QUESTION: What does this statement mean: "The King James Bible was
good enough for the Apostle Paul, so it's good enough for me."
ANSWER: This statement is usually made in a sarcastic manner in order
to embarrass Bible believers in their belief. The FACT is, the King
James Bible WAS good enough for Paul. We'll discuss this in detail
the next question. But for now I'd like you to see that it was the
only Bible that Luke would use.
EXPLANATION: In Acts 1:1,2 Luke makes the following statement: "The
former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began
both to do and teach.
Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy
Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen."
"The former treatise" is of course the Gospel of Luke which Luke wrote
to a believer named Theophilus. Theophilus was apparently an early
Christian who had never personally met the Lord while He was on this
earth. Considering, though, that he was the recipient of both the
Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, he was most certainly one
of the best informed.
Luke, in what may have been a passing comment, in the second verse of
Acts chapter one, rings the death blow to the famous Nestle's Greek
New Testament and also the New American Standard Version. Luke states
that his "former treatise" told of all that Jesus began to do, and
continued, "until the day in which he was taken up." The things which
Jesus began to do are first recorded in Luke 2:41-52 in which He was
left behind in Jerusalem when Joseph and His mother left to return to
Nazareth. This correlates with Acts 1:1. Luke's Gospel is the only
one of the four Gospels which records any of Christ's actions prior to
His baptism at the age of thirty years old (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:9 and
John 1:29-34).
Luke's gospel ends with Christ being "carried up into heaven" in Luke
24:51. This correlates with Acts 1:2, "Until the day in which he was
taken up."
Thus, Luke states that his gospel begins with the earliest acts of
Christ and ends with His ascension. Therefore, any Greek manuscript
or manuscripts, no matter what their age, containing the Gospel of
Luke, which omits either of these accounts is not authentic. In an
examination of the 23rd edition of Nestle's Greek Text we find that
the Greek words, "Kai anepheroto eis ton huranon," "and was carried up
into the heaven" are not found in this text.
The footnote in the critical apparatus indicates that the authority
for removing this phrase is no more than manuscript (MS) Sinaiticus,
D, one majuscule MS known as number 52 and one 5th century palimpsect
(a MS which has been erased and written over top of). The phrase "and
carried up into heaven" is found in B, C, E, F, G, H, L, S, T, V, Y,
Z, Delta, Theta, Psi, and Omega plus papyrus p75, and most remaining
witnesses. Yet on the basis of only two MSS the conservative scholars
of the secret Lockman Foundation have omitted this phrase from Luke
24:51 in the New American Standard Version (NASV). Hence, the NASV is
not truly a reliable translation. In fact, of most modern versions,
only the "liberal" scholars of the Revised Standard Version (RSV)
agreed with the "conservative" scholars of the NASV in omitting the
phrase. Thus the known Communistic liberals of the RSV and the
conservatives of the NASV are in full agreement that Christ did not
ascend bodily into heaven.
So we see that if Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke and the book
of the Acts of the Apostles, could examine a King James Bible and a
New American Standard Version he would declare the New American
Standard Version a fraud and promptly proclaim the King James Bible as
authentic.
Well, quite frankly, if it's good enough for Luke, it's good enough
for me.
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