Why KJV?

A house translation and the Greek texts behind English Bibles

Printable Tract

This book uses the King James Version (KJV) as its house translation because of its literary voice, historical continuity, and familiarity. That preference is not a claim that the KJV is the only reliable English Bible. Its New Testament follows the Textus Receptus (TR), a family of early printed Greek editions that is broadly Byzantine but not identical to the manuscript majority or to modern Byzantine-priority editions. Most recent English translations use an eclectic critical text whose editors compare witnesses from several textual streams, early versions, and quotations in Christian writers. The selected variants below show why the underlying Greek edition matters; they are examples, not an exhaustive apparatus.

Matthew 17:21 – Fasting and Prayer
KJV: “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
NIV/ESV main text: The verse is not printed; the variant is reported in a footnote.
TR editions include the verse. Current eclectic editions do not place it in the main text because its manuscript support is disputed.
Acts 8:37 – Baptism Confession
KJV: “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
NIV/ESV main text: The verse is not printed; the variant is reported in a footnote.
The TR includes the confession. Most Greek manuscripts and current eclectic editions do not include it in the main text, although early Christian writers attest forms of the confession.
1 Timothy 3:16 – The Mystery of Godliness
KJV: “God was manifest in the flesh…”
NIV/ESV main text: “He appeared in the flesh…”
The TR, Robinson–Pierpont Byzantine Textform, and Patriarchal text read “God.” Current eclectic editions read “who,” commonly rendered “he.” The local difference matters, but the wider New Testament case for Christ’s deity does not depend on this verse.
Colossians 1:14 – Redemption
KJV: “In whom we have redemption through his blood…”
NIV/ESV main text: “In whom we have redemption…”
The TR includes “through his blood” in this verse. Robinson–Pierpont, the Patriarchal text, and current eclectic editions have the shorter reading; the phrase remains in Ephesians 1:7 across those editions.

Three Terms That Should Not Be Collapsed

The Textus Receptus is the family of printed Greek editions used by the KJV translators. The broader Byzantine tradition predominates in later surviving Greek manuscripts, while modern Byzantine-priority editions assess that tradition with methods and evidence unavailable to the first TR editors. The TR and Byzantine-priority texts overlap substantially, but they differ at many readings.

A modern eclectic critical edition does not copy one “Alexandrian Bible.” Its editors compare manuscripts from several textual streams, along with early translations and quotations in Christian writers. They weigh age, relationships among manuscripts, and the likelihood of different copying changes. Byzantine-priority scholars answer that the church’s broad Greek transmission deserves greater starting weight. That is a methodological dispute, not evidence that one side believes the Bible while the other seeks to weaken it.

All four examples above were selected because the TR has the fuller reading. They demonstrate real textual differences, but they do not prove a systematic removal of Christian doctrine. Christ’s deity, His atoning blood, salvation by grace through faith, and the book’s Sabbath thesis remain explicit across faithful translations.

The KJV remains this book’s literary and house preference. Readers can test its textual choices without making any English translation a condition of faith.