Introduction

Let me state quite simply and plainly the position for which I contend.

I believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of the living God and because the Authorised Version is a faithful English translation of the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and the original Greek of the New Testament, it is the very Word of God in my mother tongue. Being a translation does not alter one iota of its integrity, inerrancy and infallibility as God's Word.

I believe the Authorised Version preserves the Word of God for me in the English tongue and that it contains no errors.

In the unfolding of its history I trace the providential wonder of the God who gave His own inerrant Word and transmitted it through many epochs of crucial centuries for the Christian Church.

As far as the English Authorised Version is concerned I believe:

1. Its foundation is unsurpassably pre-eminent in the underlying texts upon which it rests.
2. Its ancestry is unsurpassably pre-eminent in the various English translations which gave it birth and of which it is the sum and substance, the pith and marrow, the essence and cream and perfection.
3. Its translators are unsurpassably pre-eminent in their saintliness and scholarship, the way they were providentially brought together, and the dedication with which they undertook and gloriously completed their momentous task
4. Its translation is unsurpassably pre-eminent in the techniques it employed.
5. Its English is unsurpassably pre-eminent.
6. Its language is unsurpassably pre-eminent in its charity, chastity and eternity.
7. Its doctrine is unsurpassably pre-eminent, being couched in sound words, in keeping to the text with unwavering integrity.
8. Its reverence is unsurpassably pre-eminent, casting the hem of its holy garment carefully over every sentence, word and syllable.
9. Its history if unsurpassable pre-eminent, having preserved for centuries the Word of God for the English speaking peoples of the whole world and those evangelised by them.
10. Its fruits are unsurpassably pre-eminent, so mighty and so manifold that there is not room enough to receive them.

I believe this English Authorized Version is unsurpassable pre-eminent over and above all other English translations, because like the blessed Joseph there rests upon it the blessing of the heavens above and of the deep that lieth under (Genesis 49:25).

I cry out "There is none like that, give it me," and in so doing I nail the Satanic lie that the Authorized Version is outdated, outmoded, mistranslated, a relic of the past and only defended by stupid, unlearned, untaught obscurantists.

As its deriders and revilers pass on to the judgment of the thrice holy God whose revelation they despise, the Old Book.

"Incomparable in its faithfulness, majestic in its language, and inexhaustible in its fruitfulness, continues to reveal to millions the matchless grace of Him whose name is THE WORD OF GOD, and who is crowned with glory and honour."

I believe this Book will always be the unsurpassable pre-eminent English version of the Holy BIble and no other can ever take its place.

To seek to dislodge this Book from its rightful pre-eminent place is the act of the enemy, and what is attempted to put in its place is an intruder — an imposter — a usurper.

Having made my position crystal clear, I will now move to substantiate and defend it.

From My Plea for the Old Sword: The Unsurpassable Pre-eminency of the English Authorized Version (KJV) of the Holy Bible by Ian R. K. Paisley. Greenville, SC: Ambassador, 1997. Introduction.

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