Can You Be Saved Out of Other Versions than the KJV?

We admit in agreement with our opposition that it is possible to be saved out of other versions of the Bible beside the KJV so long as that version contains the substantia doctrinae of the original language. That said, we do not regard the salvific power of a document to be the sole or even primary reason to accept a version of the Bible as the word of God in a given language and that for two reasons:

1.) Most Christians understand and many have experienced that it takes only a handful of verses for the power of God unto salvation to penetrate the heart of a lost soul. As a concrete example, tracts do this quite effectively. Perhaps the tract is only the size of 3×5 card containing the Romans Road. The Scripture contained therein is sufficient to lead someone to Christ and His salvation. In the case of a tract, the vast majority of the Scripture is omitted from the text of the tract, and yet with all that Scripture missing from the tract it is still possible for the person reading the tract to receive Jesus Christ as Savior. Furthermore, the mere presence of parts of Scripture in the tract does not transform the tract into the Bible, the inspired canon of Scripture. The tract contains verses from the Bible but it is not the Bible. In other words, the tract is sufficiently reliable to lead someone to Christ while at the same time the tract is not the inspired canon of Scripture. So, like tracts, versions which contain portions of the inspired canon of Scripture can in these places lead someone to saving knowledge in Christ.

2.) In dealing with the question of whether or not a soul can be saved out of another version, I often ask the question, “To whom is the Scripture written, the lost or the saved?” After some back and forth the answer must be that the Scripture or at least the greater portion of Scripture is written to the saved, to and for God’s people. The Bible is not primarily a book about salvation. Rather, it is a book about conformity to Christ, salvation being the first step in that journey. The greater portion of the Scripture revolves around teaching and examples, both positive and negative, of how we ought live, of how we ought to conform to the image of Christ. In a word, the Bible is about sanctification – being set apart unto God and away from the world. The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:17 that inspired Scripture is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction so that the man of God may be perfect or complete. Hebrews 13:21 tells us that our salvation is secured through the blood of Christ in order that we be made “perfect in every good work to do his will.”

To the point, it is not enough that a version of the Bible be able to lead someone to Christ. That we admit. But more to the reason for which Scripture exists, the version must serve to perfect the saint in every good work in order that he may do the will of God.

The stream cannot be more pure, more perfect, than the fountain. It is not possible therefore that the man of God be made perfect or complete if the Bible from which he reads is not perfect or complete. Or he can only be as perfect as his Bible is perfect.