This article is part of a series on the changing meaning of English words and its impact on the King James Only debate. To see the introduction to this series, click The King James Version and the changing use of words.
Over time, the meaning and usage of words change. Some words drop out of use, new words come into being, but perhaps more importantly, words that remain in use often change in their very definitions. Terms that meant one thing even a relatively short time ago may now mean something completely different in present-day English. These changes can impact how we read, understand, and apply older English writings without our even realizing that we are misunderstanding what the author or translator meant. There are, for example, many such passages in the KJV, where words are used that carried one sense in 1611 but carry a quite different sense today. For an example of this, let’s consider the word “convenient.”
Filthiness is not convenient
Today, something that is “convenient” is accessible, easy to use, or favorable to our circumstance and purpose. Conversely, something that is not convenient is something that kind of gets in the way. It is a nuisance. It is obviously not immoral or wrong to be inconvenient. Convenience is a category primarily of ease of access or speed and simplicity in accomplishing our ends. Thus, it seems a bit strange to us when we read:
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks,” (Ephesians 5:4, KJV).
Is the problem with these things really just that they are not convenient? Is it really the case that they are not really bad, per se, but that they just kind of get in the way a bit? Are they merely inconvenient? The language of the KJV would seem to be downplaying some pretty serious sins as simple matters of convenience. This is not, in fact, the case, but it does show how the changing nature of language can obscure what was once clear language. The word “convenient” used to simply mean “fitting, proper, or appropriate.” The KJV translators’ point was not to say that such sins were merely inconvenient (in our modern sense) but rather that such behavior is not fitting or becoming a Christian.
Almost all English translations prior to the KJV (such as those of Tyndale, Coverdale, the Matthew Bible, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Bishops Bible) phrased it as “which are not comely.” Here, too, we are confronted with a changing word. We almost never use the word “comely” anymore at all, but when we do, it is generally a term related to physical attractiveness. This was true even then, but when applied to behavior rather than appearance, “comely” also meant “proper, seemly, or becoming.” In other words, it once meant about the same thing that “convenient” meant when the KJV translators employed it. Earlier still, the 14th-century Wycliffe Bible said that such things were “not to profit.” Each of these early translations was saying the same thing in their own respective days, and none of them meant quite what we would mean by those words today. This is why new translations are helpful from time to time so as to keep language clear and meaningful to current readers. Languages change, and translations often need to change with them if they want to be properly understood. This is why translations in our day render the same phrase as:
“…which are not fitting…” (NASB, see also NKJV).
“…which are out of place…” (ESV, see also NIV).
“…are not suitable…” (CSB).
These are ways we would express today what the 16th and 17th-century translators meant by the words “not convenient” or “not comely.”
To do those things which are not what?
To take another example, we see in Paul’s discussion of God giving sinners over to a reprobate mind, he writes:
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,” (Romans 1:28, KJV).
Again, it is not that one given over in such a manner will merely be incompetent, doing things that are ineffective or that get in the way. It is that they will do shameful things which are not becoming or fitting. As we see in modern translations:
“…which are not proper,” (NASB).
“…what ought not to be done,” (ESV, see also NIV).
“…which are not fitting,” (NKJV).
“…what is not right,” (CSB).
The KJV translators were not wrong to use the word “convenient” here. They were doing the exact same thing that the NASB or ESV translators did today, i.e., using words common among people of their own era. One day, the words “proper” or “fitting” might take on new meanings and render our current translations confusing. At that time, new translations will be helpful to clarify the meaning of the passage. In the same way, our new translations today speak with clarity in places where the language of the KJV has, over the centuries, become ripe for misunderstanding due to natural changes in the meanings of words.
