Capitalization

From Textus Receptus

The capitalization of deity is not in the Hebrew or Greek (early Greek was all in capitals). Capitalization in our English versions is there to help English readers know who the scripture is referring to. Although the KJV does not capitalize pronouns, I personally think that reverence for God is preserved by capitalizing pronouns, including You, Your and Yours, which refer to Him. Additionally, capitalization of these pronouns benefits the reader by clearly distinguishing divine and human persons referred to in a passage. Without such capitalization the distinction is often obscure, because the antecedent of a pronoun is not always clear in the English translation.

But the original Greek doesn’t not have capitals. So the word Son can be capitalized or left in lower case, depending on the context. Take Matthew 1:1 for example, where Son is capitalized in the NKJV, but the KJV has son. Obviously this is a translational variant and not a manuscript variant.

Some KJV only people don't like capitalization, for example, in 2 Thess 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

The NKJV capitalizes the He - He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

But this causes people to be locked into the pre-tribulation approach. I am pre-trib and think the reading is fine, but I can understand if you were not, it could cause issues.

Also in James 4:5 the NKJV has - Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? Whereas the KJV does not capitalize the word spirit. This leaves it open to interpret it as the Holy Spirit or our own spirit. I believe that the capitalization here is good.

Finally in 1 John 5:8 it says - And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. The 1900 Cambridge edition on the KJV has spirit. This is one of the rare places where KJV editions differ. I personally think it should be capitalized.