Inerrancy and the King James Bible

Last month, at the 2011 Grace Impact Family Bible Conference, I was asked to teach a seminar on the subject of Inerracy and the King James Bible. My task was simple and straight forward, answer the following question, "is it possible or proper to claim inerrancy for a translation of Scripture?" As one might except many in our day would say no, only the original manuscriptes were inerrant. While this is a popular claim in our day, it does not prove anything since we no longer possess the originals. Matters are complicated for supporters of the King James when one considers the various editions between 1611 and the standardization of the text in 1769.

The following video contains what I believe to be the Scriptural answer to this difficult problem. Interested parties should be sure to consult the accompanying PDF notes because they contain an entire section on the history of the doctrine of inerrancy that was not covered in the video due the constraints of time. Moreover, the PowerPoint has also been included below to make it easy for people to read and follow along with the examples contained in the video.

Lastly, I have also included links to the sources I used to prepare this lesson. This is very important subject that anyone interested in the King James Bible should find useful.

For a PDF copy of the notes click here.

For a copy of the PowerPoint click here.

To access the audio file click here.

Supplemental Materials

Bratcher, Dennis. The Modern Inerrancy Debate.

Geisler, Norman. Inerrancy. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1980.

Norton, David. A Textual History of the King James Bible. Cambridge University Press, 2004. (One should pay particular attention to Appendix 8)

Perry, John. Dissolving the Inerrancy Debate: How Modern Philosophy Shaped the Evangelical View of Scripture.