RHB KJV Study Bible

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ReformedRift

Puritan Board Freshman
Recently got the RHB KJV Study Bible to use for my daily Bible reading this year and have been loving it so far! I was wondering if anyone else is using the RHB Study Bible as well and willing to explain any preference for reading in the KJV?
(For reference, I have used ESV for the longest time and my church uses ESV, but have just recently started the KJV for this year)
 
The KJV is nice if you prefer the Textus Receptus tradition. The KJV is also a masterpiece from a literary standpoint - the language is beautiful and gorgeously poetic.

Another advantage of the KJV (this is a point that has been made by Prof. John Muether of RTS, though I think he was referencing another source that I've forgotten / am unaware of) is that it was the standard English-language translation of the Bible for a couple of centuries, and as such it has a huge number of allusions and interconnections with other English-language works. So many passages from the KJV are iconic in their own right or have become the source of iconic quotations and phrases throughout the rest of the English language. As such, it has had the role of a literary binding agent across English-speaking culture. Within Christianity more specifically, many standard theological terms and concepts have come into common parlance through the KJV. No other translations has or ever will come anywhere within a hundred miles of the KJV in the extent of its cultural and linguistic reach and influence. It has been a seminal work in the history of the English language.

The TR/CT issue would constitute a substantive theological reason for (or against) not the KJV specifically but also for the NKJV and other versions that follow that textual tradition. None of the other points I've made are a sufficient case for the superiority or necessity of the KJV, but if you are looking for reasons to read and appreciate it, that's a start.

Personally, I love the KJV. Its language captivates and enthralls me. But, I like older literature and older movies, I grew up in KJV-strongly-preferred environments, and when I became a believer as an adult, KJV was the version in which I first read the Bible start to finish. I favor the TR side of the textual debate, but it's mostly for pedagogical reasons that I insist on giving KJVs to our children and having them do their memory work from that. They'll be better positioned to catch the literary connections to other great works of English literature. Besides, while I don't have a problem with them knowing and using the ESV or NKJV or other solid modern translations... frankly, if they're involved in church life and hanging around other Christians, that will happen. In this day and age, if I want them to become exposed to and familiar with the language of the KJV (and I do)... it has to happen, intentionally, in the home.

My tangent has gone somewhat beyond your original question, but that's deliberate as I want to emphasize the extent to which my love of the KJV is not a theological/confessional issue but a literary and pedagogical point of preference.
 
We use the Reformation Heritage Study Bible in our family devotions. The sections at the end of each chapter make great material for that.
 
It is a fantastic resource. We have been using the chapter end devotions and discussion questions in the evenings during family worship. I also use the digitized study notes through my Logos software. It has been a blessing.

I would posit that the Authorized (King James) Version is the most faithful, accurate, and beautiful translation of the Holy Bible available in the English language. Though I commend the NKJV and ESV for their efforts to maintain the literary quality of the scriptures, still, nothing comes close to the manifold greatness of the KJV.

Theologically, it is most faithful in that its translators—a committee of fifty-four of the most credentialed and philologically qualified reformed Protestant scholars of Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Westminster—held to the highest, pre-critical view of the scriptures, of their divine inspiration and providential preservation. They maintained not only that the autographa (original writings), but also that the apographa (faithful copies), were infallible. The work's resultant doctrine is both thoroughly consistent and wholly orthodox. It is also superior in its pedigree, utilizing as its source, the historically traditional, classically Protestant, confessionally Reformed text, comprised of the Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Old Testament, and Greek Received Text of the New Testament.

Textually, it is most accurate in that its translational philosophy, that of formal equivalence, is a word-for-word approach to rendering a text’s original language (in this case Hebrew and Greek) into its receptor language (in this case English). Unlike other popular translations, the Authorized Version employs a 'biblical-English'—a form of English which conforms to the original construction of the biblical languages (e.g., word order, pronoun distinctions, verbal tenses, etc.), rather than its construction being dictated by modern colloquial usage. It also employs precise legal language, conveying the clarity inherent to the original tongues. This method of translation resulted in a timeless, unparalleled work of scholarship.

And literarily, it is most beautiful in that it is widely and consistently regarded as the greatest work of English literature. Produced at the zenith of the English language, alongside monumental works, as those of William Shakespeare, it perpetuates the esteemed English Bible tradition established a century prior by William Tyndale. It is linguistically superior in its grammar, diction, and syntax; and stylistically superior in its majestic eloquence, profound simplicity, and memorable rhythms of speech. No other biblical translation has approached its ubiquity, influence, and mass adoration.

For further reading:
https://www.fpchurch.org.uk/about-us/what-we-contend-for/the-authorised-version/
https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/the-excellence-of-the-authorized-version
https://christkirk.com/sermon/KJV-400/
https://www.kjvtoday.net/home/language-of-the-KJV
https://youngpuritan.wordpress.com/...ions-practical-reasons-for-retaining-the-KJV/
https://www.reformation21.org/articles/what-makes-the-king-james-version-great.php
https://www.textandtranslation.org/why-the-KJV/
 
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