If one uses the same line of thinking as the King James only proponents,
it would be necessary to conclude that the King James Bible should be
rejected and that we as American Christians should adopt the historically,
ecclesiastically, and of course providentially blessed translation of the
Bible known as the Geneva Bible. This is by no means an exhaustive study
or comparison. In fact, I have only included three of the many arguments
for the superiority of the Geneva Bible. My chief desire is to wet the
reader’s appetite and open the door to research as well as help the
reader understand the ludicrous thought patterns of the KJVO movement.
This article is meant to be satyrical in nature, but it is geared to show
that the same claims the KJVO crowd make can point the Christian to an
even better translation of the Bible than the KJV.

 

A Little History
In 1553 Mary I, known as "Bloody Mary" took the throne of England. She, of
course, was a Catholic who hated Protestants and showed her fervor by
burning many Protestants at the stake. Many surviving Protestants fled to
Switzerland and settled in the town of Geneva, which was governed by none
other than the great John Calvin himself along with his assistant Theodore
Beza.

A number of English Protestant divines settled in Calvin's Geneva: Miles
Coverdale, John Foxe, Thomas Sampson, and William Whittingham. With the
protection of the Genevan civil authorities and the support of John Calvin
and the Scottish Reformer John Knox, the Church of Geneva determined to
produce an English Bible without the need for the imprimatur of either
England or Rome - the Geneva Bible.

 

By 1560 the entire Bible was translated into English. It was the first
translation based entirely on the original Hebrew and Greek. Between its
first edition of 1560 and its last edition in 1644, 160 editions,
around a half million Bibles were produced. This amazing Bible was not
produced for a king or for a pope, but rather so that people everywhere
who spoke English would be able to possess their own Bible in their own
language. In fact, it was privately funded from the exiles to Geneva,
therefore no government or bishop could gain glory from its production.

Reasons for holding to the GBO Position over KJVO position

Proponents of King James onlyism use several arguments to detail why their
position is correct and why any other version of the Bible is false.
However, the following arguments used by KJV only proponents can be used
against the KJVO position to prove the Geneva only position. These
arguments are not exhaustive but are good reasons to repent of the King
James Only position and adopt a Geneva Bible Only position.

Argument Number One: The King James Bible has been used and blessed of God
for almost four hundred years. KJVO people claim that since the KJV is
older and used through more history than modern versions it has a higher
claim to God’s blessing. However, the Geneva Bible is fifty one years
older than the KJV and therefore has stood the test of more time than the
KJV and thus is more worthy to claim the title "blessed of God." The only
reason it hasn’t been used more than the KJV is because it was outlawed
by King James.

Argument Number Two: "The King James is the version of our spiritual
fathers. If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me." While
it is true that the KJV was used by great men of God like Spurgeon, the
Geneva Bible far surpassed the KJV for godly use in its day. Do you think
the Pilgrims brought a KJV Bible to the shores of America? Not on your
life! They hated King James with a passion! In Jamestown it was the Geneva
Bible that young John Rolfe used to share Christ with Pocahontas. It was
the Geneva Bible that Gov. John Bradford of Massachusetts quoted when
writing his history of the colony. Even the famous Puritan preacher John
Cotton used a copy of the Geneva Bible and not the KJV.  In fact, even in
England it was the Geneva Bible that many of the translators of the KJV
themselves used, most even after the translation of the KJV. Why? Because
they knew that the Geneva Bible was superior to their own translation. The
only reason the Geneva Bible lost its popularity was because King James
himself outlawed its printing and made owning one a felony. If allowed to
survive this tyrannical decree, I believe it would have been the Geneva
Bible that sits in our pews today, not the KJV. However, the last official
printing of the Geneva Bible was in 1644 after about 160 marvelous
editions had been published.

Along the lines of this argument, it can legitimately be said that if you
hold to at least three points of Calvinism, you should use the Geneva
Bible. Why? Because of the extraordinary translation that Calvin and his
godly town of Geneva put forth for Christians. This Geneva Bible was so
powerful that both the pope in Rome and King James himself saw it as a
threat to their domains. In the marginal notes the Geneva Bible states,
"The beast that cometh out of the bottomless pit (Rev. 11:7) is the Pope,
which hath his power out of hell and cometh thence."

It also stated in the marginal notes that it was ok to civilly disobey a
tyrannical leader and that is why King James viewed it as a threat (maybe
this is where the KJVO thinking that marginal notes are evil comes from).
If James were such a righteous king, he would have had no problem with
this Bible and would have not tried to destroy it. It makes one rethink
the need for the KJV. Could the KJV have been a Satanic plot to replace
the superior Geneva Bible? No one can say for certain, but perhaps it is
something to consider. We as American Christians owe much to John Calvin
and the Geneva Bible.

Argument number three: The King James is based off of Erasmus’ TR Greek
text and the MT Hebrew text. They had godly, educated translators to
ensure the quality of their translation. Whatever the claims of the KJV,
the Geneva Bible supercedes all claims. For instance, the King James based
their New Testament translation off of the TR of Theodore Beza. Not only
did the Geneva translators have the version of the TR printed by Beza, but
Beza himself was in Geneva while the Geneva Bible was being translated!
Talk about having a scholar of note and education at your fingertips!
Assisted by Beza and possibly Calvin himself, several English exiles were
involved in the translating, but it is impossible to say how many. Miles
Coverdale, who produced the Coverdale and Great Bibles, resided in Geneva
for a time and may have assisted, and a similar claim may be advanced in
favor of John Knox.

What godly men to have translating this great work! It seems that the KJV
was only a poor copy of the work of the Geneva translators, without the
Geneva’s marginal notes that would offend both king and pope, of course.
Summary: If the Geneva Bible was good enough for the Puritan Pilgrims, the
founders of our great country, then it's good enough for me. As a
Christian, and as an American, I implore you to see the necessity of
reviving the Geneva Bible in the United States. In closing, let me just
say if you truly want to be a godly, Spirit filled Christian, you need not
use the corrupted AV, but the pure GV. I challenge you to compare the two.
You will be suprised!