The Supposed Errors in the KJV

The Nas and esv and Nkjv do not have heresy introduced in their pages!

 

Can the Holy Spirit groan, speak, or not?

 

Does the KJV have the clearest and most accurate translation of verse 2 of chapter 19 in the book of Acts?

Concerns have been expressed about the rendering or meaning of the question Paul asked and about the answer given by the disciples of John the Baptist. In his commentary on Acts, Oliver B. Greene asserted that “Paul did not actually ask these men if they had received the Holy Ghost SINCE they believed” (III, p. 225). Concerning Paul‘s question [“Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?”], Marvin Vincent maintained: “The two verbs are in the aorist tense, and therefore denote instantaneous acts. The A. V. therefore gives an entirely wrong idea, as there is no question about what happened after believing; but the question relates to what occurred when they believed” (Vincent’s Word Studies, I, p. 551). A. T. Robertson also noted that “the first aorist active participle pisteusantes is simultaneous with the second aorist active indicative elabete and refers to the same event” (Word Pictures, III, p. 311). In his commentary on Acts, J. A. Alexander also asserted that the question concerns when they believed since “the verb and participle denote simultaneous actions” (p. 186). Likewise, in his 1859 commentary on Acts, Horatio Hackett affirmed that “the participle refers to the same time as the verb” (p. 309). In the notes in the volume on Acts in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, J. Rawson Lumby wrote: “The two verbs in the original are in the same tense, and there is nothing to justify the ’since’ of the A. V.” (p. 247). A. C. Kendrick wrote: “In Acts 19:2, we have a mistranslation of both the aorist indicative and the participle: ‘Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed’ for ‘did ye receive the Holy Ghost upon believing,‘ or ‘when ye believed’ which is a very different idea” (Anglo-American, p. 109). John Eadie wrote: “The sense and reference of the question are darkened in our version, ’have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?’ the true translation, ’did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed, or on your believing?” (English Bible, II, pp. 445-446). Likewise, J. B. Lightfoot affirmed that the translation should read: “Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed” (Revision, p. 84). Oliver B. Greene agreed that “the question should read, ‘Did ye receive the Holy Ghost WHEN ye believed‘” (Bible Truth, p. 528). John Walvoord maintained that the question “should be translated, ’Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed” (The Holy Spirit, p. 154). In his Interlinear for the Rest of Us, William Mounce translated it as “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?“ (p. 412). Gordon Clark asserted that “Paul’s initial question was, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Holy Spirit, pp. 92-93). Jack Lewis wrote: “They [men] built a doctrine of the second blessing on ‘Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?’ (Acts 19:2), which should have read ‘when ye believed’” (English Bible, p. 65). The 1657 English translation of the Dutch Bible has “when ye believed” at Acts 19:1.

Concerning the answer [“we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost“], Jamison, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary asserted: “This cannot be the meaning, since the personality and office of the Holy Ghost in connection with Christ, formed an especial subject of the Baptist’s teaching. Literally, ‘We did not even hear whether the Holy Ghost was [given],‘ that is, at the time of their baptism. That the word ‘given’ is the right supplement seems plain from the nature of the case; and it is the same in John 7:39, on the same subject” (III, Part Two, p. 137). Jews who had heard the preaching of John the Baptist and who had received his baptism and become his disciples should have know of the existence of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 1:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5). Vincent affirmed that “as Bengel observes, ‘They could not have followed either Moses or John the Baptist without having heard of the Holy Ghost’” (I, p. 551). James Scholefield asserted that the better rendering would be “’whether the Holy Ghost be given’--exactly as the same words are translated in John 7:39” (Hints, p. 45). In his volume on Acts in his An Interpretation of the English Bible, B. H. Carroll presented their answer as follows: “We did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given” (p. 386). About this same response, Glenn Conjurske wrote: “This is a palpable blot upon the fact of the old version. The expression in the original is such that some degree of interpretation is necessary to produce an intelligible translation of it, but the interpretation found in the common English Bible can hardly be the right one” (Olde Paths, March, 1997, p. 63). As to the likely source of the KJV’s rendering of this answer, Conjurske observed: “What, then, led all the Protestant translators astray, from Tyndale to the King James Version. I believe that here, as often enough elsewhere, the fault lies with Martin Luther. His German New Testament (1522) reads at Acts 19:2, ob eyn heyliger geyst sey, ’if an Holy Ghost be.’ It was a mistake to add the indefinite article before ‘Holy Ghost.’ Tis true, there is no definite article in the Greek, but that is no indication that we may insert the indefinite. There is no definite article in John 7:39 either, nor in the first half of the text before us, where Paul asked the disciples, ’Have ye received the Holy Ghost,’ yet Paul was certainly not asking them if they had received a Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost. Luther himself has den heyligen geyst, ’the Holy Ghost,’ in Paul’s question in the first half of the verse” (p. 64). In his commentary on Acts, Harry Ironside commented: “What they actually said was this: ‘we had not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost be,’ that is, whether He be come” (p. 434). The 1842 revision of the KJV translated the response as follows: “We have not even heard that the Holy Spirit is given.”

 

Act 19:2 (NASB95)
He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

Act 19:2 (KJV)
He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

The verb "pisteusantes" is in the Aorist Active Participle Nominative plural masculine grammatical form. In this form, the verb appears 6 times in the NT, Luke 8:12, John 20:29, Acts 19:2, Ephesians 1:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:12 and Hebrews 4:3. However, no translation (that I am aware of) consistently translates it as "when you believed" or any other rendering.

The "ones having believed" (or negatively "ones having not believed") seems to be the actual idea.

Thus "Did you receive the Holy Spirit having believed" seems to be the idea.

 

Luke 8:12
“Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.

Here a more consistent choice might be, "so that the ones having not believed will not be saved."

John 20:29
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Here a more consistent choice might be "Blessed are the ones having not seen, yet having believed."

Eph 1:13
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Here no change is needed to provide a consistent translation choice.

2Thessalonians 2:12
in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

Here a more consistent translation choice might be, "who, having not believed, but took pleasure in wickedness."

Heb 4:3
For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Here a more consistent choice might be, "For we, the ones having believed, enter that rest."

Therefore the grammatical argument for simultaneous belief and indwelling, as opposed to sequential, in order to fault the KJV seems weak on its surface. I believe the two actions occur sequentially, but without discernible delay because first we believe, then God credits that belief, then God places us into Christ, then we are made firm in Christ (as a new creation) and then we are sealed in Christ.

The argument that "when you believed" provides no opening for "the second blessing" false doctrine is less than compelling because it provides an opening for the "automatic salvation upon belief" false doctrine.

 

Hebrews 10:23 (KJV)
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.)

Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV)
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

In the KJV, the Greek word translated as "faith" at Hebrews 10:23, but in all the other 53 usages, the KJV translates the word as "Hope."

Just about all English translations, outside the KJV family, translate the word as Hope, with about seven versions going with "faith" including the AKJV, and the KJV.

So once again, we can fault the KJV for inconsistency, but clearly our hope arises from our faith.

 

Acts 19:37 verse in the KJV has "robbers of churches" where nearly everyone else has robbers of temples (temple robbers). I think this is a solid example of a translation error in the KJV.

 

And as discussed in another thread, Easter in Acts 12:4 is another KJV mistranslation.

 

One of the reasons the KJV translation choices appear questionable (if not in error) is that the scholars understanding of the implications of Greek grammar have changed since the KJV publication.

For example, here is Titus 2:13 as presented in the KJV: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Now a more modern rendering would be: Tit 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, (NIV)

Clearly the application of the Granville Sharp's Rule presents Christ's deity for all to see!

 

• ROMANS 8:26
• [KJV] 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
• [NLT] 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
• [NIV] 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
• [ESV] 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
• [CSB] 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.
• [NASB95] 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words;
• [NET] 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.
• [RSV] 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
• [ASV] 26 And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for [us] with groanings which cannot be uttered;
• [YLT] 26 And, in like manner also, the Spirit doth help our weaknesses; for, what we may pray for, as it behoveth [us], we have not known, but the Spirit himself doth make intercession for us with groanings unutterable,
• [DBY] 26 And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered.
• [WEB] 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

So, I don't see any real difference in message from among any of these translations.

• JOHN 16:13
• [KJV] 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
• [NLT] 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
• [NIV] 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
• [ESV] 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
• [CSB] 13 "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.
• [NASB95] 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
• [NET] 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come.
• [RSV] 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
• [ASV] 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, [these] shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come.
• [YLT] 13 and when He may come -- the Spirit of truth -- He will guide you to all the truth, for He will not speak from Himself, but as many things as He will hear He will speak, and the coming things He will tell you;
• [DBY] 13 But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming.
• [WEB] 13 But, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all the truth: for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he shall hear, [that] will he speak: and he will show you things to come.

Which translations of John 16:13 contradicts Romans 8:26?
I don't see any contradiction in any of them.

Romans 8:26 says that when we cannot pray to God, the Spirit groans the prayers of our heart for us.
John 16:13 says that the Spirit speaks to us the things that he hears (from God is implied).
The verses do not contradict, they fit perfectly together like pieces in a puzzle: us to the Spirit to the Father & Son; the Father & Son to the Spirit to us.

 

Still waiting to see those so called heresies that the Nasb and Nkjv introduced in their translations!

 

The Kjv does in the English grammar support the notion of there being 2 persons referenced there!

 

I spotted a KJV error:

• Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
• John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The Holy Spirit, third person of the Godhead, is not an "it" (Romans 8:26); the Holy Spirit is a "he" (John 16:13) ... or even "He".