GENEVA BIBLE-TRUE WORD OF GOD?
Is the Geneva Bible the True Word of God?
In recent years, social media has been inundated with ads for Bible Apps that claim to give people a better understanding than most ministers in less than a year. While I will not speak to that audacious claim, I do want to address the issue that many of these Bible apps are pushing a false narrative that the Geneva Bible is the “true Bible.” Such Apps state that the King James Version and all other modern translations “removed books” from Scripture, because the Geneva Bible predates the KJV. While such claims may sound convincing at first, a careful examination of history and Scripture reveals that they are misleading and often based upon confusion regarding the Apocrypha.
The Geneva Bible was an important English translation published in 1560 by Protestant reformers in Geneva, Switzerland. It was widely used before the KJV and was valued for its readability and study notes. However, the Geneva Bible itself included a section known as the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. These books included Tobit, Judith, I and II Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, and others.
The critical point often ignored in social media discussions and modern Bible Apps is that translators of the Geneva Bible did not consider the Apocrypha to be inspired Scripture equal to the sixty-six books of the Bible. In fact, the Geneva Bible clearly separated those writings from the Old Testament canon. They were included for historical reading, not because they were believed to be divinely inspired.
And this distinction is important because the Jews, who were entrusted with the Old Testament Scriptures, did not recognize the Apocrypha as part of inspired Scripture. Romans 3:1-2 states, “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (KJV). The Old Testament text recognized by the Jewish people is consistent with the thirty-nine books found in our Bibles today. Jesus Himself affirmed the accepted Hebrew canon when He referred to the blood of righteous men “from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias” (Matthew 23:35), covering the first and last books of the Hebrew arrangement of Scripture.
Furthermore, neither Jesus Christ nor His apostles ever quoted the Apocrypha as authoritative Scripture, even though they used phrases such as “it is written” when quoting from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. The few times apocryphal quotes were made in the New Testament, they were not quoted as if the authority was in the Apocryphal quote itself, but because the Apocrypha was respected by the recipient and even it agreed with the inspired teachings of Christ.
Second Timothy 3:16 reminds us: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine…” (KJV). The issue is not whether the Apocrypha contains historical value. Some parts of it provides useful historical background for us, especially concerning the intertestamental period. The real question is whether or not these books were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Historically, the Jews did not accept them as canonical, and many early Christians questioned their validity, and even the Geneva Bible translators distinguished them from inspired Scripture.
Therefore, the claim that the KJV and others “removed books from the Bible” is incredibly inaccurate. The sixty-six books considered to be canon have remained consistent and contain no contradictions. Some earlier English Bibles simply included the Apocrypha in a separate section for reference and historical interest. Christians, we must be careful not to build faith upon internet rumors or emotional claims. Acts 17:11 praises those who “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Our authority must rest not in social media trends, but in the inspired Word of God rightly divided (2 Timothy 2:15).
~ Casey Clement