NKJV Affects Doctrine
Pastor Steve Waldron
(Apostolic doctrine in trouble)
Here are several enormous doctrinal deficiencies in the NKJV. Let us examine some of them.
First, it is a truism of education that “repetition is the mother of learning”. God created us to learn in that way. So it is not just that a word is mentioned in the Bible, but that the frequency with which it is used will affect how deeply that it penetrates our lives.
This being the case, it is indeed a doctrinal deficiency when the word: “Lord” is deleted 66 times in the NKJV. Or the word “God” appears 51 fewer times than in the KJV. Other words removed with the frequency of omission cited include “heaven” 50 times, “repent” 44 times, “blood” 23 times, “hell” 22 times, the word “JEHOVAH” is omitted entirely, as is “new testament”, “damnation”, and “devils”.
It does not matter that some of these terms are not completely omitted, or that some of the doctrines are found in other passages. It matters that the repetition that God desires for a word or a doctrine to be presented in His Word is tampered with. With the grievous warnings for adding to or taking away from the Word of God mentioned in the Bible (Rev. 22:18,19; Deut. 4:2; Proverbs 30:5,6). I would say that this constitutes serious doctrinal deficiencies in the NKJV.
For example, the removal of the word ‘damnation’ from the epistles is a very serious doctrinal error. Hence, every place a believer is shown with the capacity for damnation (Romans 13:2; ‘damned’ in Romans 14:23; I Cor.11:29; I Timothy 5:12; ‘damnable’ II Peter 2:1), it is replaced in the NKJV with ‘condemnation’ or ‘destructive’. This leads to the unscriptural doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security. In the KJV however, this doctrine is easily refuted.
In numerous other places, the NKJV affects doctrine as well:
* Acts 2:38 is significantly weakened in the NKJV with the insertion of the word “let” and the change of word order, with “everyone” being placed before the word “baptism”, so the force of command is altered. Acts 2:38 goes from being a forceful, un-optional commandment, to an option.
* I Cor. 7:9 inserts the words “with passion “after the verse, in deference to the doctrine of unconditional eternal security.
* The command to ‘study’ the Bible is changed to ‘be diligent’ from II Timothy 2:15 thereby removing the Bible’s only admonition to ‘study.’
* The admonition to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil’ is changed in I Thessalonians 5:22 to ‘Abstain from every form of evil’, thereby eliminating a wall in the doctrine of separation from the world.
* A Removes the prophecy of God providing Himself as a lamb found in Gen. 22:8
* Makes ‘narrow is the way’ to ‘difficult is the way’ in Matthew 7:14, not only changing the meaning but also clearly contradicting Matthew 11:30.
* A Changes ‘whale’ in Matthew 12:40 to ‘fish’ even though the Greek word ketos is used in the text, which is where the word for the study of whales comes from, cetology.
* Removes worship from Jesus Christ in Matthew 20:20, changing it instead to ‘kneeling down’. There is a vast difference between ‘kneeling down’ and worshipping Jesus!
* A Seemingly promotes pantheism in John 4:24 by changing `God is a spirit’ to ‘God is spirit’.
* I Cor.1:21 changes ‘foolishness of preaching’ to ‘foolishness of the message preached’, totally changing the meaning of the text.
* Removes the sin of being effeminate in I Cor. 6:9.
* In II Cor. 2:17 it changes the word ‘corrupt’ to ‘peddle’ thereby taking out a Scripture showing that many were corrupting God’s Word even in Paul’s day.
* A Changes ‘imaginations’ to ‘arguments’ in II Cor.10:5, shifting spiritual warfare from our own wicked imaginations to the arguments of those that disagree with us.
* Totally removes the phrase ‘nevertheless I live’ from the great Christian life passage of Gal. 2:20
* Changes ‘science’ to ‘knowledge’ in I Timothy 6:20, thereby radically changing Paul’s charge here. A Removes ‘love of God’ from I John 3:16.
* Changes ‘Master’ to ‘Teacher’ in Matt. 19:16, 22:16, 23:8, 23:10, dramatically altering the force and the concept in each of these passages.
* Changes ‘servant’ to ‘slave’ in Romans 6:16 and other places, again dramatically altering the concept and meaning.
* Removes the word ‘sodomite’ which downplays its seriousness, changing it to ‘perverted person’.
* Removes its connection to current ‘sodomy’ laws, and also its historical connection with Sodom.
* Replaces ‘he’ with ‘they’ in Isaiah 53:9, downplaying a great prophecy of the burying of Messiah.
* Removes the KJV safeguard of God not taking on the nature of angels in the incarnation, found in Heb.2:16, as some false teachers say Jesus was really Michael the archangel.
* ‘Leave’ is changed to ‘divorce’ in I Cor.7:13, totally altering the text.
* Romans 1:25 and I Timothy 6:10 have their meanings significantly changed.
* In Acts 19:35 it removes the fact that the Ephesians were worshippers of the goddess Diana.
* In Acts 17:22, the Athenians go from being ‘too superstitious’ to ‘very religious’. This is a much milder form of comment from the apostle, and could lead to one examining the ‘positive’ aspects of idolatry!
* In I John 5:19 it weakens the doctrine of inherent wickedness in the present world, its system and unregenerate inhabitants, and makes it appear that only the devil is the problem.
* Luke 11:4 informs us in the Lord’s Prayer that we should just pray for deliverance from the evil one, Satan, and not evil in general.
* A In Matt. 23:10, the NKJV tells us not to be called ‘teachers’, when teachers are part of the 5 fold ministry found in Eph. 4. The KJV translates this ‘master’, which is a perfectly understandable translation that does not bring contradiction into the Bible text.
* The powerful Scriptures showing that Jesus is the ‘Son’ are switched to ‘servant’ in the NKJV in Acts 3:13 and 26. Again, the doctrinal implications are obvious. His Sonship relates to the incarnation when God overshadowed Mary, making Jesus both God and man. A servant could be anyone.
* Matt.26:64 indicates that Jesus is coming, sitting at the ‘right hand of power’ in the KJV. Compared with Matt. 28:18, Ps.16:8, Rev.3:20,21, 4:2, and 22:3,4, it is obvious that Jesus is speaking of Himself coming in power, and not at the right hand literally of God the Father, as though the Father is some completely separate being. However in the NKJV it is translated as ‘the Power’ which would strongly indicate a plurality of persons, and a completely separate being.
* In the NKJV it says ‘reject a divisive man’ in Titus 3:10. In the KJV it replaces divisive man with heretic. It is obvious that one scripture (NKJV) could be used to quell all disagreements and questioning, even at a national General Conference, whereas the KJV rendering would limit it to someone who is unsound doctrinally. This is a radical change, with profound implications theologically and practically. Consider Paul’s disputes with Barnabas and Peter.
* The Oneness of God is drastically affected in the NKJV as it never addresses God in the singular, Thee, Thou, Thy or Thine but is always addressed in the plural, Ye You, Your & Yours!
In summary, it seems that the New King James Version of the Bible contains glaring and alarming inadequacies that are cause for great concern. It weakens, changes, or deletes certain doctrines of the Church concerning God, the incarnation, the deity of Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation, heaven, hell, separation, study, the Christian life, sexual immorality, and many more. It arbitrarily changes the meaning of certain Bible texts, removes vital words and phrases from certain passages, and diminishes the authority of the Bible. It brings in contradictions to the Bible text. It fails to significantly update the KJV in a positive manner. It uses certain words such as palanquin, curds, eczema, gad (not the prophet found in the KJV, but rather an archaic form of ‘go’), kors, offal, parapet, pinions, rivulets, satraps, terebinth, verdant, verdure, wend, Keva (linen yarns in the KJV), pim, sloops, citron, dappled, hoopoe, prow, quadrans, and sistrums among many others that cloud, rather than clarify the Biblical text. All of these difficulties, and more, are cause for great concern.
This article excerpted and edited from “An Examination of The New King James Version of the Bible” a pamphlet by: Pastor Steve Waldron (used by permission).
Copies of this tract, permission for its full reproduction or more information on pro-KJB materials for the Apostolic movement may be obtained from email address: kjbapostolics@gmaiLcom.
Tract # NKJV-AD November 2015
The above article, “NKJV Affects Doctrine” was written by Pastor Steve Waldron. The article was excerpted from “An Examination of The New King James Version of the Bible”.
The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.
This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”
