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Question #14 -
QUESTION:
Did the
translators of the Authorized Version claim to be inspired by God?
ANSWER:
No. But Biblically that does not mean that they could not
have been inspired.
EXPLANATION:
The men on the translation committee of the King James Bible were,
without dispute, the most learned men of their day and vastly
qualified for the job which they undertook. They were overall both
academically qualified by their cumulative knowledge and
spiritually qualified by their exemplary lives.
Among their company were men who, academically,
took a month's vacation and used the time to learn and master an
entirely foreign language; wrote a Persian dictionary; invented a
specialized mathematical ruler, one was an architect; mastered
oriental languages; publicly debated in Greek; tutored Queen
Elizabeth in Greek and mathematics; and of one it was said,
"Hebrew he had at his fingers end". Yet head
knowledge can be a curse if not tempered by a fervent, pious
heart.
In this, the spiritual realm, they were light
years ahead of many today who flaunt their education yet fail in
any attempt at a practical, personal witness.
This company was blessed with men known for
their zeal and tact in debating and converting Romanists to
Christ. They spent hours in private and family devotions. Many did
the work of evangelism and even that of missionary representatives
of later Queen Elizabeth. One, lived to the age of one hundred and
three years. In the closing years of his life, after preaching for
two full hours he said to his congregation, "I will no longer
trespass on your patience" to which the entire congregation
cried out with one consent, "For God's sake go on". He
then continued his exposition of the Word of God at length.
Yet humanity was a universal trait shared among
them as is so amply revealed in the Epistle Dedicatory. "So
that if, on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish Persons
at home or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are
poor instruments to make God's holy Truth to be yet more and more
known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance
and darkness; or if, on the other side, we shall be maligned by
self conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking
unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on
their anvil;" Yet, in spite of their outstanding character,
they never claimed divine inspiration. (A claim which, if they had
made, would over joy their detractors as evidence of a prideful
spirit.) They never even claimed perfection for their finished
work.
Does this mean that, because they did not claim
God's hand in translating the Scripture that He could not be or
was not in control of their commission? For the answer we must
look to the Bible, our final authority in all matters of faith
and practice.
When John the Baptist was accosted by the
Levites in John chapter one and asked if he was Elijah (John 1:21)
he answered that he was not Elijah. Yet in
Matthew chapters 11:7-14 and 17:10-13 Jesus Christ plainly stated
that John was Elijah.
Did John the Baptist lie? No. Did Jesus Christ
lie? Of course not. The answer is very simply that John was
Elijah but he didn't know it! Thus we see from
our Bible example that a man can have God working
through him and not know it. Likewise, God could easily have
divinely directed the King James translators without their active
knowledge.
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