Foolish lecturers in FEBC

1. The Source of the Holy Spirit

Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit is received by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ, not by human effort, ritual performance, or allegiance to a particular Bible translation.

Paul writes:

“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by believing what you heard?”

(Galatians 3:2, NIV)

The apostle grounds Christian experience in the proclamation of Christ crucified (Galatians 3:1) and the believer’s faith in that message. The Spirit comes from God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus, not from any human tradition or linguistic form.

Any teaching that makes a particular translation the doorway to the Spirit contradicts the apostolic foundation.

2. The Gospel, Not a Translation, Gives Life

The gospel is God’s saving act in Christ—His incarnation, death for sins, resurrection, and exaltation. This message is the power of salvation (Romans 1:16). A translation, no matter how accurate or historically valued, is an instrument that communicates the gospel—not the gospel itself.

To say “the Spirit comes only through the KJV” is to elevate a translation into a saving work. This becomes a new “law,” a human-created requirement, and therefore falls under Paul’s warning in Galatians.

This error misunderstands both:

a. the nature of Scripture

Scripture is God’s Word in its original form, faithfully preserved and translated into many languages for the building up of the Church.

b. the nature of salvation

Salvation depends on Christ alone, received by faith alone, through the Spirit alone—not by one English rendering.

3. Paul’s Rebuke: The Danger of Departing from the Spirit

Paul calls the Galatians “foolish” because they have abandoned the path by which God began His work among them. They experienced:

• the proclamation of Christ

• the gift of the Spirit

• the transformation of new birth

Yet they turned toward a system that depended on the flesh—that is, human-controlled religious performance.

By asking, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Paul exposes the spiritual insanity of trading divine power for human achievement.

KJV-onlyism mirrors this shift: it moves trust from Christ’s saving act to a human-made requirement, turning a translation preference into a spiritual benchmark.

4. Why Paul Confronts This So Strongly

Paul guards the heart of the gospel. Anything added to Christ—be it circumcision, diets, festivals, or a particular English translation—creates a “second gate” to God that the apostles never endorsed.

To add to the gospel is to subtract from grace.

KJV-onlyism, in its strict form, functions as a modern substitute for the law:

• it demands outward conformity,

• it creates insider–outsider categories,

• it makes spiritual fullness dependent on a human boundary.

Such systems contradict Paul’s teaching that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision (nor any external badge) counts for anything, but only faith working through love (Galatians 5:6).

5. The Proper Christian Response

The proper response is not to despise the KJV, nor to diminish its historical value, but to reject the theological error of making it the condition of spiritual life.

Christians should:

a. Return to the apostolic gospel

The Spirit is given through faith in Christ, not through allegiance to a translation.

b. Affirm the authority of Scripture

Authority rests in the inspired text, faithfully witnessed in many translations.

c. Resist additions to the gospel

Any version-based requirement for salvation or sanctification is a form of “works of the flesh.”

d. Preserve unity in the Church

Language diversity is not a threat to the gospel. It is part of Pentecost’s witness that God’s word belongs to every tongue and people.

6. The Theological Center

At its core, Galatians 3:2–3 teaches:

• The Christian life begins with the Spirit.

• The Spirit comes through faith in the crucified Christ.

• To shift trust onto human-centered systems—ancient or modern—is spiritual foolishness.

• The Church must preserve the freedom of the gospel and resist all attempts to bind consciences where God has not bound them.

The error of replacing the gospel with a translation is, therefore, not a small matter—it is a direct contradiction of the apostolic message.