Reformed believers don’t like to be accused of being Romanists. Yet it’s a powerful insult: you can shut down any argument if you can prove your opponent is using Papist logic.

Let’s talk about the text of Scripture. Modern critical text advocates call those on the Received Text side Romanists. And the Received Text folks do the same right back. Who is the real Romanist?

Are Received Text advocates Romanists?

Some on the Textus Receptus side act as though the KJV is the only English bible translation you are allowed to use. It’s pointed out that this is just like the Roman Catholics and their Latin Vulgate. As the Council of Trent said: use the Vulgate (or KJV) or else. But thankfully, this is a fringe view and most will argue that any faithful translation based on the right text is suitable. Use the NKJV or the MEV if you want. Or a TR translation in your language; English isn’t special.

Another point that is often raised is that their language of “providential preservation” (WCF 1.8) and “tradition” is Roman Catholic. But Reformed theologians are right to point out that Romanists place tradition and the church above Scripture. The church (cardinals, bishops, etc) determine what Scripture is. In the Reformed world, Scripture is self-authenticating and the church (all individual believers) simply recognize it. The Textus Receptus is only traditional in the sense that there has been strong culture of copying and preserving the word of God.

Are modern critical text advocates Romanists?

Where does your text come from? For the modern text advocate, this is the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament produced by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research at the University of Münster, Germany. This is a secular, academic institution which is responsible for putting together the text underlying our New Testaments (ESV, NASB, NIV, etc). Their employees are the new bishops and their researchers are the new cardinals. Once every decade, they come down from their ivory tower and release a new edition of the Nestle-Aland and all modern translations need to get updated. The new one is coming soon: I wonder what exciting changes are coming to our bibles?

Those in the modern critical text camp are called Romanists because their text is created by an elite class and imposed on the people. Just like the Vulgate.