The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible, published by Reformation Heritage Books, hardback, 2234 pages, £25.00 from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom (more expensive editions are also available).
Joel Beeke, the General Editor, along with his three editors and team of contributors, are to be congratulated on producing the first King James Study Bible written from a distinctively Reformed perspective. Earlier King James Study Bibles have been written, but from a very different theological outlook: for example the Scofield Bible, which was written from a Dispensationalist viewpoint.
In the introduction by the General Editor, and the section on “Reading the Bible experientially”, the writers indicate that they regard the Bible as infallible and the Authorised Version of the Bible to be the best “liturgical text”. This superiority is grounded on the fact that the Masoretic Text is the foundation for the Old Testament and the Received Text is the basis for the New Testament and the translation philosophy is that of “complete equivalence”.
Before each book of Scripture there is an introductory section which deals with authorship, date and purpose, and provides an outline of the contents. There are brief explanatory notes on almost every verse of Scripture with the aim of aiding understanding. At the end of each chapter there is a short section providing “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship”. Inserted throughout the Bible are 57 one-page articles that cover the different doctrines. The volume concludes with a section of “Study Helps” of over 300 pages. These deal with topics such as: “How to live as a Christian”; “Twenty Centuries of Church History”, where a page is given to each century; a section on “Creeds and Confessions”, which includes the full text of the Westminster Confession and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms; Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s scheme to read the Bible in a year; a concordance; and a section
of 14 maps. Without doubt this is the work of a group of men committed to a high view of Scripture and to the Reformed faith.
Whilst this reviewer would normally read the books that he reviews from cover to cover, this has not been the case with the 2234 pages, mostly double column, of the notes and articles of this book. It is, however, clear from reviews in other journals and magazines and on the internet that the volume contains a number of errors that have not been identified by the proof-readers and some which betray insufficient attention by the editors.
In the first category is a statement in Romans 6:1-4 (p 1623), where the note alarmingly reads, “Justification is the change of a man’s moral nature”. At the proofing stage, the word not was apparently deleted after the word is. Whilst one accepts the statement as to how the error arose, the inclusion of the word not does not relieve the oddity of the sentence. With this included, it would read as follows: “Justification is not the change of a man’s moral nature; every justified man is a changed man”. The proofing error seems to this reviewer to involve rather more than the deletion of the word not.
In the second category is a statement in the article on Regeneration (p 1774) which speaks of the necessity of receiving the Lord’s Supper frequently in order that a person’s spiritual life does not die. The statement regarding the Lord’s Supper reads as follows: “It is a rite of nurture, signifying the way in which our souls are nourished and refreshed by feeding on Christ as the true food and drink of eternal life, it must be administered frequently, because the new life within us is still created, dependent life that will wane and die if not refuelled and sustained”. Other reviewers have pointed out that this comment is rather less than satisfactory and appears to deny the Final Perseverance of the Saints.
The article dealing with God’s covenants (p 83) states that the basic meaning of the Old Testament word for covenant (berith) means agreement. The unknown writer continues, without indicating that it is God who takes the initiative, “God’s covenants are agreements between Himself and His people”. This is a view that if applied consistently would lead to Arminianism. It is a position controverted by Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology (Banner of Truth, 1975, pp 23-26), and by John Murray, Covenant of Grace (Tyndale Press, 1953). The language of Scripture is, “And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you” (Genesis 9:9).
The reviewer in the Protestant Alliance magazine, The Reformer, (May/June 2015, p 14) has drawn attention to the note on Matthew 16:18, “And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. The first part of the note on this text reads, “The rock that Jesus builds His Church upon is most
naturally understood as Peter, together with the other apostles in their Spirit-given testimony to Him” (p 1385). This is the passage on which Romanism builds its doctrine of Papal Supremacy. To make the short statement cited above without a great deal of qualification is very misleading. J A Alexander, in his commentary on Matthew, takes four and a half dense pages to deal adequately with the text. This demonstrates the problem with brief comments on highly-contested portions of Scripture.
When we read the commentaries of Matthew Henry, John Gill or William Hendriksen1, for instance, we appreciate that the views expressed are theirs and we may in places disagree with them as being the opinion of a specific author. In this Study Bible the notes and comments have no authors’ names attached to them. In the reviewer’s opinion, that is rather unwise. When the notes are printed along with the Biblical text they can appear, particularly to the young, as being the meaning of the Biblical text in all instances.
A further, most disappointing, editorial oversight was the use, at the back of the volume, of a map from Zondervan publishers that shows the route of the Exodus as not going through the Red Sea, but rather the route advocated by modernist scholars.
This reviewer has a great deal of sympathy with the comments of the reviewer in the British Church Newspaper, who writes, “In this substantial volume approximately two-thirds of the letterpress is that of commentators, and one third the inspired words of Holy Scripture. This is a little disturbing, in a book that is sold as a Bible.” He goes on to speak of the benefits of the Bible being printed “without note or comment” and adds, “This is an important principle, and such excellent material as accompanies this Bible might perhaps have been better offered as a separate Reformed Heritage Companion to the KJV” (BCN, 3 April 2015, p 14).
It is understood that the publishers have already corrected some of the mistakes to which we have referred in the online version of this Study Bible. It is regrettable that the first print edition of this Study Bible was for 20 000 copies and it may, therefore, be some time before a revised version is produced that will enable these errors to be corrected in print. The proofing that is required in a Study Bible, which is seeking to aid the understanding of God’s inerrant Word, is of a very high order. Having not read the entire volume, and being conscious of these errors, one wonders what further mistakes may be uncovered as the volume is used more extensively.
Roy Middleton
1William Hendriksen in his commentary on The Gospel of Matthew (Banner of Truth, 1974, pp 645-650) adopts a similar interpretation of these words. He has, however, a lengthy section of qualifications and explanations of his exegesis.
Sermons of the Great Ejection, published by the Banner of Truth Trust in their Puritan Paperbacks series, paperback, 276 pages, £6.25, obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
This collection is a revised and reset edition of the 1962 publication which marked the tercentenary of the Great Ejection in August 1662. It consists of sermons, memorials and brief biographies of seven English non-conformists first published in 1662 as An Exact Collection of Farewell Sermons Preached by late London Ministers and in 1663 as England’s Remembrancer. The seven ministers include the well-known names of Edmund Calamy (senior), Thomas Brooks and Thomas Watson. The other four names will not be so well known – John Collins, Thomas Lye, John Oldfield and John Whitlock.
The sermons are fairly short and have the added and special interest of being the last preached by these worthy divines before their ejection from their pulpits. The ejection was on account of the Act of Uniformity passed by the English Parliament in 1661. This Act demanded unfeigned consent to the Prayer Book, abjured and condemned Presbyterianism, replacing it with a semi-popish system of Episcopacy and demanded renunciation of the Solemn League and Covenant. A similar Act rescinding the Second Reformation Acts was passed the same year in Scotland by what became known as “Middleton’s Drunken Parliament”. In England, as in Scotland, a date was set – 24 August 1662 – for conformity to the Act, and the result was that about 2000 faithful ministers refused conformity and were ejected.
The sermons are of a very high standard, such as readers of the Puritans will be acquainted with. The application to our own day of much that is written will not be missed by discerning readers. Of particular note are those by Edmund Calamy on “Eli trembling for the Ark of God” (1 Sam 4:13), John Oldfield on “Stumbling at the Sufferings of the Godly” from Psalm 69:6 and a very useful and searching discourse by Thomas Lye entitled “Stand Fast in the Lord”, from Philippians 4:1. Each sermon is introduced by a short biographical note about the preacher, and several include the prayer offered at the time of the sermon’s delivery. There are powerful passages when application is made, such as this warning against worldliness and the danger of temptation:
“You that are husbands and parents know it. The world is a great temptation, but if we are overcome by the world, and the world is not overcome by us, we shall never be able to overcome any one temptation that is offered to us . . . . Do not go and run and venture yourself into temptations. You have heard of a superstitious or idolatrous worship; you are curious to see this. What if, when you are found in Satan’s way, Satan should lay a paw on you and claim you? What do you there in Satan’s ground? Would you be
found, when you come to die, in a playhouse? Or in a place where the true God is idolatrously worshipped?” (pp 118,120).
One significant fault which we must identify in this book is the inclusion of false teaching in the Catechism appended to the sermons. The Non-conformist’s Catechism by Samuel Palmer was first published in 1772 and the present edition of it is the result of several revisions. While much of the material is useful as a critique of the Church of England, this Catechism contains teaching at variance with The Westminster Confession concerning both the nature of the Church and the Establishment Principle. The importance of these doctrines (erroneously handled in Questions 7 and 8) means that we must sound this note of caution to readers. (Rev) D Campbell
Protestant View
Free Church Ministers at Mass
We were sorry to see that at least two Free Church of Scotland ministers attended the funeral mass for Charles Kennedy, the former MP. This is not the spirit of John Knox, Andrew Melville, Samuel Rutherford, James Renwick and other brave, wise, and godly men who have gone before in Scotland. The mass is idolatrous; and attendance at mass, apart from being contrary to Scripture, also gives an entirely wrong impression to others about the dangers of idolatry and false religion. If the professing Christian Church will not separate from Romanism, it is little wonder if the world assumes that Romanism is a harmless variant form of Christianity. “Touch not the unclean thing” (2 Cor 6:17). DWBS
The Turin Shroud
The Pope has “venerated” the Shroud of Turin, which many Roman Catholics believe to be the linen cloth in which the Lord Jesus Christ was buried. The Roman Catholic authorities are careful not to make any claim as to the authenticity or provenance of this mysterious and rather grotesque object which bears a faint image of a bearded man with the marks of scourging and crucifixion. In 1989 it was dated as being around 700 years old but scientists and others are not all in agreement as to its age or the actual process whereby the man’s image came to appear on the fibres of the cloth.
This papal “veneration” is one further example of how Rome speaks with a forked tongue, hallowing the shroud as an “icon” of Christian devotion, yet unwilling to state whether it is a fake or not. What is certain and unambiguous, however, is the fact that Romanist “devotion” is as superstitious,
idolatrous and carnal today as it was in mediaeval times, when fake relics abounded throughout Europe, deluding multitudes over many hundreds of years. Furthermore, items of this nature can never be accepted as aids to the worship of God nor can they yield knowledge of divine truth to the soul of a sinner.
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments” (Ex 20:4-6). AWM