As Bible-believing Christians, we believe there is a perfect word of God. If we doubt there is a perfect version of God’s word, how can we as believers of God believe in Him? He is perfect. Therefore a perfect word of God is also needed. We will find God’s perfect word in the 1611 King James Version. One might ask why it took over 1600 years to perfect. The reason behind this is simple: perfection takes time. We see this in our own lives. None of us can say that we have grown in our Christian walk overnight. It is often a lengthy and challenging process.
Ephesians 4:12-13: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
Access to a perfect word of God in ancient times was scarce due to Rome’s persecution of the Church. Coupled with the inability to mass produce scripture, these were among the most prominent issues in Church history. Christians of the time had to memorize multiple passages and hide scriptures to preserve them. Because of this, we know that perfecting the word of God was an extensive process. The following verses demonstrate how God perfects over some time:
James 1:4: “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
1 Peter 5:10: “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
Still not convinced? Take this into perspective. Old Testament Jews and New Testament Christians did not have the completed Canon of scripture until 4000 years later, or until John finished writing Revelation. Furthermore, the Word (Jesus), or the perfect salvation, was not available to humanity until 4000 years after creation and even He needed perfecting. If we can believe that our perfect salvation took 4000 years, then we can believe it took 1600 years to complete the perfect Bible as saved Christians. Even Jesus went through a process so why can’t the KJV have gone through a process.
Luke 13:32: “And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.”
If critics say, “what makes you think we didn’t have the Word since 1611?” Then we ask, “what makes you think that we didn’t have ‘The Word’ which is Jesus Christ for more than 4,000 years and he finally came.”
John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
So if the timing can be that long, why can’t we believe that the perfecting of the Bible came 1600 years later? Atheists will say why did Jesus take so long to come on earth, and Christian scholars will defend the critic but won’t defend the KJV. Christian scholars will answer with a historical reason, but we have the same historical basis for the KJV because there was no better time for the KJV to come out. So why won’t they do the same when asked where was the word of God before 1611?