Kevin DeYoung - Why Our Church Switched to the ESV

Why Our Church Switched to the ESV

Copyright 2011 by Kevin DeYoung

Published by Crossway
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Cover design & photo: Josh Dennis

First printing 2011

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations marked esv are from the ESV Bible ( The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked niv are from the Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-2744-9

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-2745-6

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-2746-3

EPub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2747-0

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

I have been the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (URC) in East Lansing, Michigan, since the summer of 2004. Almost as soon as arrived I began hearing, We need to replace the Bibles we use for worship. They are falling apart! At the same time, and mostly unrelated, members of the congregation were asking me as their new pastor, What Bible translation do you recommend? Since we had the New International Version (NIV) in the pews at the time (actually for us, on the chairs), I usually said something like, You know, there are a number of good translations. God can use almost all of them. Personally, I like the English Standard Version the best. I think it does the best job of being readable and as literal as possible.

Naturally, a second question would sometimes follow: So why do we use the NIV in our services? Not wanting to upset too many apple carts, I would explain that at some point in the future we would need to order new Bibles for worship, and at that time the elders would take a look at what translation could serve us best.

It took a few years, but eventually we had no choice but to replace our well-worn pew Bibles. And when the time came I did my best to gently persuade the elders, and the congregation after them, that the ESV was the best choice. This booklet explains why I wanted our church to switch to the ESV and why, with virtually no controversy, we eventually did.

Thousands of pages have been written about Bible translation theory and the merits and demerits of particular English translations of the Bible. Obviously, in this short space I cant begin to do justice to all the arguments and examples scholars have offered for one approach or another. My goal is much more modest. I want to give
several reasons why I use the English Standard Version (ESV) in my own personal study and devotions and why we now use it in our worship services and educational ministries too.

But let me start with a few comments by way of introduction. First, it must be stated unequivocally that the Lord in his sovereignty has used and will continue to use many different English translations to build up his church. This isnt to say that all translations are the same or that it doesnt matter which translation we use. Its simply an acknowledgment that Gods Word is sufficiently communicated in many different translations in such a way that people can come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. So in arguing for the ESV, please do not hear me belittling the work the Lord has accomplished through many other English translations.

Second, an attitude of thanksgiving should permeate this whole discussion. There are millions of people in the world who still do not have the Scriptures in a language they can understand and millions more who do not have the Bible in their heart language. How fortunate are English speakers who not only have 500 years of Bible translation history to rely on, but can choose from more than a dozen modern translations. Ours is an embarrassment of riches.

Third, my support for the ESV is not because I loathe other translations and certainly not because I havent read from or been blessed by any other English translation. Ive read portions of the Bible in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), New King James Version (NKJV), and The Message, and the entire Bible in a number of other translations. I grew up using the New International Version (NIV). This is what my church used, my parents read around the dinner table, and what I received when I graduated from childrens churcha beloved illustrated gift Bible that I carried around until the binding fell apart. Ive read through the NIV probably half a dozen timesall with great profit. In college, I started trying other translations. I read through the King James Version (KJV) three or four times and loved its stately beauty. I tried the Revised Standard Version (RSV) once and then moved on to the New American Standard Bible (NASB) because it was a very literal translation. After using the NASB for several years and reading through it several times, I switched to the ESV because it had precisely the balance I was looking for: more literal than the NIV and more readable than the NASB.

By now, Ive read through the ESV a dozen times or so. Since switching for my own personal use, shortly after the ESV was released in 2001, Ive never had any thoughts of going back to another translation. The same goes for preaching. I am thankful for all the sermons I had the privilege to preach using the NIV, but switching to the ESVwhich I did several years ago when my congregation made the changehas made my job as a preacher easier and more enjoyable. I think our church has welcomed the change too.

My decision to switch to the ESV several years ago was not because I felt that all other translations were terrible but because I resonated with its translation philosophy. Since then, I have come to love the readability, accuracy, and style of the ESV. Its certainly not perfect; no translation is. But I hope it becomes the new standard among English speakers and becomes the Bible used for prayer, preaching, memorization, study, and worship in more and more churches.

It would be impossible, in a few pages or even a few hundred pages, to compare the ESV with every other modern English translation. Instead, I want to focus on how the ESV compares with the NIV, the former pew Bible at University Reformed Church and the most popular Bible in the United States in terms of sales. I could give reasons why I like the ESV more than other translationsthe KJV/NKJV is based on inferior manuscripts, the NASB is too wooden and lacking in literary quality, the NRSV opts for a gender-neutral approach, The Message is too paraphrastic, the RSV is burdened by theological bias, etc.but since the switch at my church was from NIV to ESV, I will explain my preference for the ESV by way of comparison with the NIV.