We see the archaic English of the KJV as an unnecessary obstacle to understanding for today’s audience. There is also a troubling change of singular masculine pronouns to plurals—“he, his, and him” to “they, their, and them,” found in NIV2011 and some other versions. Such changes obscure the personal, individual focus of numerous important texts. In such texts, the generic masculine pronoun—historically understood as implying both male and female—is to be preferred.

We choose to have the New King James Version in our pew racks but do not make translations or versions a divisive issue from our pulpit. We would rather consider it a topic that can be taught from a historical context with an emphasis on the confidence that we have that God has preserved His Word for us so that we can know His plan for our Salvation and for instruction in living a life that pleases Him.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions!