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Bible versions – KJV vs NKJV (which one?)
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© 2001 by David W. Daniels
of Chick Tracks
QUESTION
What is wrong with the New
King James Version (NKJV)? All it does is modernize the words of the King
James Bible, right? Why should I read the King James and not the helpful
New King James?
ANSWER
The New King James is not a King James
Bible. It changed thousands of words, ruined valuable verses, and when not
agreeing with the King James Bible, it has instead copied the
perverted NIV, NASV or RSV. And this you must know: those who translated
the NKJV did not believe God perfectly preserved His
words!
I have gotten more letters on this question than almost any
other. This is very important to those who want God's truth in the English
language. I myself used the NKJV for a decade before I learned the truth
about the preserved words of God. Here is some of what convinced me to
switch to the King James Bible from the "New King James."
- Changed
Words Means Changed Meanings
We know that Bible versions disagree on how to translate
certain words. Here is an example: Is Jesus God's "Son" or
God's "servant"? In Acts 3:26, the NKJV calls Jesus God's
"Servant." The KJV correctly calls Him God’s "Son."
These are not the same by any stretch of the imagination. Which one is He?
If He is God's servant, so are you and I. If He is God's Son, then we all
need to listen to what He said, because He is God! Changed words like this
make a great deal of difference in how we understand a passage.
- Loss
of "thee" and "thou"
Please decide what God is saying to Moses:
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"And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse
to keep My commandments and My laws?" (Exodus 16:28, NKJV)
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It looks like God is saying, "Moses, you are continuing
to refuse to keep My commandments and My laws." But look carefully at
the accurate King James:
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"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and
my laws?"
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Now we understand! It was the people, not Moses, that God was upset with. "Ye"
and "you" mean more than one person.
"Thee," "thou," "thy,"
"thine," "doeth," "hast,"
etc., only mean one person. How do we know? The
"y" is plural. The "t" is singular. Isn't that easy?
Now you know what Jesus meant when He said to Nicodemus, "Marvel not
that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again"
(John 3:7).
What Jesus said was, "Nicodemus,
marvel not that I said unto thee, all of you need to be born again."
This is very important. Not only Nicodemus needed to be saved. But
everybody, including him, needed to be born again. That's why Jesus used
the plural.
But there is more of a problem than the thousands of times
"thee" and "thou" are removed from God's words. What
does a word mean? This is very important, as you shall see.
- Go
to Gehenna?
The NKJV claims to be "more accurate" because it
leaves untranslated words like "Gehenna,"
"Hades" and "Sheol." What do
they mean? You will know from the King James the exact meaning:
"hell." We know what that means. Meaning is very important.
When's the last time you heard someone told to "Go to Gehenna"?
- Which
is correct?
The NKJV consistently uses terms that don't mean the same as
in the King James Bible. Here are some examples:
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King James Version
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New King James Version
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2 Corinthians 2:17
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"For we are not as many which corrupt the
word of God"
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"peddling the word of God" (like the
NIV, NASV and RSV)
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Titus 3:10
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"A man that is an heretick after
the first and second admonition reject"
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"Reject a divisive man" (like the
NIV)
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1 Thessalonians 5:22
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"Abstain from all appearance of
evil."
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"Abstain from every form of
evil." (like the NAS, RSV and ASV)
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Isaiah 66:5
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"Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his
word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake,
said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy,
and they shall be ashamed." [This means that the LORD shall appear, which shall occur at the Second Coming of
Christ.]
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"Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His
word: "Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name's
sake, said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, that
we may see your joy.' But they shall be ashamed." (Like the NIV,
NASV, RSV and ASV, the Second Coming is wholly
omitted from this scripture.)
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- Both
translations cannot be correct. If one is right, the
other has to be wrong. No matter how you slice it, the NKJV does not have
the same meaning as the accurate King James Bible.
2. Changed Affections
There is a lot of evidence that the translators and
publishers did not believe God preserved His words.
- Thomas
Nelson Publishers
The NKJV was translated and is printed under the watchful
eye of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Here is part of a timeline they published.
1969
Sam Moore purchases Thomas Nelson Publishers, vowing to return it to its
once proud place among the leading publishers of the world.
1976
Nelson initiates the creation of a new Bible translation--The New King
James Version.
1980's
Nelson reclaims its place as a premier publisher of Bibles and Christian
Books, expands into international markets, and establishes Markings® as
Nelson's Gift division.
It is clear the NKJV made Thomas Nelson Publishers a lot of
money. Did a King James-type Bible renew their hearts to God? Note the
following facts:
- They
are also the publishers of the American Standard Version, the
American revision of Westcott and Hort's
perverted English Revised Version.
- They
are also the publishers of the Revised Standard Version, the
revision of the American Standard.
- To
this day they continue to sell at least six Bible perversions. The
NKJV was just one moneymaker that helped Nelson
"reclaim its place" as a major publisher.
- The
NKJV repeats the lie that "There is only one basic New
Testament used by Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox, by
conservatives and liberals." In fact, there are two: the
perverted Alexandrian line that was continued by the Roman Catholic
religion and the preserved, apostolic, Antiochian
line that progresses from the Christians at Antioch of Syria (Acts
11:26) to our precious King James Bible.
- The
New King James translators
Marion H. Reynolds Jr. of the Fundamental Evangelistic
Association reveals a little-known fact:
"The duplicity of the NKJV scholars is also a matter
for concern. Although each scholar was asked to subscribe to a statement
confirming his belief in the plenary, divine, verbal inspiration of the
original autographs (none of which exist today), the question of whether or
not they also believed in the divine preservation of the divinely inspired
originals was not an issue as it should have been. Dr. Arthur Farstad, chairman of the NKJV Executive Review
Committee which had the responsibility of final text approval, stated that
this committee was about equally divided as to which was the better Greek
New Testament text-the Textus Receptus
or the Westcott-Hort. Apparently none of them believed that either
text was the Divinely preserved Word of God. Yet, all of them
participated in a project to "protect and preserve the purity and
accuracy" of the original KJV based on the TR. Is not this duplicity
of the worst kind, coming from supposedly evangelical scholars?"
Not "the real thing"
What Mr. Reynolds points out is very important to
understand. There were basically two groups of translators working on the
NKJV. One half believed that the perverted 45 Alexandrian manuscripts, from
which came the Roman Catholic Bibles and the modern perversions, were better than
the manuscripts behind the King James. The other group believed the
thousands of manuscripts supporting the King James were better. This
is a big problem: No one believed that they held God's words in their
hands, only a "better" or "worse" text! The translators
believed they had something close, but not an accurate
Bible. It is a sad thing when a Bible translator doesn't even
believe he has God's words in his hands. It sounds like they don't believe
God kept His promise:
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not
pass away. (Mark 13:31)
Perhaps that is why some of them had no problem working on
other perversions, both before and after working on the NKJV. This is so unlike
the 54+ Bible men who faithfully translated the King James Bible from
preserved manuscripts of God's words. The difference between the King James
and the "New" King James is the difference between day and night.
Compromising God's Words
Many Christians are discovering the miracle of God's words
in English. But the enemy has tried to insert a monkey-wrench: the NKJV.
Pastors approve it, "scholars" promote it, but the NKJV is a wolf
in sheep's clothing. The New King James is just a compromise between
the liberal, perverted Bible versions floating around and the rock-solid,
accurate and preserved words of God, the King James Bible.
Brothers and sisters, don't settle
for anything less than God's words.
Full Document
can be read HERE
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