More Problems with the NKJV

That the New King James Version (NKJV) is not really a King James Version is proven by the fact that it makes an estimated 100,000 changes to the King James Bible (KJB). In the New Testament alone, the NKJV removes nearly 2,300 words from the KJB! 

In my last post I pointed out some problems with the NKJV. Here are a dozen more for good measure.

1) Gen. 1:1 – The NKJV changed “heaven” to “heavens.” There were not “heavens” (Gen. 2:1) until after the six days of Gen. 1:3-31. 

2) Gen. 2:18 – The NKJV changed “help meet for him” to “helper comparable to him.” I am sure the women libbers like that translation! It waters down the distinction between the roles God designed for husband and wife. The marriage relationship is to be 100/100, not 50/50 

3) Acts 17:22 – The NKJV changed “too superstitious” to “very religious.” In the context Paul was rebuking the men of Athens for being so given over to idolatry that they made an altar with an inscription, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” just in case they missed one. The NKJV waters down the rebuke to the point that the men of Athens could have taken it as a compliment! 

4) Rom. 1:18 – The NKJV changed “hold the truth in unrighteousness” to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” God’s wrath is revealed against those who POSSESS the truth and yet choose unrighteousness. Saying that it is only revealed against those who SUPPRESS the truth limits God’s wrath to falling on those who actively fight against the truth. 

5) Rom. 1:25 – The NKJV changed “Who changed the truth of God into a lie” to “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie.” Personally changing the truth of God into a lie is a more serious offense than exchanging it for a lie that was made by someone else. 

6) 1 Cor. 1:18 – The NKJV changed “the preaching of the cross” to “the message of the cross” and us which are saved” to “us who are being saved.” It is not just the message of the cross, but the PREACHING of the cross that is foolishness to them that perish. To say that we are “being saved” makes it sound like salvation is a process of works. 

7) 1 Cor. 1:21 – The NKJV changed “the foolishness of preaching” to “the foolishness of the message preached.” The unbelievers may think the cross is foolishness, but the NKJV has Paul calling it foolishness in this verse! Paul is not referring to the message of the cross in this verse, but to the act of preaching. 

8) 2 Cor. 2:17 – The NKJV changed “corrupt the word of God” to “peddling the word of God.” Both are wrong to do, but corrupting the word of God is worse than peddling it. The modern versions are guilty of BOTH. 

9) 1 Thess. 5:22 – The NKJV changed “Abstain from all appearance of evil” to “Abstain from every form of evil” which LOWERS the standard of Christian separation. 

10) 1 Tim. 6:10 – The NKJV changed “the love of money is the root of all evil” to “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” The love of money is covetousness. Evil began in the universe with the fall of Lucifer. Both “merchandise” and “traffick” are mentioned in connection with his fall (Ezek. 28:16, 18). The particular evil Paul is referring to in the context is that of false teachers. All false teachers are motivated by covetousness. By the way, this verse exposes the evil motive behind all of the corrupt versions of the Bible. 

11) 2 Tim. 2:15 - The NKJV changed "Study" to "Be diligent." This is the only verse in the Bible that plainly tells us to STUDY the word of God. It also gives us the key to Bible study: rightly dividing the word of truth. All of the modern versions change "rightly dividing," but the NKJV actually left that part alone. However, it still messes up this key verse by changing the word "Study."   

 

12) 1 Jn. 3:16 – The NKJV changed “Hereby we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us” to “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.” The KJB clearly says that it was God who laid down His life for us. This is just one of many verses in the KJB that teach Jesus Christ is God. The NKJV is not as clear. 

More problems could be pointed out, but these should be enough to prove to any reasonable person that the NKJV should be rejected with the rest of the corrupt versions of the Bible.