KJV Debate Preview: Mark Ward vs. Daniel Haifley: Is the KJV Sufficiently Intelligible for Readers?

Dr. Mark Ward and Dr. Daniel Haifley will debate the proposition “The King James Version is sufficiently intelligible to contemporary English readers” on Monday, October 21, 2024. The debate is sponsored by the King James Only (KJVO) school Dayspring Bible College & Seminary and by InGrace, ministries of the King James Only (KJVO) Quentin Road Baptist Church of Lake Zurich, IL. In other words, this is a KJV / KJB / AV versus modern English Bible version debate, discussing the comprehensibility or intelligibility of the English language of the Authorized, King James Version.

This debate preview provides the thoughts of the pro-KJV, pro-Textus Receptus perfect preservationist Thomas Ross on the debate.

Dr. Mark Ward has a Ph. D. from Bob Jones University. He has composed a number of popular-level resources attacking the King James Version, including the book Authorized: The Use & Misuse of the King James Bible, published by Lexham Press in 2018. Mark Ward's conclusion is: "For public preaching ministry, for evangelism, for discipleship materials, indeed for most situations outside individual study, using the KJV violates Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 14. … Here’s my real, ultimate COA [call to action]: buy a new Bible. Get a translation you’ve never read before.”

Dr. Ward’s opponent is Dr. Daniel Haifley. According to a bio of his, Dr. Haifley has been in the ministry for over 30 years and is currently the Senior Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Mattoon, Illinois. He has served as a Pastor, College President, Christian school teacher, Christian school administrator, youth pastor, and full-time evangelist. He is the author of several books and publications and is a guest columnist for numerous periodicals. He is a current board member of the “King James Bible Research Council” and is the president of the “American Association of Bible College Educators for International Development.”

Dr. Ward is wrong on the merits of the proposition. The King James Version is indubitably sufficiently intelligible to contemporary English readers. The conclusion in Mark Ward's book Authorized that churches that preach from the KJV are sinning, are violating 1 Corinthians 14, is crazy. Here is Ward's proof text: “So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken?” (1 Corinthians 14:9). Dr. Ward takes a passage about people enunciating when speaking in tongues, and claims that this passage proves the KJV must be set aside as too archaic!

If Dr. Haifley argues from Scripture and the principles that can be determined from the level of difficulty of the inspired Hebrew and Greek text, he should be able to easily win the debate with Dr. Ward. Dr. Ward will probably try to get Dr. Haifley and the debate audience to focus a small number of verses where the KJV has an archaic word and will not provide a genuinely Biblical basis for his position on Bible translations. If Dr. Haifley can successfully rebut Dr. Ward’s affirmations, debunk Dr. Ward’s ridiculous 1 Corinthians 14 argument, and keep the focus on the fact that both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament have significant amounts of text that have harder syntax than the KJV, and that both the Hebrew and the Greek Testaments have many more “hard” words than does the KJV, Dr. Haifley should do very well.

However, the Lord Jesus Christ is not on Dr. Haifley’s side, or on the side of the King James Only debate sponsors, Dayspring Bible College and Seminary, InGrace, and Quentin Road Baptist Church. They preach a false gospel. No one should King James Bible Research Council, for it tolerates a false gospel.

The doctrinal statement of the Dayspring Bible College and Seminary reads:

Repent (metanoeo) means a change of mind. Repentance in salvation means a change of mind from any idea of religion that man may have and to accept God’s way of salvation. Repentance does not in any sense include a demand for a change of conduct before or after salvation. Matthew 21:32, Acts 20:21, II Corinthians 7:8-10. One of the counterfeits Satan is using today is the misuse of the word repent. To insist upon repentance that in any sense includes a demand for a change of conduct either toward God or man is to add an element of works or human merit to faith. Penance is payment for sin. Penitence is sorrow for sin. Works add something of self in turning from sin. [So if you say repentance involves turning from sin you are teaching works salvation, they falsely claim.] But repent (metanoeo) means a change of mind. Repentance in salvation means a change of mind from any idea of religion that man might have and accepting God’s way of salvation. Nowhere does Scripture use the phrase, “repent of sin to be saved.”

Dayspring Bible College & Seminary, Quentin Road Baptist Church, and Dr. Daniel Haifley all strongly deny Biblical repentance. Scripture clearly teaches that the lost must repent of their sinful deeds.