Assault against the King James Bible in 1881

As we said last week, the publication of the King James Bible in 1611 marked the culmination of Protestant Reformation efforts to place the Bible into the hands and language of the English-speaking people.

While additional Reformation texts can be found in other languages, that the English language would eventually rise to become the trade language of the world in modern time proves the King James Bible to be the greatest gift that the reformers gave to the whole world.

It bears repeating that though initially published during the height of the Geneva Bible’s popularity, once established in the hearts of the people, no other English translation was forthcoming for some 270 years. And even at the end of 270 years, what had been commissioned was not a new translation, but a revision of the beloved text. You simply cannot change Greek texts and honestly call it a revision.

Two men would rise to the challenge of overthrowing the dominance of the King James Bible, as daunting a task as it has proven to be. Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort, both Anglican high churchmen, had been tasked with revising the King James. While there is evidence in their personal writings of Mariolatry, Darwinism and possibly even the paranormal, what is important for us to understand here is their bent against the King James Bible as evidenced by their supplanting of the Reformation Greek text with one which would eventually bear their name, the Wescott and Hort text (also known as The New Testament in the Original Greek).

While it is not our purpose here to discuss at length the Textus Receptus, the Greek text underlying the King James Bible, what is necessary to understand is that during the 18th and 19th centuries, German rationalism had crept into Protestantism. By the time Westcott and Hort appeared on the scene, this had manifested itself in the idea that the oldest Greek texts were the best and most reliable — a pretty convenient invention considering Roman Catholicism had been busy burning bibles during the Dark Ages.

With the infatuation of ancient manuscripts firmly entrenched in their minds, Wescott and Hort based their Greek text on two such manuscripts, the first known to us today as the Codex Sinaiticus. Found by Constantin von Tischendorf in 1859, what makes this manuscript interesting is that the monks of Saint Catherine’s Monastery had deemed it so poor that they were about ready to burn it. Over the centuries of its existence, it had been erased and overwritten so many times that it was considered unreliable. But for the worship of antiquity, all this was swept away.

But also of note is that Saint Catherine’s is a Catholic monastery. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula, this monastery has also been known as the Monastery of the Holy Virgin. Add to this that this manuscript is dated back to the fourth century, we can safely conclude this a Roman Catholic manuscript.

Their second manuscript is known to us today as the Codex Vaticanus. Of note with this manuscript is that, as its name implies, this is property of the Vatican Library, being catalogued as early as 1475. Also of note is what is missing from this manuscript: five entire New Testament books.

While I cannot suggest a reason as to the exclusion of the tiny epistle of Philemon, it is easy to see that the absence of Paul’s pastoral epistles is in large part due to the conflict between the sacrament of celibacy and Paul’s requirement that a bishop be “the husband of one wife.” With regard to the absence of the book of Revelation, there is no doubt that it fell out of favor in identifying Babylon the Great in chapter 17 as Rome, which not only sits on seven mountains (verse nine), but also was the great city that reigned “over the kings of the earth” in John’s day.

Again, what needs to be understood here is that while the King James Bible represents the culmination of Protestant Reformation efforts, the Greek text of Westcott and Hort and its progeny, the English Revised Version of 1881 represents a bid to undo and reverse Reformation victories.

While the English Revised Version, and its American counterpart, were initially vigorously opposed, they really only suffered partial defeat. For though they are not in common usage today, the seeds of their usurpation were sown. Through the multiplicity of versions and the disassociation of Westcott and Hort from the critical texts in use today, most are completely unaware that the Reformation hangs in the balance today. But as the saying goes, “all roads lead to Rome.”

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.

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