My use of the New King James Version in my preaching and teaching was criticized a few years ago on the basis that the phrase “Certainly not!” is used in place of “God Forbid!” in the old King James Version (see Romans 3:4,6, etc.). It was alleged that the translators of the NKJV had changed the word of God.<\/p>\n
While we appreciate the respect for God’s word that such a charge might indicate, we recognize in it also a case of zeal without knowledge. The writers of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy Spirit in what they wrote, even to the extent of the choice of words they used. They wrote in Koine Greek (the common language of the first century). For us to be able to read the New Testament, it had to be translated into the English language, but the process of translating the scriptures was not inspired.<\/p>\n
“God forbid!,” as used in the King James Version, is a strong expression that a thing just absolutely cannot be true; it is an idiom expressing that thought. Actually, in the original text, the word “God” is not even in the phrase. The phrases, used in some more recent translations, “Certainly not,” “May it never be,” and “Not at all” are correct translations and express the thought of the original text as well, if not better, than “God forbid.” They do not change the word of God.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Benjamin M. Shropshire via Lifeline, 7\/15\/00 My use of the New King James Version in my preaching and teaching was criticized a few years ago on the basis that the phrase “Certainly not!” is used in place of “God Forbid!” in the old King James Version (see Romans 3:4,6, etc.). It was alleged that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[76,311],"class_list":["post-56485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-terminology","tag-translations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18510,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/its-greek-to-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":56485,"position":0},"title":"It’s Greek To Me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger Blackwelder Some questions were raised recently about the value of having a knowledge of New Testament Greek.\u00a0 Some have used arguments based on the translations of words to authorize immorality that the Bible clearly condemns.\u00a0 This usage of Greek is disturbing; it casts a shadow on an otherwise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/Greek-Manuscript.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-king-james-bible-doesnt-say-once-for-all-in-jude-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":56485,"position":1},"title":"My King James Bible doesn’t say “once for all” in Jude 3","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints\" (Jude 3). The words \"for all\" is not in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16472,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-heavy-use-of-the-phrase-and-it-came-to-pass-a-point-against-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":56485,"position":2},"title":"Is the heavy use of the phrase “and it came to pass” a point against the Book of Mormon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read the claim recently that all of the \"And it came to pass\" phrases in the Book of Mormon are a non-issue because the Greek rendering of that phrase appears with as much frequency in the original Biblical record, and the editors of the King James version chose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70839,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-phrase-god-forbid-irreverent\/","url_meta":{"origin":56485,"position":3},"title":"Is the phrase “God forbid” irreverent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could using the phrase \"God forbid\" generally be considered irreverent and vain? Answer: \"Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, \"God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You'\" (Matthew 16:22 NASB). This translator chose \"God forbid\" for a Greek phrase that literally means \"not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2625,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-ywhw-translated-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":56485,"position":4},"title":"Why is YWHW translated LORD?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know the New World Translation is not a reliable translation, but why have the other Bible translations changed the original YHWH to LORD? Answer: When a translator encounters a word, he is faced with two choices: he can translate the word or he can transliterate the word. To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/constantine-created-the-king-james-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":56485,"position":5},"title":"Constantine created the King James Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Left unedited. I read \"The Origin of the King James Version\" and find it very interesting but you never say anything about the actual origin of the King James Bible. In short, this version was created by Emperor Constantine in the year 325AD. At this time, he was losing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}