Part One

Support for the KJV

We know the King James Version translators (KJVT) in 2 Timothy 3:16 italicized “is” in “is given” because no verb exists in the text of that verse.  They gave the verse a smoother reading, but they were also telling the reader that verb did not exist. That’s why they used the italics. I have no problem with what they did, and I’m not correcting it.

I like the KJVT translation of 2 Timothy 3:16.  Even though they used eight English words to translate three Greek ones and they supplied “is” twice, I support all that.  I like it and support it more than most of my critics, who might say I’m correcting the KJV.  In fact, they correct the KJV.  They also mangle 2 Timothy 3:16 and read into it something not said by God in the verse.

Gnomic Present

The KJVT wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” They knew there were multiple usages of the present tense, one of them a “Gnomic Present.” Matthew 7:17 is an example of the Gnomic Present, which says, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” The KJVT used the Gnomic Present in their translation of 2 Timothy 3:16.

The Gnomic Present expresses a general truth without reference to time. That perfectly communicates the three Greek words to begin 2 Timothy 3:16. That general truth is that all scripture, sacred scripture, is given by inspiration of God. That includes every word and all of them from Genesis to Revelation in the language in which they were written.

Here are some other general truths said in Gnomic fashion. No scripture is given in English. All scripture is given in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

Is Given By Inspiration of God

The canon of scripture closed with the last Greek word of the book of Revelation at the end of the first century AD.  God stopped giving scripture.  Jude characterizes scripture in Jude 1:3 as “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  “Once” means “once for all.”  “Was delivered” is aorist tense, so completed action.  “The faith” is the complete body of God’s truth, which Jesus says is sacred scripture (John 17:17).  Once God completes delivering the faith, which He did with the book of Revelation, then it is over.  That completed for all time all inspired writing delivered by God.

English wasn’t a language in the first century.  God didn’t give any more sacred scripture after the first century.  With the completion of sacred scripture, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek were the only languages in which God gave sacred scripture.

Notice that the KJVT write, “given.” Their translation says sacred scripture is given by inspiration. It is not translated by inspiration. Do you believe in the translation of 2 Timothy 3:16?  Many seem to take an entirely different doctrine of inspiration of scripture than the KJVT did.

Not Changing Sacred Scripture

I’m not advocating changing a word in the KJV.  However, if someone changes a word in the KJV, he is not changing sacred scripture.  No one should charge him for that.  He is changing a translation of sacred scripture.  It is why the KJVT called their work, a “version.”  It is a version.  I quote the definition of “version” from the fabulous Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

3. The act of translating; the rendering of thoughts or ideas expressed in one language, into words of like signification in another language. How long was Pope engaged in the version of Homer?

4. Translation; that which is rendered from another language. We have a good version of the Scriptures. There is a good version of Pentateuch in Samaritan.

The publishers of the Textus Receptus do not call it a “version.”  It isn’t a translation.  They call it Novum Testamentum, which is Latin for “New Testament.”  Men translate from these Greek texts into the English and other languages.

Men changed the words of the King James Version in 1769.  They didn’t change scripture.  They changed the English translation of the same original language text.  Scripture doesn’t change.  Translations of scripture do change.