John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word (Not words), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It’s hard for our finite minds to comprehend that God is a Spirit and He is His Word. Also, that there is only one right interpretation of His Word when there are over 100 different translations of the bible in the English language and a gazillion different doctrines being preached all over the world.
There is NO teaching in the word of God that leads us to any conclusion other than God is One. ONE Word (meaning only one right interpretation), ONE Lord (not Lords), ONE God (not Gods), ONE Spirit (not Spirits), ONE faith (not faiths), ONE baptism, ONE body, ONE church. Otherwise you have confusion. Read Ephesians chapter 4 several times. How else could the apostles traveled to every continent and thousands of miles apart and preached the exact same Word? How else could the bible be written by men born over a span of 1500 years, from different continents and not knowing each other in most cases, and the word of God line up so perfectly in teaching, historical facts, geographical alignment and prophecies spoken hundreds of years before they occurred exactly as they were spoken/written!
God knew the English language would be the dominant language of the world before it happened. He knew the Catholic church prior to the Protestant Reformation would use His Word to abuse their power and take total financial advantage of the common people by keeping the bible from being translated from Latin to English. He also knew the only Christian country with the means, scholars and passion to translate the bible into English was England. So He put it into the heart of the one of the most powerful kings of that day, King James I, to spend the money and whatever resources were needed to do it the right way! According to history, there was between 49 and 54 of the most intelligent, educated men of that day who spent upwards of 7 years to do just such a translation. They were men of high positions in many cases and expert in biblical knowledge. It took them upward of 7 years to do the work with a very strict set of 16 guidelines they couldn’t deviate from. They were divided into 4 separate groups with a section for each to do. When they completed their own sections, they then turned their work over to the other groups to make sure everything was accurate. They worked from four of the most prominent universities of that day.
Upon completion of this marvelous work, The original King James Version of the Holy Bible as it is officially known, became the number one selling edition of the bible within 50 years of publication. It is the number 1 selling book in history! According to some research I felt led of the Lord to do, if the same work was done today, it would cost approximately $18,800,000. Wow! The number one reason I hear for people using other translations? They don’t understand it when they read it. That is the way it is supposed to be! The understanding of the bible is given by the Holy Ghost but it must be broken by a preacher sent by God! You would do very well to read the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs! If I could, I would make that mandatory reading for every soul who called themselves Christians!
Let me close with this. If anyone could pick up the bible, read it and understand it without a preacher, it would be the same as man taking hold of the tree of life and living forever; no faith involved! Read Nehemiah 8:8 and Romans 10:14. When the bible uses the word “hear”, in most cases it means “understand”!
