Our Authorized Bible Vindicated - Benjamin G. Wilkinson

this manner, The apostles and elders and brethren,
send greeting unto the brethren.”
American Revised: “And they wrote thus by
them, The apostles and the elders, brethren, unto
the brethren who are of the Gentiles.”
In the King James, the word “brethren” is a
noun making the lay people a third class separate
from the apostles and elders. In the Revised it is a
noun in apposition applying alike to apostles and
elders, -- two classes only. This passage is used as
a foundation on which to base an argument for a
clergy separated by God in their function from the
lay brethren. It makes a vast difference, in sending
out this authoritative letter, from the first council of
the Christian Church, whether it issued from the
apostles and elders only, or issued from the
apostles, elders, and the brethren. Here again to
effect this change the Revisers omitted two Greek
words. The Jesuitical translators of 1582 strongly
denounced Puritans for failing, in their translation,
to make the distinction between the priesthood and
the laity. As we read:
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