Origin of the TERM King James Only

[rlvaughn]

Herb Evans referred to “the King James only position” in 1980 (Flaming Torch, June, 1980, p. 3). Herb Evans' articles were usually printed earlier in Peter Ruckman's Bible Believers' Bulletin.

In a remonstrance against David Cloud titled "Cloudy Inspiration," Herb Evans writes the following:

As far as I know, I was the first one ever to use the term King James Only in a positive way, so I can repudiate those who have picked up on it and used it in a negative way, as well as those, like David Cloud, who use the term in a limited and safeguarded capacity to play it safe. I have annotated David Cloud’s comments (updated March 31, 2010) as follows: – Herb Evans

At first I thought he was only saying he was the first using it positively, but after reading this over a few times, I think he is saying he used it in a positive way before others used it in a negative way.

What think ye?

 

[rlvaughn]

Well, it looks like Robert L. Sumner has made a competing claim in The Biblical Evangelist, “Dean Burgon on ‘Revision!’”

Some time ago a couple of the brethren set out to determine who invented the term “King James Only” and eventually came to the conclusion that this editor did. I told them then that they could claim the credit for themselves or give it to someone else, and that is the last I heard. But now that push has come to shove, I’d better acknowledge it. And I do so now only to say that no one knows better than I what I meant by the term.

After that he writes, seeming to say it was in his article Bible Translations:

And what was that?
My article, Bible Translations was first published here, then in The Sword of the Lord when Dr. John R. Rice was at the helm, and then published in booklet form by the Sword of the Lord Publishers and Dr. Rice.

I have this booklet and am going to look through it.

 

[robycop3]

was the KJVO ever outside IFB churches that much at all?

The KJVO myth is fairly-prevalent among SDAs, as their guru, Ellen White, used the KJV. Some pentecostal branches seem pretty KJVO while others aren't. Several local Southern Baptist churches in my area are, with one even having "King James Bible" on its shingle. And more than one nondenom congregation is, as are many "holiness" churches.

Still beyond me how anyone with more common sense than God gave a grape can't see how false the whole KJVO myth is !

 

[rlvaughn]

...Herb Evans writes the following...

...it looks like Robert L. Sumner has made a competing claim...

In addition to the (unsupported) assertions of Evans and Sumner (as well as the guy who blamed the academic staff at BJU), Homer Austin Kent might be a contender. Last night I went to WorldCat.org and searched for library holdings with "King James Only" in the title.

The Concordia Theological Seminary Library has a one sheet writing titled The King James Only?. It was written by Homer Austin Kent, Jr (1926-2020) of the Grace Theological Seminary. It was written sometime in the 1970s. Unfortunately, without reading it, I can't know how it uses the term (other than knowing that Kent would not have supported King James as the only inspired Bible, since he was one of the translators of the original NIV for the book of Hebrews).

 

[Logos1560]

I have this booklet and am going to look through it.

My copy of Robert Sumner's booklet Bible Translations stated that it was reprinted from the Biblical Evangelist, January, 1979.
The article was also published in the Sword of the Lord since my copy includes a reprint of a March 6, 1979, letter from E. C. Haskell that was thanking Dr. John R. Rice for publishing it in the last issue. Perhaps it was published in The Sword in February.

On the first page, Robert Sumner asked the question "Is the King James Version the Only Trustworthy Translation", but I have not noticed the term KJV-only or King James only is his booklet.

 

[Jerome]

when the Rsv first came out. certain baptists and other pastors were burning them?

Never heard of that happening.

Martin Luther Hux, pastor of Temple Baptist Church of Rocky Mount, North Carolina
....burned "…a page from Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14”

AP newspaper photo of Hux (a 'Sovereign Grace' independent Baptist by the way) holding match to page torn from Isaiah of Revised Standard Version, here:

Pastor burns leaf from new RSV Bible - Newspapers.com



an Ohio preacher went further, actually took a blowtorch to an RSV Bible:

"The Rev. Bill Denton announced today he will burn a copy of the revised standard version of the Bible next Sunday at his Furnace St. Mission grounds. The minister, backed by some 30 other Protestant clergymen who criticized the RVS Bible in a written statement Wednesday, said it destroys the miraculous act of God as regards the virgin birth. 'I shall burn it,' he said, 'to show we still have Christians who will not stand for such modernistic translations of God's word.' For the burning, said the Rev. Denton, he will use a blowtorch."

photo of event here:

Burning of RSV Bible, Akron, Ohio, 1953

 

[rlvaughn]

My copy of Robert Sumner's booklet Bible Translations stated that it was reprinted from the Biblical Evangelist, January, 1979.
The article was also published in the Sword of the Lord since my copy includes a reprint of a March 6, 1979, letter from E. C. Haskell that was thanking Dr. John R. Rice for publishing it in the last issue. Perhaps it was published in The Sword in February.

I concur, it must have been published in The Sword in February of that year. If I remember correctly, it was a weekly back then, so might have possibly been in very early March.

On the first page, Robert Sumner asked the question "Is the King James Version the Only Trustworthy Translation", but I have not noticed the term KJV-only or King James only is his booklet.

Thanks for checking. I scanned through mine last night (didn't have time to read it word for word), and came to the same conclusion. Perhaps that phrase was what Sumner had in mind (unless we missed it), but I don't see that as rising to the level of inventing the term King James Only.

 

[rlvaughn]

Pastor burns leaf from new RSV Bible - Newspapers.com

Burning of RSV Bible, Akron, Ohio, 1953

Great pics. Thanks.

 

[robycop3]

Evidently, neither of those gents checked the HEBREW for Isaiah 14:12, nor did they know what an almah is. If an almah is single, her virginity is a gimme.

 

[Yeshua1]

Before my time, but I had read about it in my research. In November 1952, Martin Luther Hux, pastor of Temple Baptist Church of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, shocked many by announcing his intentions to burn a copy of the Revised Standard Bible. (“Rocky Mount Bible-Burning Set Tonight,” Asheville Citizen-Times, Sunday, November 30, 1952, p. 1) Others followed suit, and “One straw in the wind of public reaction was the adoption by the city council of Crestview, Fla., of an ordinance prohibiting the burning of the Revised Standard Version...which prescribed a $500 fine or 90 days in jail...” (“Fundamentalists in Bitter Attack Upon Revised Standard Version of the Bible,” Decatur Sunday Herald and Review, Sunday, February 1, 1953, p. 39)

In North Carolina, the Rocky Mount Ministerial Association declared that none of their members had any sympathy for and part in the Bible burning episode of Hux. (“Ministers Deplore Burning Of New Bible By Local Pastor,” Rocky Mount Telegram, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Wednesday, December 3, 1952, p. 1B). According to a history of Temple Baptist Church published in The (Nashville/Rocky Mount) Graphic October 16, 1987, Hux actually only burned “…a page from Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14…” There likely many more threats of burning the RSV than actual burning.
Immaterial to the question of the origin of the term “King James Only.”

Just looks like any type of new translation brings concerns for somebody!

 

[Yeshua1]

It is found in some pentecostal-type bodies, and other conservative or fundamentalist non-Baptist denominations.

Seems that most of the issues has arised though among IFB?

 

[Yeshua1]

I doubt this one, especially since he didn't cite a source. I was at BJU 50 years ago, 1970-1972, and never heard the term. Nobody was arguing about the KJV at that time. As I said on my timeline thread, I think the movement started in 1970. So there wasn't a name for it at that time.

Still confused on this, is there a 1611 KJVO, and other KJV editions KJVO?

 

[Yeshua1]

The KJVO myth is fairly-prevalent among SDAs, as their guru, Ellen White, used the KJV. Some pentecostal branches seem pretty KJVO while others aren't. Several local Southern Baptist churches in my area are, with one even having "King James Bible" on its shingle. And more than one nondenom congregation is, as are many "holiness" churches.

Still beyond me how anyone with more common sense than God gave a grape can't see how false the whole KJVO myth is !

You are right that many into Charismatic Chaos do tend to use KJV only!

 

[rlvaughn]

Seems that most of the issues has arised though among IFB?

No doubt IFB's are called "Fightin' Fundamentalist" for a reason. However, I expect that we being Baptists also aren't as aware of the fights among other groups.

Just looks like any type of new translation brings concerns for somebody!

Maybe so, but Daniel Wallace contends that "the RSV...is in fact the most hated English translation of all time."

 

[John of Japan]

Still confused on this, is there a 1611 KJVO, and other KJV editions KJVO?

Not that I know of.

 

[Logos1560]

The Concordia Theological Seminary Library has a one sheet writing titled The King James Only?. It was written by Homer Austin Kent, Jr (1926-2020) of the Grace Theological Seminary. It was written sometime in the 1970s.

I have a copy of a tract entitled "The King James Only?" by Homer A. Kent, Jr. that was printed by Grace Theological Seminary. It is not dated. The same article was printed in the Fall, 1983, issue of Spire, a publication of Grace Theological Seminary. The tract may come from the article so that it may have been written in the early 1980's. I do not notice that he defined the term used in his title.

Homer Kent Jr. wrote: "There have recently appeared tracts, pamphlets, and even a few books vigorously defending the King James Version and practically anathematizing all others as liberal plots to undermine the Word of God" (p. 3)

 

[Jerome]

(pdf) Bob Jones University Bulletin, January 1953 "Bob Jones University's Position on New Bible Translation"

"Bob Jones University has taken a very clear and strong position against the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, which was issued by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America recently. Dr. Jones, Sr. has repeatedly warned the public that any translation that tries to 'play down' Jesus Christ as the divine Son of God is plainly an instrument of Satan, and anyone who defends this translation is either ignorant of the facts or is liberal in his theology."

 

[rlvaughn]

I have a copy of a tract entitled "The King James Only?" by Homer A. Kent, Jr. that was printed by Grace Theological Seminary.
It is not dated. The same article was printed in the Fall, 1983, issue of Spire, a publication of Grace Theological Seminary.
The tract may come from the article so that it may have been written in the early 1980's.

What Concordia has may be that tract, since they describe it as “1 folded sheet ; 22 cm”. I am not sure how they arrived at the date 197-?. Perhaps there is something in it that mentions a date and they know it has to be after that.

How does he "King James Only" in the tract?

 

[rlvaughn]

You are right that many into Charismatic Chaos do tend to use KJV only!

I don't want to go too far down this road, since it can lead us way off the topic, but here are a couple of examples.

In the Pentecostal realm, two names have cropped up a lot in my searches, Craig Savige and Matthew Verschuur, associated with the Victory Faith Centre in Victoria, Australia.

Awhile back I read a blog by an Orthodox priest who complained that some folks insisted on using only King James Orthodox services (i.e., services in the English language). He spoke of those who insisted on it as a minority, "but they are a strong enough force to prevent the updating of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy into modern English in at least one jurisdiction."

 

[Yeshua1]

I don't want to go too far down this road, since it can lead us way off the topic, but here are a couple of examples.

In the Pentecostal realm, two names have cropped up a lot in my searches, Craig Savige and Matthew Verschuur, associated with the Victory Faith Centre in Victoria, Australia.

Awhile back I read a blog by an Orthodox priest who complained that some folks insisted on using only King James Orthodox services (i.e., services in the English language). He spoke of those who insisted on it as a minority, "but they are a strong enough force to prevent the updating of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy into modern English in at least one jurisdiction."

WoW. they are starting to really branch out!