ACCURACY
“He spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord” (Acts 18:25).
Surveys among Bible buyers and readers indicate that the leading concern of those who love God’s Word is that a version of the Scriptures be a translation that is accurate. If a Bible isn’t presenting exactly what God communicated to His people through the forty or so writers whom He graciously inspired to write His Word, to that degree it is a failure.
Clearly, on the one hand, it is difficult to enjoy a rendering of the Bible that rigidly ignores English idiom and good style—resembling the translation on a page of an interlinear Testament. On the other hand, we readily reject any professed translation of God’s Word that takes such liberties that it is more truly a paraphrase or commentary than a translation. As the late Dr. Harry Sturz, textual scholar and beloved member of the NKJV New Testament Executive Review Committee, used to say, “We want a Bible that gives us what the text says, not what some scholar thinks it means!”
The NKJV, following firmly in the footsteps of the Authorized or King James Version, is just such a desired Bible. The following chapters will make this evident:
1. A Firm Foundation. In this first chapter we present the excellent contributions of the English translations from the fourteenth to the early seventeenth centuries that culminated in one of the most highly esteemed Bibles in any language, the Authorized Version.
2. A Royal Legacy: The King James Version. Chapter 2 gives a brief survey of how this great Bible came to be, how it is actually a revision of previous works, and has itself been revised a number of times.
3. Rewiring the House. Building on a metaphor from J. B. Phillips, Chapter 3 examines how and why the New King James was designed to keep the tradition current as we face the twenty-first century.
4. Finishing Touches. Chapter 4 gives examples of important details that make the NKJV an outstandingly accurate Bible version.