Christmas has a strange way of exposing what’s in our hearts. The season draws us back to the manger—the place where God stepped into the world quietly, without force, without pride, without demanding that anyone get every detail right before approaching Him.
When the angels announced the birth of Christ, they didn’t speak in a special, holier language. They spoke in the everyday tongue of shepherds. God’s message came in a form that ordinary people could understand. That’s the pattern of Christmas: heaven bending down to meet humanity where it is, not where someone insists it should be.
So when someone offers a KJV Bible as a gift during this season, that can be a beautiful thing. The KJV is part of our heritage, and it has carried the story of Jesus for centuries. But the moment we turn a translation into an idol—claiming that only one English version is the “true” Bible and that the rest are corrupt—we lose the spirit of the manger. The manger wasn’t about superiority. It was about humility. It wasn’t about guarding a single “authorized” way to hear God. It was about God becoming accessible.
Christmas reminds us that God’s Word is not limited to one dialect or one era of English. The eternal Word became flesh, not 17th-century vocabulary. Christ came for every language, every people, every listening ear. When we call other translations “devilish,” we speak more like the accuser than the angels. We wound the body of Christ instead of building it up.
The spirit of Christmas doesn’t shrink the gospel down to one translation. It stretches the gospel outward—to shepherds, to travelers from the East, to broken people, to curious people, to people who read in many languages and many styles. The star didn’t shine for one group; it lit up the whole sky.
So here is the invitation this season:
Hold your KJV with gratitude. Treasure it, read it, love it. But don’t let that love turn into fear or suspicion toward the rest of God’s people. Let the humility of Christ shape your convictions. Let the peace of Christ shape your tone. Let the generosity of Christ shape your view of Scripture.
The baby in the manger didn’t come holding a single translation. He came holding out grace.
And grace is the one gift that never comes in only one version.
May the peace of Christ fill your home, soften your heart, and remind you that God’s Word has always been bigger than any one book we can hold.
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