The English Standard Version, by Kathleen Nielson

The great strength of the ESV is first and foremost that it allows readers to trust the words to be the Word of God. Any translation will be reliable according to the measure of its faithfulness to the original words—whether these words be political negotiations, love letters, directions, novels, or books of the Bible. Many contemporary versions of Scripture have moved toward a philosophy of “dynamic” or “functional” equivalence, translating “thought for thought” more than “word for word,” elucidating the text for modern readers. The huge, historical, amazing claim of Christians, however, is that God inspired not just thoughts but words.

As an English reader limited by my ignorance of the original languages, I want to be able to trust that the words in front of me are close to the ones God “breathed out” through the amazing minds and pens of those who wrote them down (2 Tim. 3:16). Paul claimed that he wrote “in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:13); he thanked the Thessalonians for accepting his words “not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13). Scripture consistently points to its words; what a privilege to be enabled to follow that pointing with great confidence.

The Word of God has always been and always will be “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). Instead of refashioning that sword to make it sharper, we need only to release it, unsheathe it. It seems that the ESV translators understand the principle of the Bible’s perspicuity. Working confidently on the basis of this principle, they have done well in releasing and unsheathing the Word of God.

About the Article

The preceding text is an excerpt from a review of the ESV that appeared in the September / October 2002 edition of Books and Culture. Used by permission of Christianity Today International. Read the full article (subscription required).