus Receptus was providentially guided, which is most pleasing to God, the King James Version, which is faithful to the Textus Receptus, or modern versions, which reject the Textus Receptus?

Such is the six point argument which we ought to memorize, or at least have in readiness, for use against inconsistent brethren who are trying to carry water on both shoulders. Christians, that is to say, who want to be orthodox and yet at the same time use modern Bible versions which are founded on naturalistic N.T. textual criticism? (p. 88). †

THE FUNDAMENTALIST DIGEST ADDRESS: P.O. Box 2322, Elkton, MD 2122-2322. Phone: (410) 392-4569. Subscription rate: $10.00 yearly. Make checks to: DR. DON JASMIN.

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