THE NEW KING JAMES “BIBLE”

How often do you read the label on some commodity which advises the supreme quality of the item and after purchase you find that what you have purchased is only somewhat similar to the promise of the label and not the same? Quite often, if your experience is that of the average consumer. The same false advertising can be said of the New King James Bible.

In the Preface of this Bible we customers are told, ”This principle of complete equivalence seeks to preserve all of the information in the text, while presenting it in good literary form.”. Notice the weak word “seeks”. Should there not be a determination in the effort for faithfulness rather then simply “seeking” the equivalent?

The failings in the NKJV text that arise from the “seeking” process or more probably from an inferior Greek that has been occasionally introduced resulting in the loss of the desired equivalence. This aberration can be found through a simple comparison of the New King James with the King James version.

(In light of the last thought, a note should be made that a member of the New King James Committee, Mr. Lewis Taylor, had also been a member of the New International Version Committee. The nature of people is to actively contribute to their cause whatever information their learning and experience has afforded them. Otherwise there would be no value derived from their past work and motives. If this reflection is true, we should be able to see some evidence in our work at hand, comparing texts. So, let us see as we keep in mind the principle of COMPLETE EQUIVALENCE”)

A FEW OF THE MANY CHANGES THAT ARE THE SAME AS THE NIV:

TEXT: KJV <> NKJV & NIV

Acts 3:13 his Son Jesus -&- His Servant Jesus

Acts 3:16 which is by him -&- which comes through Him (Removes source of

God’s work)

Acts 3:19 he shall send -&- He may send

Acts 4:9 made whole -&- made well

Acts 26:18 faith that is in me -&- faith in me

Romans 1:5 By whom ... received -&- Through Him ... received

Romans 1:16 power to every one -&- power for every one

Romans 3:22 faith of Jesus -&- faith in Jesus

Romans 5:5 Holy Ghost...is given to us -&- Holy Spirit...was given to us

Romans 5:11 Atonement -&- reconciliation

Romans 5:21 life by Jesus -&- life through Jesus (Jesus just an agent instead of

the-source)

Romans 6:16-17 servants -&- slaves

Romans 8:19 creature -&- creation

1 Corinthians 1:18 but unto us which are saved -&- but to us who are being

saved (Gradual Sanctification/salvation)

2 Corinthians 2:15 in them that are saved -&- among those who are being saved

(Gradual Sanctification/salvation)

Hebrews 2:11 they who are sanctified -&- those who are being sanctified

(Gradual Sanctification/salvation)

Hebrews 10:14 are sanctified -&- are being sanctified (Gradual

Sanctification/salvation)

(Notice Gradual Sanctification/Salvation in 2 Cor. & Hebrews)

The agreement between the New King James Version and the New International Version in this small sampling should convince the reader that these common changes must have come from a common source. This common source is the Westcott New Testament Greek, or the Nestles/Aland Greek which agrees with the United Bible Society, a society whose board has a dominance of Catholic members.

In this sampling (above) it is obvious that there is no “complete equivalence” as promised by the New King James Version Preface.

The worst we might expect to learn is that Jesus is not God, or at least not the ONLY god. So, let’s look at some evidence. In the Old Testament Jehovah is the name of God and so written in the KJV. In Is 6:3, Ps 83:18, Gen 22:14, Ex 17:15, Judges 6:24 of the NKJV Jehovah has become “Lord”. Now “Lord” does not carry the name of God, but rather a title given to one who has been selected by persons or a people to be honored and obeyed, whether a god or landlord. This title speaks nothing of the total triune power and headship of our God, (Father, Son and Holy Ghost). Jesus told us that He is the truth and that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth. To bolster this neglect of the power of God and His Name, the NKJV in 2John 1:1 indicates that “truth” is just as significant as “THE truth” as given in the KJV. Is there a difference here? Absolutely! There is only one truth as it relates to the faith of Christ, and it is that one truth in whom we relate eternally to one another as Christians.

This moves us to look at the faith itself. According to the KJV we have “the common faith”. In the NKJV at Titus 1:4, we find that the faith we trust is “our common faith”. The common faith is not of “us”, not OUR faith, but the faith of Christ; we live by the faith OF CHRIST, Gal 2:16. So, now we have a problem with the name of God, the truth of God and the faith of God as we read along in the NKJV.

According to Jesus Christ, those who endure to the end shall be saved, Mark 13:13. The NKJV agrees with this fact in Mark, but what about elsewhere? In Ephesians 2:8, the NKJV tells us that we “have been saved”. There is no element of endurance in this statement, no indication that we are still saved, just that at some time in the past we were saved. The KJV tells us that we “are” saved, that Christ has kept us until this day and we are presently by His grace saved through faith. Look also at Col. 3:1. The KJV says, “If ye then BE risen with Christ”, or if you are PRESENTLY risen with Christ. The NKJV says, “If then you WERE risen with Christ”. Here again we see the same problem with lack of endurance indicated with the NKJV. Other texts are, 1Pet. 1:23, KJV says “BEING born again” the NKJV says, “HAVING BEEN born again”; Col. 2:20, KJV, “if ye BE dead with Christ”’ the NKJV says, ”if you DIED with Christ”. The same wording is also found in Col. 3:5 and 2Tim. 2:11. In 1Tim. 6:12 the KJV says, “thou ART also called”, the NKJV says, “you WERE also called”. All these references show lack of a present, active relationship of the faith of Christ in our salvation, dying and rebirth, and calling. How can we depend upon something of the past to give us assurance in the present? Paul said that he “dies DAILY”; Jesus prays “give us this day our DAILY bread”, all indicating a continuing relationship.

Another important element of the faith is that there is only one true and eternal faith that Jesus Christ has provided for our salvation; He alone is savior of the world; there is no other. The NKJV in Mark 1:4 refers to THE baptism of repentance as “A” baptism. There is only one baptism of repentance, the one that Jesus received at the hands of John. To say it is “A” baptism implies that there are more such baptisms and that John picked out one that he thought to be appropriate. Also, look at Matthew 21:13. Jesus states that His Father’s house is THE house of prayer in the KJV. In the NKJV, however, it becomes “A” house of prayer. One might wish to say that there are plenty of “houses of prayer” and that this is one of them. Well, lets think a bit. Where was Jesus at the time? He was in the Temple, not some synagogue or lesser building. This was THE house of God, the house where God chose to meet with His people, where sacrifices were made for the sins of the people, where the Holy of Holies was, and all the furnishings necessary for the worship of God by His people. It was not “A” house of prayer; it was a very particular house, the House of God.

These evidences of inferior translation or text source should convince the reader that the NKJV is not what it is advertised to be, “complete equivalence” to the KJV. Without an in depth study the average Christian would not catch these heretical changes. What is given in this short paper is only a shadow of the whole problem. Nothing here has been said about the general word changes that have taken place in the NKJV. “Hell” is now “Hades”, “Holy Ghost” is now “Holy Spirit”; “Servants“ are now “Slaves“; the “Comforter“ has become “Helper“; end of the “world“ has become end of the “age“.

A very damaging word change is the word “fornication”. It has been changed to mean “sexual immorality” in the NKJV. Jesus states that there is only one cause for divorce and that is fornication (Matt. 5:32), meaning from the original use of the word, pre-marital intercourse. Since the source Greek word “pornea” has been changed since about 1948 to include adultery, now being mistranslated in modern Bibles, divorce for almost any reason has been rampant, with couples united as one before God rejecting their vows of “until death do ye part”.

The NKJV has only one selling point (so-called), easy reading. It is a strange thing to consider that English speaking peoples along with their children who having less education than modern America are able quite readily to understand the writing of the KJV and are prospering spiritually, and yet the hue and cry we hear from our educated folk in America is that the KJV is too hard to understand. The problem today is that everyone wants work removed from all their activities, including the Bible study necessary for the Saints’ spiritual endurance. As it is in the physical, so it is in the spiritual, “if anyone will not work, neither should he eat”. The Bible is our Spiritual food that must be worked like a garden if we are to eat of it. How fruitless it is to work a garden full of weeds and vermin, having no fertile ground for its support.

We know the power of advertising, and through this media the modern Bibles are being sold in huge numbers, prospering those who have produced, edited and marketed this profitable religious product to the detriment of the faithful and the lost alike. Are we who know the truth of these matters to be intimidated by those who support these “bibles”? The faithful are told to preach the Gospel of Christ, and when we know Him, we preach Him. To the discerning He is found in the text of the 1611 sourced King James Version of the Bible.

LET’S LOOK A LITTLE FURTHER

“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:10-14 KJV)

“And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:” (Ephesians 3:9 KJV)

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” (Colossians 1:15-16 KJV)

According to the Authorized King James Version of the Scriptures we read that Jesus is God and is the creator of all things. Now let’s look at what the New King James Version of the scripture says in these same verses.

Here we see that things were not made by Him, rather they were made through Him. This means that Jesus was a medium used by a higher power for the purpose of creation. So then Jesus is not God, but rather some agent of God. Notice that this is born out in more than a couple places. John 14:6; Acts 2:22; Ro 3:22; 5:10-12, 18, 21; 8:11; 1Cor 2:10, and many others.

From the above, we learn that the Jesus of the AV, KJV is God, and that from the New KJV Jesus is simply some kind of agent of a higher power that we shall call God. Either Jesus is the creator or He is not. Is Jesus the great “I AM” and if so how can we ever proclaim otherwise?

Satan is the enemy that weakens the church as well as our faith. Let us worship and serve the true Jesus as proclaimed in the still unaltered, higher standard, word of God, the KJV Holy Bible. How does your Bible compare?

The following are some significant comparisons using the King James Version against the New King James Version, claimed to be unaltered in meaning, but simplified in grammar for easier reading. Other modern versions are similar in offence, but the NKJV is supposed to be faithful to all the meaning of the text, a trap for the unsuspecting new Christian.

Do you see the change in verb tense? KJV says “we are”; NKJV says “we were”. As Christians, we die daily in Christ; our walk is a daily walk with Him. Also there is a difference in being ‘just as’ and ‘like as’. ‘Just as’ implies exactly equivalent; ‘like as’ implies a similarity. No one can live just as Jesus lived, but we can live like Him. See also, Ro 8:24; Eph 4:1,4,30

Here we see according to NKJV that Christ was not the creator, but an agent through whom creation was accomplished. This is not the only place this distortion is found; it involves many ministries of our Lord by His Word. See Romans 1:2; 1:5; 3:22; 5:2,11,12,16,17,......; Gal 1:1,12,15; 2:21; 3:19,26; 5:6,13. These are just a few.

We also find that according to the NKJV, we have to live through our own faith in God. We are saved by faith IN Christ, but we live as Christians by the faith of Christ who lives in us. (Gal 2:20) The (KJV) Holy Bible tells us we live by the faith of Christ: Ro. 3:22; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12; Phil 3:9; Col 2:12; James 2:1.

These are a few major, repeated corruptions found in the NKJV. There are also places where words like Christ, Lord, Hell and other key words are simply struck from God’s Word. Read again 2 Peter 2:1, above, and see what awaits those who corrupt God’s Word.

“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 AV

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4 AV

NKJV Removes “CHRIST” out of the BIBLE in these verses: Mk 13:6, Lk 21:8

NKJV Removes “HELL” out of the BIBLE in these verses:

Matthew 11:23, Matthew 16:18, Luke 10:15, Acts 2:31, Revelation 1:18,

Revelation 6:8, Revelation 20:13, Revelation 20:14

NKJV Removes “DAMNATION” out of the BIBLE in these verses:

Matthew 23:33, Mark 3:29, Mark 12:40, John 5:29, Romans 13:2, 1 Cor. 11:29

NKJV Promotes Divorce in these verses by expanding the legitimate grounds for divorce to include “Sexual Immorality” whereas Jesus limited divorce to “Fornication” only as correctly stated in the KJV. “Fornication” only means premarital intercourse before the sexual consummation of the marriage. After the marriage, sexual relations outside the marriage would be adultery, which according to the KJV, is not grounds for divorce. (See Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9, Matthew 1:18-20, Malachi 2:14-16)

If it looks like and apple, but does not taste like an apple, it is either not an apple, or the taster doesn’t know the taste of an apple. Using the same testing system with the modern Bibles compared to the Authorized King James Version, we wish to show what is the true Bible. We want to test the taste, so God’s Word shows us how to do this. “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1 Peter 2:1-3 AV) The test needed here is the graciousness of the Lord. So, let’s compare the graciousness of the Lord, the KJV with the New KJV:

“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22 NKJV)

We want to point out here the element of comparative graciousness between these texts. The KJV tells us that the Word of God has CONCLUDED all under sin. This leaves no opportunity for further judgment of the situation. It is final, concluded, the end of the matter, period!

The New KJV tells us that the Word of God has CONFINED all under sin. This leaves room for further judgment, possible negotiations or purging for purposes of release from confinement.

The latter, New KJV, negates grace, commonly expressed as unmerited favor, whereas the former, KJV, provides no escape from the judgment other than grace. So, from 1Peter 2:1-3, above, you can now compare the tastes of these two texts to determine which has that of the Lord’s graciousness. Obviously, the KJV does.

Notice, also, for a further taste test in the same texts that the faith promised in each case is different. So, being different we should be able to taste the difference. The KJV tells us that the promised faith is that “OF JESUS CHRIST”; the New KJV says that the promised faith is “IN JESUS CHRIST”. If we take a taste of our human faith, (faith IN Jesus Christ) we’ll quickly shudder with disgust. However what a sweet and lasting taste is that of Christ’s faith, that “faith OF Jesus Christ” as given in the KJV. Here again is the taste that the Lord is gracious in that he has graciously given of His faith for our use. We conclude here that the KJV has the taste of truth.

Someone speaking recently of the King James Version said that it has “flavor”. We heartily agree. The simple test made here involves only one verse; there are many other verses that change the verb tenses, deny that He is the creator of all things, take away the deity of Jesus, require self-holiness and self-sanctification (works). Other articles in this web page explain these corruptions of God’s Word.

Compare this verse from the KJV Bible, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God IS created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24 KJV)

With this same verse from the NEW KJV, “And that ye put on the new man, which WAS created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24 NEW KJV)

Is your walk with the Lord fresh each day, or do you have to think years in the past to remember how sweet is this relationship with God? Please study carefully the wording of the texts given here and see what the differences are. Notice that the KJV shows that the Christian puts on the new man as God is renewing him on a continual basis, and that this new man is created in TRUE holiness, as compared to “holier than thou” false holiness as the Pharisees displayed. Notice, also that righteousness does not come in degrees; a thing is either right or wrong. The righteous are God’s possession; the unrighteous are Satan’s possession.

In the NEW KJV we see that the new man WAS created in TRUE righteousness, which means that from that moment of his “creation” on, the new man never changes along his path of life, but has all the faith he will ever possess. Also, the implication that the righteousness given him is a “true” righteousness is misleading. It indicates that there is another kind; there is only one righteousness given to man from God, all else is of man, which is unrighteousness. Proverbs 12:3 tells us that righteousness has a “root”, and that root is Jesus Christ, and is provided at the “new birth” for men who receive Him. “A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.” To say that righteousness is “true” is to say that the “root”, Jesus Christ, might be something other than true.

Also, the NEW KJV allows that holiness is always holiness, that there is only one sort of holiness. The Authorized Version, (KJV) tells us that there is a “true” holiness, indicating that there are other kinds of holiness. As an example, look at Acts 3:12; “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?”

We grow in grace, knowledge, and faith by our daily walk in the Spirit through the indwelling, refreshing Spirit in the knowledge of Christ who keeps us in the will of the Father. But we do not grow in righteousness, for He is our righteousness. “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;” (2 Thessalonians 1:3 KJV) “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever.” Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18 KJV)

We are not stagnant in these things; they are not things that WERE given, but things that ARE given, day by day; “Give us this day our daily bread”, Praise God.

So, we see the enemy at work again in this modern version of the Bible. If you are a sincere student of God’s Word, take note of this study which shows tremendous deception in just one verse, the acceptance of which while reading subtlety registers in the heart, and so Satan has prevailed with his lie, the mystery of iniquity.

In conclusion and after studying this sampling of corruptions to God’s Word, how can a Spirit filled believer continue on in these bondages of self faiths and gradual sanctifications, a cruel form of self works, rather than residing and being moved by the full power and Faith of Christ as recorded in the time proven standard of the Authorized Version, the continuing faithful 1611 sourced King James Version? But every person will be judged according to what God has revealed to them.

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