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Reflections on the ESV After 25 Years
This article is part of the ESV 25th Anniversary series.
The Bible in the Life of the Church
I am not adventurous when it comes to travel, nor curious when it comes to food, nor innovative when it comes to technology. I like the things I like, and I don’t usually try new things unless I have to.
But I was an early adopter with the ESV.
I was a seminary student at Gordon-Conwell on Boston’s North Shore when I heard that a new Bible translation was coming out soon—an English version that was supposed to be more literal than the NIV, elegant like the KJV, and still accessible to contemporary readers. I also heard that J. I. Packer was a big part of the project, along with other men (like Wayne Grudem and Kent Hughes) whose books I had read. I knew I would get a copy of this new translation as soon as it was available. This was long before the days of Amazon, so I dutifully checked the seminary bookstore regularly in the fall of 2001 until I saw the first-time copies of the English Standard Version on the shelves. I bought one immediately, made it my English Bible, and have used the ESV ever since.
I am thankful for every faithful translation of the Bible that brings God’s inerrant word to more people. Even though I’m only in my 40s (barely hanging on!), I’m old enough to have grown up—in my first years at least—on the King James Version. When I think of familiar passages like John 3:16 or Psalm 23, I still think of them in the KJV. That was the first Bible I heard in church and the first Bible I used for memorization. My church switched to the New International Version soon after it came out in 1984, and I used the NIV almost exclusively until I left for college in 1995.
Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the ESV
As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ESV Bible and the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s New Testament, Crossway gives thanks for God’s faithfulness in preserving his Word across the centuries and for generations to come.
Once in college—as I started growing in my faith like a weed—I decided to try reading through the Bible in other translations. I went through all 1,189 chapters in the KJV, the RSV, and the NASB (as well as the NIV again). In my college classes, I was sometimes assigned the NRSV and the Catholic NAB. I later dabbled in the NLT and in The Message. In the span of five or six years, I read the whole Bible in at least four different English translations, and parts of the Bible in several other versions. I’m grateful for all that I learned.
I can’t say that by 2001 I had enough knowledge of the original languages or of the publishing landscape to know that a new English translation was necessary. But I had read enough from various English versions and at least had a moderate understanding of Greek and Hebrew that I was excited for a translation that aimed for the sweet spot between literal but not wooden, between historic but not dated, and between elegant but not esoteric. That’s what I was hoping the ESV would be, and in my estimation—after reading through it cover-to-cover dozens of times and preaching from it hundreds (if not thousands) of times—I’m convinced the ESV hit its mark.
A Profound Privilege
If we’ve had the blessing of being a Christian and being in the church for many years (if not decades), we can lose sight of what a privilege it is to have access to the Scriptures. After making the case in Romans 2 that the Jews, just as much as the Gentiles, are sinners and lawbreakers, Paul raises a natural question: “Then what advantage has the Jew?” We can understand why Paul would anticipate this question. If God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, the Jews, are in the same spiritual predicament as the Gentiles, then why did it even matter that they were chosen?
Now, think about all the ways Paul might have answered that question. He could have said: “Advantages? The Jewish people have had plenty. Consider the call of Abram, the miraculous birth of Isaac, the growth of the twelve tribes, the providential care over Joseph in Egypt, the supernatural protection of Moses, the burning bush, the plagues, the angel of death that passed over the Israelites, the parting of the Red Sea, the swallowing up of the Egyptians, the fire and cloud in the wilderness, manna from heaven, water from the rock, crossing the Jordan, capturing Jericho, the conquest of Canaan, the gift of the promised land, the victories of judges like Gideon and Samson, the establishment of the kingdom under David and the expansion of the kingdom under Solomon, the miracles in the days of Elijah and Elisha, the return from exile, the rebuilding of the temple, and the preservation of the Jewish people for over 2,000 years.” Paul could have mentioned all that (and more). But instead, he lists only one advantage, the supreme privilege of all religious privileges: they were entrusted with the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2).
What an amazing gift we have been given—to hear from the sovereign God of the universe, to have his inspired words written down and providentially preserved, and to have those words carefully translated into a language that more than a billion people can understand. People have studied, labored, prayed, and literally bled and died over the years so that we can have an English Bible. As Paul reminded the Jews, our advantage is much in every way.
People have studied, labored, prayed, and literally bled and died over the years so that we can have an English Bible.
A Bible for the Whole Church
I am now in my twenty-fifth year of pastoral ministry, and for almost all of those years I’ve used the ESV for my preaching and in the full scope of ministry at the church. I love that the ESV is the Bible my congregation uses from cradle to grave. We read it to children in the nursery, and we base all our Sunday school curriculum off the ESV. It’s the translation used in counseling, in praying, and in corporate Scripture reading. It’s what we use for weddings and funerals. It’s the Bible most of our people carry to church, read on their own, and open up in their small groups. We use the ESV for evangelism and discipleship, for memory verses and school theme verses, for putting on the website and printing in our bulletin.
I’m especially glad I can preach from the ESV. Currently, I’m preaching through the book of Romans (and at this rate, I may still be when the ESV celebrates thirty years!). As I write these words, I’m looking at Romans 3:25 for my next sermon text. I’m glad that I’ll get to explain to my church what “propitiation” means instead of un-explaining that “atoning sacrifice” or “sacrifice of atonement” or “mercy seat” or “expiation” aren’t the most accurate or most helpful ways of translating the underlying Greek word. Propitiation may be a new word for many people in the church, but it’s a word that people need to know and a word that communicates the critical idea that Christ died as a sin-bearing substitute who, by his shed blood, turned away the wrath of God and brought us near to the throne of grace. I’ll be giving thanks for the ESV as I get up to preach this week.
It’s hard to imagine the last twenty-five years of my life without the ESV. It’s even harder to imagine the years ahead—however many the Lord gives me—without the ESV. There simply is no greater means of grace in the life of the church than a Bible that is read, sung, proclaimed, memorized, written out, studied, savored, and stored up in the heart. May God give us all grace to be people of the Book—now and into eternity. For even if the heavens and earth pass away, the word of the Lord will not (Matt. 24:35).
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