Thursday, January 11, 2007

Changing to the ESV with Mark Driscoll


A couple of years ago, a local church (for me) Bethlehem Baptist Church, led by John Piper, transitioned to the English Standard Version Bible. That action has been like a stone thrown into a still pond, causing many churches to re-evaluate which version they use. Another big name church has made the move - Mars Hill Church. This has been public knowledge for a while that this change was coming, but Mark Driscoll posted on his blog today about it and reminded me of it. For the record, I prefer the ESV and it is both my bedside version as well as my travel version when I am away from home. I own many other version, but more and more I find myself sticking with the ESV.

From Mark Driscoll's blog:

Preaching and Teaching from the ESV

One of the great joys of my ministry at Mars Hill Church is the preaching and teaching of Scripture. God has richly blessed me with a wonderful congregation that is eager to learn and willing to sit through sermons that have lasted as long as nearly two hours over the ten-year history of our church. One of the most important decisions that Bible preachers and teachers face is selecting which translation of Scripture they will use as their primary teaching tool. Beginning with the book of Ruth in January 2007, we will be transitioning from using the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, published by my friends at Zondervan, to the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible, published by my other friends at Crossway. To help explain translations in general, and the ESV translation in particular, I have written a lengthy paper for our people that is available here for your reading and use. Please feel free to download the PDF or copy and paste the text for your use in part or in full.

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And on another note, it appears Mark Driscoll might have influence John Piper too. For those who hadn't heard, Dr. Piper slipped up and used a swear word at the Passion07 Conference in a breakout session that some found inappropriate.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big Chris--great post. I remember working with you at SLPBC and speaking with you about the clarity, lexicon, and readability of the ESV. That conversation was instrumental in my own journey on translation selection. I eventually picked up the book, "The Word of God in English" by Leland Ryken (I think that info is correct). Wonderful resource that lays out an extremely compelling case for the ESV (and word-for-word in general). Since I've switched to the ESV I have found that new insights, connections and understanding has come to my study of scripture. The journey has elevated my respect and awe of scripture, and in general renewed my walk with God in amazing ways. Keep on promoting the ESV.

Also, the "behind-kicking" quote from Piper was hilarious. Tilma

Chris Meirose said...

I do really like my ESV, and am glad you too made the change. I don't dislike the NIV, but once you've spent much time with the ESV you really don't want to go back. I've mentioned it before, but I do like to keep an NLT copy around for when I want to cover a lot of territory and get a big picture idea. I won't dig down deep in an NLT, but it can be useful as a supplement to my ESV.

While I can't use Piper for my slip ups of the tongue, it is nice to know he is human. The rate at which he writes at the depth he write makes me wonder from time to time if there are A) two of him B) he never sleeps or C) is a robot (Or possibly a combination of AB&C!)

Unknown said...

Good post. I grew up using the NKJV. I've been using the NIV for a pretty long while now. Recently though, I've been thinking about Bible translations/versions and thinking about making a switch. I've pretty much made up my mind that the next Bible I buy will be a ESV.