Red Letter Editions of the Bible
By Dr. Ken Matto
Another thoughtless and needless money making scheme of
the Bible publishers was to put the words of Christ in red.
I have no idea what this was supposed to accomplish but I do know it has
adverse effects upon the way people view the words of Scripture.
Here are four reasons why I do not advocate usage of red letter editions
and especially for new Christians.
1) It gives the idea that the words of Christ are more
important than the rest of scripture.
The Bible tells us emphatically that all scripture is of equal value and
that no part of scripture is of lesser value than another.
2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2) It gives the idea that the Old Testament is void for
modern day usage. The Old Testament
is already ignored too much in our churches today The Old Testament offers the
Christian beautiful truths which are pertinent to today’s lifestyles and
attitudes. The books of Proverbs and Psalms are two great examples of needed
teachings for our day.
3) It tells us that the words of God the Son are more
important than the words of God the Father.
Doesn’t God the Father have anything of value to say in the entire Old
and New Testament? If both God the
Father and God the Son are co-equals, then it would be impossible that one would
be more equal than the other.
4) It trains children to be selective in their reading
of Scripture. From childhood they
will stay within the red letters believing them to be more special than other
parts of the Bible. This is the
kind of early training that leads people to brag that they are New Testament
Christians only.
Red letter editions do nothing but engender confusion on behalf of the reader. There are many Christians who know that all the Bible is equal but for every one of those, there are ten who do not. Modern Christianity is biblically illiterate and with every new version that comes out the illiteracy increases. There is a definite connection between the weakness of the church and the wide spread usage of corrupted bibles. The red letter version is only another money maker. To prove this point, go to any Christian bookstore and you will see a much higher ratio of red letter to black letter editions. If scholars and publishers viewed the Bible as the Word of God rather than a commodity, there would be one Bible and a unified Christianity instead of worldwide confusion and weakness. 200 years ago Christianity was strong and was even the basis for our government. By the way the system of government we have here in the USA is based upon Isaiah 33:22 and where is it found? In the Old Testament! Today you could build nothing on Christianity because we have become like the man who built his house upon the sand. If you use a black letter King James Bible, then stay with it, because you are more biblical than you realize!