Thou shalt not be dogmatic concerning the King James Version of the Bible, neither thee nor thy maidservant, thy manservant, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. Nor shouldst thou cleave unto one translation, to the neglect of others, for verily I say unto thee that all hath the Word of God.

That’s the point Dr. Mark Ward makes about the King James Version of the Bible, which has long been English-speaking Christianity’s standard bearer. He points out the good things about a translation that was executed in 1611, that some 55 percent of Bible readers use today, but he also shows how even a faithful translation can easily be misunderstood because of “false friends”—words we still use today, but which had completely different meanings four centuries ago.

And he emphasizes that we shouldn’t take translations so seriously that we use them to divide us into camps—i.e., I’m an NIV 2011 Christian as opposed to say, an NASB believer. The Word of God is meant to bring us together, whatever the translation.

The Dove Take:

It’s hard to go wrong when you’re affirming the authority of God’s Word, and no matter how you translate it, it’s given to us so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that by believing we may have eternal life in His Name.