The church I grew up in was never an extreme King James Only church. But as soon as I entered the ministry in the mid 1990s, I was handed books by Gail Riplinger, David Otis Fuller, and others. I heard it said that a good Baptist is a King James Baptist.

That set me on a journey toward extremism. For a time, I looked down on anyone who I thought did not have a real Bible, and there were years early in my ministry when I read more from Riplinger, D.A. Waite, and others than I read from the Bible itself. Every other version was a perversion. I was a novice in biblical doctrine, but I was a defender of the King James Bible. Those were the early days of the internet, and there were plenty of forums to go argue in.

In late 2001, I went to New Mexico to begin working with a group that had not heard much teaching. One of the first things I did was tell them they could not read their NKJV or NIV Bibles. They had to get King James Bibles. I wish I would have met them where they were and seen the liberty there is in this subject. But I did not.

As late as the 2010s, I preached a sermon called "Being A King James Only Baptist." Most of that was arrogant parroting of what I had read and heard. I preached it because there was renewed interest in the subject following a well-written article in the Berea Baptist Banner in November 2010, and the topic came up at Bible Conferences. Looking back, it is sad we spent more time debating the three letters on the cover of a Bible than what is written inside it.

Three things gave me pause about the whole movement.

Number 1. As a teenager, I had learned Tok Pisin, or Melanesian Pidgin, from native missionaries visiting from Papua New Guinea. I learned it well enough to speak it, read it, and write it. I had a copy of their Bible and could communicate with Brother Ekere Ibago, Brother Kenny Kundu, and others. What I found is that these men were sound in the faith, and yet the Bible in their language was the equivalent of our modern versions. How could they read from, study from, and preach from such a Bible and remain sound? According to everything I had read from Riplinger and others, that should have been impossible. It was not.

Number 2. I began to notice churches and ministries here in the USA that were orthodox in their beliefs and yet used other versions of the Bible. One ministry that had a major impact on me was Answers in Genesis. Preachers I heard on the radio were preaching from Bibles that were not KJV and yet preaching excellent sermons. On the flip side, I noticed heretical groups that were King James Only. I could not find anyone who had fallen into error from preaching a NKJV, NASB, or ESV. The issue seemed to be biblical hermeneutics, not the translation used.

Number 3. I noticed Baptist brothers whose Bibles had different letters on the covers but whose doctrine I could not fault. I was told they hated the King James Version, that they were attacking it. But when I encountered these brothers at conferences and online, I found the opposite. They were not attacking the KJV. As for divisiveness, it was the KJVO brothers I was watching break fellowship, not them.

One passage kept coming back to me as I watched the two camps:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:19–26, KJV

Now hear the same passage in a modern version:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become those with vain glory, challenging one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:19–26, LSB

Strife, selfish ambition, factions: Paul puts these right alongside sexual immorality and idolatry in the works of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Much of what I was seeing from the KJVO camp looked far more like the first list than the second.

As the years went on, these things troubled me. There came a point where I could not simply keep parroting what others said. If I was going to stay on this path, I needed to shore up my own convictions.

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Acts 17:11, LSB

The Bible does not directly address English Bible translations. So I got myself some other versions to read, intending to solidify my KJVO position. First, the New King James Version. Then the English Standard Version. Rather than read about them, I would read and study them myself and strengthen my own arguments.

I read them the way the Bible is meant to be read: start at the beginning and go through, like any other book. Too many people, KJVO folks especially, flip open their Bibles and pull a verse out of context. That is how they preach Psalm 12:6-7 and Matthew 5:18 to prove their point.

As I read, I found the Word of God fresh and understandable in a way I had not expected. I was cautious. When a word did not sound right, I checked my lexicons and Strong's and Vine's, and found accuracy. The supposed variations between versions were not as extreme as I had been told, at least not in the versions I was reading.

Where Riplinger and others would show a verse to produce evidence of some problem, I found that taking that verse in context would clear up the problem in many instances. Other times, if something is not present in one gospel, it is there in another.

I also found that I had been subconsciously skipping over archaic words rather than studying them. Having grown up on the King James, there were words I assumed I knew the meaning of but did not. I have posted examples on my Facebook page, and Mark Ward has documented them well in his YouTube channel and in his book.

Then I examined my own doctrine, faith, and practice. There is nothing I believe, nothing my Baptist forefathers believed, that cannot be defended from a modern version. I could take any doctrine and preach it from a NASB, ESV, or NKJV.

The historic confessions, whether the First London Confession, the Second London Confession, the Philadelphia, the New Hampshire, or any number of historic Baptist Confessions, can be defended using the major modern versions. The only exception to this rule is if your church has added some clause mandating a particular 400 year old Bible version. Some Baptists have done that within the past 50 years but that is not historic Baptist faith and practice.

Over the past 2000 years, there was no great conspiracy to corrupt the text of the New Testament. God's Word has been preserved. Of all the textual variants, the doctrine of Scripture, the message of the gospel, remains intact. There is a fine website at KJV Parallel Bible where you can see what I mean.

As I was studying, I also pulled out the facsimile copy of the 1611 King James Bible I had received as a gift a few years earlier. What I found fascinating was the "Translators to The Reader," which is missing from most modern copies of the King James Version. Read it and you will find they were not King James Only. The marginal notes are equally important. Also missing from modern copies of the KJV, they indicate variant readings and reflect the translators' own textual criticism.

But there was still a problem. I was afraid of what others would say.

One day my family was reading through Proverbs together when my wife looked up and said, "Does anyone else have a problem understanding what this is saying?" That opened a long conversation. I knew my responsibility to my family was bigger than my reputation among the brethren.

So I opened the door for our home to other translations, and from that point I began to be more vocal in my sermons quoting other versions.

To borrow something I learned from Brother Mark Ward, which is also something the King James Translators themselves wrote: "Without good translation, there can be no edification." Taking the principle from 1 Corinthians 14:8-12; 23-25, we ought to desire that there be understandable speech for the believer and the unbeliever too, even and especially when we read from the Bible. The Great Commission demands this.

I am thankful for the brothers and sisters I know who hold to the King James Bible. If that is you, by all means read it and study it. I am not against the King James Version. I am opposed to King James Onlyism. Do not force your conviction on everyone else. A 400 year old Bible written in a form of English nobody speaks anymore is not the only Bible we have. I love the KJV, but I also love other translations, especially the Legacy Standard Bible. I love to read the Word of God in my language. I love to preach the Word without having to preach the dictionary.

While there are some terrible translations (the New World Translation and The Message come to mind), I recommend reading modern translations for yourself. Read the New King James Version, the English Standard Version, the Legacy Standard Bible, etc.

Also, read some good books on the subject. Here are a few I recommend:

You can also read the full text of "The Translators to the Reader" on this site, the original 1611 KJV preface that is missing from most modern editions.