“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” – 2 Peter 3:16
SOME THINGS IN THE BIBLE are hard to be understood. This does not mean they are false, or self-contradictory, or absurd; it means only that man’s feeble mind cannot entirely grasp the Scriptures’ every profound truth. After all, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. There is no shame to be had in conceding you do not understand everything in the word of the Lord. If the apostle Peter, who was one of Jesus’ very disciples, could not understand parts of the Bible, is it any wonder that you cannot understand parts of it, either?
No, dear reader, it is far more important to believe the word of God, and obey it, than it is to understand it. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein…” (Revelation 1:3). Though you are to study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, you are certainly not expected to comprehend every word of God, because my text verse testifies to the fact that no man can comprehend every word of God. But your inability to understand, is no license to disobedience. To fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13), whether man understands and agrees with those commandments, or not. So says the old hymn, “Trust and obey.”
I bring your attention to these things, because the scriptural truth that parts of the Bible are hard to understand, is often misused as an excuse to exercise the unscriptural practice of diminishing God’s word (Deuteronomy 4:2). Moved by their love of money and hatred of the truth, the devilish Bible corrupters known as “scholars” and “textual critics” have taken it upon themselves to produce “Bible” translation after translation which they boast of as being far “easier to read” than the venerable King James Bible. If you are at all familiar with this subject, you doubtless have heard this claim, and likely many times at that.
But, as with all other reasons used to promote the modern translations, this reason too is a lie, a pernicious sophistry which has swindled many into forgoing the wonderful words of life within the King James Bible in favor of the impure, apostasizing religious jargon of the modern versions. As there are several layers to this particular lie, I shall aim, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to peel them back, bit by bit, and lay the truth of the matter bare before you.
Let us begin with the portion of my text which reads, “which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” Many self-appointed Bible “scholars” could be classified among the foolish group here described. Rather than admitting they do not understand the Bible, they take difficult portions of scripture and, in either ignorance or malice, wrest them into falsehoods and heresies. Perhaps Romans 10:9, a favorite verse of accursed “Lordship Salvation” liars, qualifies as a good example. A great many theologians would have us to believe that somehow, the many clear declarations throughout the holy writ that salvation is solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24-26, 4:4-5, 5:1, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5) are overruled by this one verse. Appropriately, corrupters of the gospel are often corrupters of the word, and prefer to cite the perverted form of this verse present in the modern Bible translations, since that rendering is among the most egregious scriptural corruptions in existence.
But I do not intend to dwell long on this point, except to establish that interpreting things one does not understand can often lead to fatal consequences. In the case of Romans 10:9, wrongly dividing the word of truth by teaching you must make full surrender to Jesus as the “Lord” of your life in order to be saved, keeps men from being born again, and damns them to hell because they have trusted their personal self-reformation to save them, rather than Christ crucified for their sins, buried, and bodily risen unto their justification. Right doctrine matters.
I digress. The lie that the King James Bible is “hard to understand”, and that the modern PERversions are “easy to read”, is false on several fronts. Firstly, a variation of this lie claims the modern translations differ from the King James Bible only in the language of the former being downgraded to modern English, thereby replacing the archaic vocabulary supposedly so difficult to study (evidently the purveyors of this theory are unfamiliar with the purpose of a dictionary).
But this is not the case, for the King James Bible comes from an entirely different set of manuscripts than the modern translations. The Masoretic Old Testament text and Textus Receptus New Testament text which underlie the KJB, in addition to comprising upwards of 95% of extant Bible manuscripts, are vastly different from the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts which underlie the modern translations. There are many things present in the King James manuscripts which are notably absent from the other manuscripts (Acts 8:37 and the last twelve verses of Mark 16, for example). And there are many things present in the modern translations which are notably absent from the King James (a false definition of “repentance” in Mark 1:15 which requires sinners to “change their hearts and lives” in order to be saved, rather than simply receiving Christ as Savior, for example).
We are not merely dealing with different renderings of the same text; we are dealing with different renderings of entirely different texts. It is akin to translating the Iliad and Odyssey into English, and expecting the translations to match. I recommend you consult my articles in the “Forever Settled in Heaven” page for proof of the vast doctrinal differences between the King James Bible and the modern versions.
The source of translation aside, the next lie is that the King James Bible is “harder to understand” than the modern perversions. Archaic words which hardly appear in the text – such as “shambles” in 1 Corinthians 10:25, referring to a meat market – are singled out and reviled as “proof” that the KJB language must be modernized and replaced, leading to the lie that the modern translations have simply been updated to reflect this change. But is the King James Bible really “hard to understand”, beyond the inherent difficulty of certain scriptures as I have mentioned above?
This claim likewise has no basis in reality. I link to this article (https://www.av1611.org/kjv/kjv_easy.html) which provides an abundance of evidence testifying that the King James Bible is not only not “hard to understand”, but it is actually “easier to read” than the modern translations! The article cites Gail Riplinger’s remarks noting the KJB employs one or two syllable words and simple sentence structures, compared with the multisyllable blather and convoluted sentences of the modern perversions.
Drawing from the evidence presented in this same article, Matthew 1 in the King James Bible reads at a 6th grade level; in the misleadingly named “New King James”, Matthew 1 reads at a 10th grade level. The average reading level for the King James Bible is 5.8; for the “New International Version”, so beloved by evangelicals and fellow apostates, it is 8.4. And all this is to say nothing of how the King James Bible’s poetic syntax flows off the tongue with a beauty and an elegance the moronic modern perversions could never dream of emulating.
It must also be mentioned that the translational philosophy which produced the King James Bible greatly differs from that which produced the modern translations, because the KJB was translated with an “every word” philosophy which aligns with Matthew 4:4. The translators did not merely seek to translate a “message” or the general frame of reasoning, but the very WORDS themselves. They well understood that “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
Conversely, the modern perversions spring from a humanistic translational philosophy which favors “thought for thought” translation – that is, merely representing the general ideas expressed, rather than giving a strict, word for word rendering. Perhaps this is because the “scholars” who corrupt the word of truth so either do not believe the Bible is inspired word for word, or do not believe the many promises throughout the Scriptures that God will preserve his every word. The flippancy with which they handle the word of God deceitfully, and the arrogance by which they become as gods, and decide for themselves what should or should not be in the Bible, speaks for itself.
Yet, all this aside, even if the modern perversions came from the same manuscripts as the King James Bible, and even if they were translated word for word, without changing or adding or deleting anything, and even if mutilating the beautiful English of the King James by modernizing the language did make it “easier to read”, would this be appropriate? Would it be acceptable to stupefy the Scriptures to make them more appealing to the ignorant and imbecilic, to those too lazy to study the word of God, to those too slothful to consult a dictionary when an unfamiliar word is encountered?
The answer is simply no. A beginner in calculus surely would not understand the complex formulas and exercises presented within the pages of his textbook. But is the solution to dumb down the material so that his limited faculties may better understand it, or is he to study and labor so that he can learn as much of it as he can? Only a fool would expect a challenging text to be simplified to suit his ignorance and idleness, yet this is exactly what the “unlearned and unstable” do, in leveraging the litany of lies and sophistries above discussed to demand the Bible be watered down and weakened so it is “easier to read” and “easier to understand.” They cheapen and debase God’s word by bringing it down to the level of mortal man, rather than requiring mortal man, under the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It need hardly be said that diminishing the Bible does not please God (Deuteronomy 4:2).
CONCLUSION
The King James Bible is not “hard to understand”; multitudes of tests have determined it is far easier to read than the modern perversions trumpeted for their supposed ease of understanding. But even if it was “harder to understand”, this would not justify replacing its beautiful truths with the retarded heresies and stolid diction of modern Bible versions. This would not justify using a completely different and unspeakably corrupt set of manuscripts which contradict both the King James manuscripts and themselves in a multitude of ways. And this certainly would not justify employing a blasphemous “thought for thought” translation which gives the translators the “right” to correct the word of God, and changes its truths into lies.
The illustration of maps has been used to convey the importance of this matter. If a map which leads you to the right destination is slightly more difficult to understand, and requires more study, than a map which is easy to understand but leads you to the wrong destination, which map would you use? Naturally, the more difficult map. Do not make the mistake, then, of using the modern Bible perversions which are presented as being “easy to understand” (even though this is a lie), because they will lead you to the same hell from whence they sprang. I cannot overstate the truth that these odious perversions, which teach Lordship Salvation, and the need to “change your hearts and lives” in order to be saved, and a host of other damnable heresies, are very dangerous things.
Who is your final authority, dear reader? It is the King James Bible? Or is it the corrupt fruit of men of corrupt minds? I pray you choose wisely, for your eternal destination may well depended on which Bible you believe.