The 400th anniversary of the world’s most used Bible
Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister
Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church
This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible—and that’s something worth celebrating.
The KJV isn’t the first full English translation of the Bible—Myles Coverdale, with heavy reliance on the work of William Tyndale, created that. Called the Great Bible because of its size, the KJV would probably have become known as the King Henry Version because Henry VIII authorised it.
English Protestants who fled England and persecution under Queen Mary to settle in Geneva produced the Geneva Bible. John Bunyan used it in The Pilgrim’s Progress. The Bishops’ Bible produced by the Anglican Church, which didn’t like the Geneva Bible, proved popular. Shakespeare used it in his writings.
The KJV became the most used Bible, not because of popular demand, but through political machinations. No other translations were printed in England soon after its introduction.
The KJV has made an impact—and a huge one at that—on those in the English-speaking world. We still use expressions from it, including “apple of his eye,” “city set on a hill,” “a house divided,” “the quick and the dead” and “reap the whirlwind.” It made an impact on generations of Protestants who memorised Bible passages. For most of those 400 years, until the second half of last century, the KJV is the version these Protestants used.
What is more important, since its introduction, the KJV has been recognised by millions as God’s word to them. They treated it as “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. . . .” (2 Timothy 3:16, KJV). It has introduced so many to Jesus. To quote the children’s song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so.”
The KJV proved to be more than mere words on paper. It is God communicating.
God still does that, whatever translation you choose.
Tags: Bruce Manners