INTRODUCTION
John Bois was a linguist who served as a member of the 1611 KJV Committee of Revisers. During this time, he wrote notes that now provide a glimpse into the thinking of some of the translators. Andrew Walker, the biographer of John Bois, said this about the 1611 revision process: “he and he only took notes of their proceedings, which he diligently kept to his dying day.”
Below are over 10 of John Bois’ thoughts and comments on various Scriptures, provided here for historical purposes. The information comes the book Translating for King James, cited in the “References” section.
Disclaimer: Like anyone else, John Bois’ commentaries are not infallible.
The Scripture is given first, followed by Bois’ comments:
ROMANS 3:25,26
Romans 3:25,26 “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
John Bois: “The Apostle shows, unless I am mistaken, in the justification of the sinner in this way that mercy is tempered with justice, so that neither may be an impediment to the other: there is justice because He has punished our sins; mercy, because in another, not in us. … the sense is, that the justice of God stands whole, whether we contemplate sins having been pardoned, or indeed to be pardoned, and which now are pardoned. Scarcely another place is to be found more apt to this point, so that there is exhibited how well the justice of God joins with His mercy: He is righteous, i.e. at the same time just; and nevertheless He justifies, i.e. He justifies the sinner, i.e. He is merciful in the highest degree.”
ROMANS 6:4
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
John Bois: “Cap. 6. 4. by the glory of the Father] i.e. through the kinship of the Godhead.” John Bois first cites Romans 6:4 and then explains its meaning as he had understood it, which is that Christ was raised up from the dead through the kinship of the Godhead.
ROMANS 12:3
Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; …”
John Bois: “not to think more highly] These words condemn both arrogance and inquisitiveness: inquisitiveness truly both in inquiring into subtle things, and in pursuing those things which do not pertain to us and to our office.”
ROMANS 12:10
Romans 12:10 “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”
John Bois: “in giving honor, going one before another] i.e. let each one of you strive to prevail in giving honor to another.”
ROMANS 14:5
Romans 14:5 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
John Bois: “I.e. Let each one acquire for himself true knowledge from the word of God, so that without doubt he may perceive what the will of God is.”
2 CORINTHIANS 8:5
2 Corinthians 8:5 “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”
John Bois: “first they gave themselves, and then next their own possessions. For this is understood.”
EPHESIANS 6:4
Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
John Bois: “use not your children cruelly. From the consequence the antecedent is understood: for it falls out from too great austerity that children are angry with their parents, and bear their authority reluctantly and impatiently.”
2 TIMOTHY 1:6
2 Timothy 1:6 “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”
John Bois: “[to rekindle, to gain fresh life and courage] By repeated blasts of breath he blows up a sleeping fire. suscitat, i.e. he rekindles, he gains fresh life.”
HEBREWS 8:4
Hebrews 8:4 “For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:”
John Bois: “he could not be a priest, seeing there are priests, etc. h.e. if the priesthood of Christ had been earthly, it could not have fallen out otherwise but that the two earthly priesthoods, of the Levites, and of Christ, would have been crushed between themselves: these two were indeed incoherent, inconsistent.”
John Bois says elsewhere: “he should not so much as be a Priest, so long as the priests that offer gifts etc. remaine.”
HEBREWS 12:15
Hebrews 12:15 “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
John Bois: “looking diligently] These words seem to be said to those specifically, to whom the care has been assigned of examining the habits and life of others. that none through negligence be deprived of, etc. or, that none absent them selves from the grace of God. by the grace of God, I understand the public proclamation of the Gospel.”
HEBREWS 12:17
Hebrews 12:17 “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”
John Bois: “Hoc est, he could not bend the mind of his father, or persuade him, so that having altered his determination he would recall and rescind the blessing with which he had blessed Jacob.”
1 PETER 3:21
1 Peter 3:21 “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:”
John Bois: “The soul is not sanctified in the washing, but in the vow.”
1 PETER 4:15
1 Peter 4:15 “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.”
John Bois: “as a busybody in other men’s matters] i.e. he who wastes his labor on things belonging to others.”
2 PETER 1:4
2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
John Bois: “of the divine nature] i.e. of heavenly regeneration. Zanchius.”
REVELATION 3:14
Revelation 3:14 “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;”
John Bois: “h.e. the cause and beginning of the creatures, not however the first and chief among the creatures.”
References:
Campbell, Gordon. “Translators and Translating.” Bible: the Story of the King James Version, 1611-2011, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 63–64.
Allen, Ward. Translating for King James: Being a True Copy of the Only Notes Made by a Translator of King James’s Bible, the Authorized Version, as the Final Committee of Review Revised the Translation of Romans through Revelation at Stationers’ Hall in London in 1610-1611, Vanderbilt University Press, 1993, pp. 39,41,43,51,61,81,85,93,99,111.