Executive Summary

Protestant Bibliology is the belief that God’s Word has been divinely inspired, preserved and made accessible for all people in their own language. In light of English being a global language, the King James Bible (KJB) fulfils the Reformation vision that Scripture must reach every nation, aligning with the Westminster Confession’s teaching that the Bible should be available in the “vulgar language”.

Some core principles of Protestant Bibliology: (1) God has preserved His Word through the continual use of believers; (2) Scripture is revealed in a know language today (English); (3) Modern scholarship with the original languages promotes doubt through subjective lexicons and unresolved textual criticism; (4) The Bible is for all including the common man; (5) Christians have always used translations; (6) Inspired Scripture must not be lost but be present; (7) Scripture should be received, not dominated over with naturalistic reasoning; (8) Scripture is spiritually discerned rather than by mere human expertise and (9) The KJB provides unity and certainty as a singular authority amid the confusion of modern versions.

In addressing Textus Receptus onlyism and Confessional Bibliology, while both affirm preservation, they fall short of the Reformation principle that translation itself is a divinely intended means of preservation and proclamation. The KJB exemplifies this by faithfully rendering God’s Word into the global language of English with doctrinal soundness and textual integrity.

Introduction

The command of the Gospel is that it is destined to all nations. The Kingdom of God is reaching everyone everywhere, to young, old, female, employees (see Acts 2:17, 18). The promise of the Spirit of God is to be pervasive. And the Bible is to reach every corner, every home, every last outpost, because the Scripture states, “But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26).

It means that the Word of God must be in the hands and hearts and mouths of all God’s people (see Deut. 30:14). It means that the words of God, the Scriptures, are going to the nations, that they know the Scriptures, and that there is a response to the Scripture, which is obedience.

This is why the Reformers were all in favour of translating the Scripture into the mother tongue. We can point to the great success the Scripture has had in English. This would not have been possible if the Scripture was not translated.

Protestant Bibliology

Let us consider some principles of Protestant Bibliology.

• The Scripture is at hand

God’s preservation of Scripture means that believers have had access to the Scripture, and it means that the Scripture was in use by believers. God’s promises are to speak to His people (see Isaiah 28:11) and this means that the Scripture would clearly be at hand.

Now the Scripture was first given in Hebrew and Greek, but since those languages are not well known, but English is a global language, it follows that people are able to access the Scripture in English.

It is counter to this idea that archaeology, textual criticism and other sciences would have to be employed to try to recover the Scripture. Either God has given, and given to us, the Scripture, or we must rely on a few intrepid explorers to try to work out new modern versions.

We are to choose between the Church’s general use of the Textus Receptus (TR) tradition, or else await the discoveries of a handful of Greek scholars, as they ransack manuscripts and try to recover the original text (which they admit they cannot achieve).

• The Scripture is in a known language

As simple as it seems, the reality is that God spoke the language of the Hebrews and of the Greeks which was their common tongue. God’s pattern is to use the vernacular. Thus, the world, which is speaking English more and more, has a particular Bible designed for it: the King James Bible.

To turn back to the Hebrew and Greek would be turning away from God’s flow of providence. The world does not speak or know the original languages. Therefore, it is only proper, in God’s plan to get the Gospel to the nations, to ride the floodtide of English.

• The original languages are uncertain

Building on the fact that the original languages are really akin to dead languages, it means they are “unknown tongues”. They are foreign to the average Christian and to the world.

The greater problems arise with all the opinions of rabbis and modern lexicons as to what words mean. The reality is that studying the original languages itself, particularly Hebrew, is an exercise in modern subjectivism. The tools as made by modernists do not have a believing view of God’s provision, and are therefore leaning on the post-Enlightenment “arm of flesh” (see 2 Chron. 32:8).

In practical terms, people are being forced to choose between the time honoured King James Bible or the multiple choice options of modernist lexicons, and therefore varying to the King James Bible.

The lexicons (and textual apparatuses) claim they are made “neutrally”, which means, made without either deference to Christian doctrine/tradition, or even to the existence of God Himself. That is, the modern lexicons attempt to give the translator (and interpreter) options from which to choose from, as if God has nothing to do with the whole history and process, and that it is now up to the art and science of the modern translator or interpreter.

This gives rise to the problem of private interpretation (see 2 Peter 1:20) and dissenting works: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” (1 Cor. 14:33).

• The Bible is for the common man

The Scripture is meant for all people, not just a special educated class that know the original languages.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7). What is wise in Scripture is made understandable, which means it has to be accessible by people speaking the common language, not locked with special meanings in Hebrew and Greek.

Since God wants to get His words into the mouths of the young, it makes sense that it is in English.

• Christians traditionally used translations

Whether the Septuagint, the Vulgate or any number of Reformation translations, Christians have long accessed God’s words in languages other than the original ones.

The Reformation, indeed the lengthy Preface “To the Reader” in the front of the King James Bible, makes a strong and powerful case that the Scripture should be translated and should be in English. The fact of centuries of English Bible usage, and that we still use the King James Bible every Sunday at Church testifies of the fact of the liturgical use of translation, let alone every man’s devotional use.

The inspired Scripture must be present

Very often people make doctrinal declarations that the original autographs were made by inspiration. That’s true, but those inspired words are not lost in time. Furthermore, as even the Westminster Confession of Faith recognised, the Scripture is present today in translation.

The same inspired words, message and meaning is present in our King James Bible, as it was in the beginning. God’s counsel stands and so what He declared from ancient times still stands today (see Isaiah 46:10).

• The Scripture should be received not dominated

When a new Christian accepts the King James Bible with childlike simplicity, this is very different from the attitude of those who want to present themselves as those who know better, who want to tell everyone what the Greek or Hebrew really says or means.

Our authority should be every word of God, and we should not be adding or taking away from that (see Proverbs 30:5, 6). The proper attitude is to receive the truth as given by God, not essentially tell God and others what he allegedly “really” meant.

• The spiritual nature of Scripture

It is ultimately the role of the Holy Ghost, not the Greek scholar, to reveal the truth of Scripture. Illumination is first spiritual, and often theological academia centres on the natural and the human.

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14).

The Holy Ghost guides into all truth (see John 16:13), and therefore the entire body of post-Enlightenment scholarship with their wrestling about the original languages can be bypassed for the certainty God has provided in English.

• Singular authority

The subjectivity, multiplicity, uncertainty and ongoing unsettled state of modernist original language studies stands in contrast to the objectivity, singularity, certainty and finality of the Scripture in English.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Cor. 1:10).

Having the King James Bible as the true foundation of unity for Christianity is so much better than the speculations, unbelieving utterances and divided opinions concerning the unsettled original languages.

Bringing it together

The King James Bible stands as the final, preserved and inspired word of God for entire church in the world. Of course, while not everyone speaks English, those who can, who are many, should align to the King James Bible. This makes it potentially needless and even dangerous to appeal to the original languages.

At the heart of Protestant Bibliology is the holistic understanding of the authority and preservation of Scripture that does not confine God’s Word solely to the original Hebrew and Greek languages. Rather, as the Westminster Confession of Faith affirms, the Scriptures “are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner, and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope” (WCF 1.8).

The purpose of divine preservation is thus inherently missional and translational: “I will make known my words unto you” (Proverbs 1:23b).

The King James Version (KJB) stands as a monumental witness to this principle. It is not merely a literary masterpiece but a faithful translation that has conveyed the doctrine and text of Scripture into the English vernacular for over four centuries. The enduring legacy of the KJB reveals the profound Reformation truth that God’s Word is preserved not only in the original tongues but in faithful translations that make the gospel accessible to all peoples.

The Textus Receptus

The Textus Receptus (TR), as a tradition, is indeed very good. However, all TR editions differ to each other, and there is not one singular perfect standard of it. The KJB’s strength lies not on some perfect Greek manuscript, but in its faithful selection of textual variants and its careful, doctrinally sound translation. No extant Greek manuscript or printed edition perfectly preserves the autographs by itself. Whereas the KJV translators made prudent textual decisions grounded in the best tradition, producing a text that is intelligible, powerful and faithful to biblical truth. It in fact can be said to convey the Scripture fully and exactly in English.

The KJB exemplifies the Reformation principle that preservation leads to proclamation, and proclamation requires translation. As Psalm 119:130 states, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” The Scriptures must not be confined to an elite who read Hebrew or Greek but must be made accessible to all believers in their own language (see Deuteronomy 31:11-13).

Confessional Bibliology

Confessional Bibliology begins with the recognition of Authoritas Divina Duplex. This means the twofold divine authority of Scripture, first, the authority of divine doctrine, the revealed truth of God; and second, the authority of the written text, the form in which that truth is preserved and transmitted. Unfortunately, it seems to insist on the continuing primacy of the original languages.

The reality is that both are preserved by God’s providence (Psalm 12:6-7), yet neither is restricted to any one manuscript or even the original languages alone. The Bible is not preserved merely as a museum artifact of Hebrew and Greek words but as a living word, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.

The Westminster Confession clarifies that since the original languages “are not known to all the people of God,” the Scriptures “are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation.” This affirms that divine preservation includes faithful translation, ensuring the Word “dwelling plentifully in all” so that believers may worship God “in an acceptable manner” (WCF 1.8).

Protestant Bibliology upholds the King James Bible

Both TR Onlyism and Confessional Bibliology misunderstand the position of Protestant Bibliology which came out of the Reformation. The Reformers defended the primacy of original languages against the Latin Vulgate but never insisted on elevating one Greek edition to perfection. They understood that God’s providence preserved His Word through a history of textual transmission and faithful translation, for the sake of all men.

Ultimately, Protestant Bibliology upholds the King James Bible as a perfect text and as a faithful translation that fulfils the divine purpose of Scripture’s preservation: that God’s words be made known to His people in their own language. “I will make known my words unto you” (Proverbs 1:23b) is not simply a promise of divine revelation but a mission for the church to proclaim and translate God’s Word.

Psalm 68:11 declares, “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.” The preservation of Scripture is thus inherently tied to its proclamation and translation, ensuring that “the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all” (WCF 1.8) is a living reality in every language and culture.

Conclusion

The King James Bible is the ultimate expression of Protestant Bibliology. It upholds both the preservation of doctrine and text and the essential role of translation in making God’s Word accessible. It stands against the restrictive views of TR Onlyism and Confessional Bibliology by affirming that Scripture’s divine perfection extends beyond the original languages into the global language.

As Isaiah 55:11 reminds us, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Through faithful translation and proclamation, God’s Word accomplishes His purpose for all everywhere.