In the late 1800s many revisions were made to the Greek text of the Bible. Most of these changes were based on the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts, believed — now disputed — to be older than most manuscripts. Two Anglican churchmen, Bishops Westcott and Hort, used those and a few other manuscripts to make extensive changes in the text from which the New Testament would be translated. Their text, known as the Critical Text, differed in thousands of places from the Received Text from which our King James Bible comes. We reject the current fad of new translations, because nearly all of them follow the corruptions of the Critical Text.
Some of the key verses that teach the preservation of the Bible include Psalm 12:6–7, Matthew 24:35 and Isaiah 40:8. God went to great lengths to give the Scriptures through inspiration. It would be unlikely that He would not also promise to preserve His Word for all generations. Some writers treat the Bible as any secular book, but it is a supernatural book given by God. Beginning with His promises to keep His words for us, our study of the issue leads us to the conclusion that He has kept His Word in the King James Version of the Bible for the English-speaking world.
Beware of the powerful influence of advertising in the field of Bible publications. For over four hundred years people have read the King James Version with great profit, whatever the educational level of the reader. Advertisers today point to the difficulty of reading the King James English — but as in other fields, familiarity and understanding come with frequent study. We are willing to read, study, and use tools like dictionaries in other fields. Why should we not be willing to do so in the most important literature? The changes in the text of Scripture do not always make the reading simpler, and if the source text is in error, ease of understanding does not improve the translation.
