The Good Fruit of the Authorised Translation

(Article for publication week of 2-17-2010 AD)

"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever" (Psalm 12:6-7).

We have been writing for several months now on the doctrine of scripture and we have shown its inspiration and preservation. We firmly believe the Lord has preserved His inspired word in the Textus Receptus and the translations derived from it. We believe the King James Translation to be the best translation for the English-speaking people. We believe this first of all because of the underlying Hebrew and Greek Texts, called the Received Text, or Textus Receptus. Secondly, the King James Bible gives more glory to Christ. Thirdly, we defend the KJV because of the good fruit it has produced. Our Lord taught us that a tree is known by its fruit and the Received Text and the translations like the KJV derived from it have borne much good fruit.

The Received Text has borne the fruit of keeping the gospel pure during the days of the Dark Ages. When Anti-Christ was persecuting the true Church and trying to keep the common people enslaved to their false teachings, the Waldenses were reading and preaching from the Received Text and translating it into the language of the people. The light of the gospel was shining during the Dark Ages by the Received Texts.

The Reformation is the fruit of the Received Text. It was the text Martin Luther used to translate the Bible into German. It was the text William Tyndale used to bring the Bible to England. It was the text used by the Geneva translators. The Lord used the Protestant Reformation to bring the gospel of salvation to multitudes of His elect.

The King James Translation was the Bible from which the Puritans preached. We are still being blessed by the ministries and lives of these holy people known as the Puritans. Their influence is still being used of the Lord to advance His kingdom.

The King James translation was the Bible that lay on the pulpit of John Gill, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd Jones and other great and useful preachers.

The King James Bible was the Bible of the great revivals in Britain and America. We have not had a real revival in America since the Revival among the Southern Armies during the War for Southern Independence. Perhaps a return to this great translation will ignite the fires of revival and multitudes may be brought to salvation.

When the King James Bible was the Bible of America's churches, there was more unity among Christians. Nowadays, every church is using a different translation. Such an uncertain sound is producing disorder and disunity. When we compare the worldly professing Church of today with the Church of the Waldenses, the Reformers, the Puritans, and the Old Baptists, we can only weep as the gold has become dim and the salt unsavoury. I challenge you to compare the fruit of the Authorised Version with the modern translations. May the Lord honour His Word. We have His promise that he will.