The elders’ of Omaha Bible Church have decided to make the switch from the New American Standard Version to the English Standard Version as the primary preaching, teaching, reading, memorizing, and ministry Bible of the church. What follows below is an excerpt of the announcement including some of our rationale for the switch.
The pastors have been reading through the ESV for more than a couple of years in our own personal devotions. We have been carefully and prayerfully considering this change. We recognize that there are other good translations (including the NASB!) so this is by no means a shift to becoming an ‘ESV-only’ church. We just simply think that the ESV is the best translation for Omaha Bible Church to put in the hands of our people.
There are three big reasons for the change to the ESV.
1) The ESV is an excellent translation
By excellent translation I mean that it is a word-for-word translation as opposed to a thought-for-thought translation. This becomes critically important for us because God did inspire thoughts but rather words (2 Tim. 3.16).
Furthermore, the ESV also emphasizes and demonstrates a high literary quality. In other words, the translators have worked hard to ensure that the ESV maintains the high literary quality of the Bible. The translation reads better than many others and it has a greater sense of literary beauty. We have used the NASB for a number of years and really enjoyed the attention given to the word-for-word translation from the original. However, the same care was not given to preserving the Bible as a literary treasure.
The ESV helps us to have a word-for-word translation with a high literary value.
2) The ESV appears ‘here to stay’
As I mentioned above we did not make this switch casually. We have been carefully evaluating the translation, the publisher, and its growing support for some time now. We recognize that while the ESV is popular it is not merely trendy or faddish. It seems as though that many of the churches who are serious about studying the Bible, exposition, the primacy of the gospel, and the Sola’s of the Reformation are using the English Standard Version.
The ESV appears positioned to be the translation of choice for serious minded Christians in this era.
3) The ESV has strong support
Crossway is the publisher of the ESV and they have done a fantastic job thus far. Specifically I am thinking about how they seem to be so ardently resolved to make the Bible accessible in a variety of mediums. This may have something to do with the fact that Crossway, unlike so many Christian publishers, is actually owned by believers!
Some examples include ESV.org where the Bible is easily searchable. You may also listen to the Bible as Max Mclean reads it to you. In addition the ESV Study Bible is a wonderful gift to the church. The Study Bible includes detailed commentary by various scholars as well as very helpful articles on such things as ethics, history of salvation, hermeneutics, Bibliology and Archeology. All of this to say, Crossway is forward thinking and working hard to come alongside the church and put the Bible in peoples’ hands.
Conclusion:
As a church we aim to make the glory of God central by unfolding and applying the Word of God. Therefore we want to help believers to read, understand and apply the Scriptures. The English Standard Version seems like the best translation for us to use for the pulpit ministry as well as daily reading, memorizing and meditation.
