For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13
I have been reading the Bible for fifty years. I used the King James Version for many of those years. Indeed, I didn’t even know there were any other English Bibles until much later when I came across the New King James and New International Version Bibles.
Since my discovery long ago of the various Bible versions I have wrestled with which Bible version should be my primary Bible. Which one for my “go to” Bible that could fully replace the beloved King James Version Bible, which is now quite dated, but its advantage is that it’s a very literal English version translation.
In what follows I am primarily focused upon the New Testament Scripture because that is where we draw our doctrines and teachings for the Christian Church today. This in no way means the Old Testament is unimportant, because it is, yet we live under the New Covenant (New Testament). And if your New Testament Bible is both clear and accurate you can be confident the translators did a good job on the Old Testament as well.
One of the issues I came across in Bible translation was the underlying text, particularly the New Testament Greek text. For years I was a Greek Received Text guy. That is the text used by the King James and New King James Version Bibles. But after years of consideration and study, I now believe the Greek Critical Text is generally the better New Testament Greek text, and it is used in nearly every modern Bible version for the New Testament.
There is about 85% agreement between the two main Greek texts used for all New Testament Bibles, and there is No Major Doctrinal Difference between the Greek texts used. So why is this an issue? Because if you haven’t already, eventually you are going to run into “King James Only Churches” and “King James Only People”.
Those churches who have made the Bible version choice into a “test of fellowship” are making a mistake in my opinion. The church needs no added divisions. There are many worthy Bible versions, and it may be that different versions resonate with different people. Sadly, the Baptist Church I grew up in, was Saved in, and that I dearly loved, is now a King James Only Church. These are not bad people. And there is nothing wrong with choosing the venerable King James Bible as a favorite, even for a church. But it usually doesn’t stop there. On my old church's website I was disappointed to see numerous sermons devoted to why the King James Version is the best and it was clear from the posted messages you had better leave your NIV and other Bible versions at home. Such division based upon a choice of English Bible translation is unhealthy.
The church I attend today primarily uses the New International Version (NIV) and I agree with the choice. Yet a speaker one Sunday used a New King James Version (NKJV) and no one thought twice about it. I have carried my English Standard Version Bible to church and got no sideways looks. The point is not to make a point of which Bible a Christian or Church uses in order to be accepted.
Are any Bible translations perfect? No, because humans had a hand in translating them, and humans aren’t perfect. Is God’s Word perfect? Absolutely Yes, in the original autographs the Word of God is perfect and without error. But unless you are fluent in Biblical Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, you are going to need a translation. Which brings us to choosing a reliable Bible, the best Bible translation we can find.
The largest factor in Bible translation depends not upon the differences between the Greek Received and Greek Critical text of the New Testament, but rather in the translation philosophy, which is either a Literal, or Thought-For-Thought translation philosophy. You will come across names like Formal Equivalent and Functional Equivalent, also Dynamic Equivalence and Essential Equivalence. Those are all just fancy names for either a Literal or Thought-For-Thought translation philosophy.
To shorten this up a bit I will get right to the point. I believe the Literal Bible translations are the best. Historically all Bible translators used a Literal Translation approach to the Bible. I want my Bible to be as close to the original Scripture language's words as possible while still being clear and understandable. That brought me to the New American Standard Bible (NASB), with the English Standard Version (ESV) being a close second.
What is the advantage of a Non-Literal Thought-For Thought Bible translation? To be fair they are usually much easier to read and understand. And for a large number of Christians and for preaching and teaching Bibles like the New International Version and Christian Standard Bible are a good choice. Pastors and teachers want very easy to understand Bibles to reach everyone in their churches. And the New International Version (NIV) and Christian Standard Bible (CSB) are not paraphrase Bibles, but tend to be more literal than many of their counterparts. Nevertheless, if you grew up reading the King James Version Bible like me, you may find these less literal Bible versions wanting as I have.
We all have favorite Bible versions, and this article is about Bibles in general and I point to my own choice and reason for it in this article. The purpose is to inform. But you need to find a Bible version that speaks most clearly to you and then Read It! For what good is a Bible sitting in a gilded trophy case or elevated to the rafters do if no one reads it?
My personal choice after fifty years is that I want a strong version that is as close as possible to the original autographs, and that is why my primary Bible is the New American Standard Bible (NASB), with the English Standard Version (ESV) a close second choice. Both are literal Bible translations that speak to me. As mentioned, I grew up with the King James Version (KJV) Bible. It is a literal translation Bible, but my own humble opinion is that the King James Bible’s time has come and gone for many regarding general church use for a majority of Christians in general. The dated language and sentence structure is out of sync with today’s English language and grammar. I still refer to it from time to time and will read from it on occasion. I even prefer it for a specific verse or two. I would fault no one for still using it as their primary Bible. And that is the real point here, get the best information you can, read from several English Bible versions, pray about it, and then make your own choice. You need not even limit yourself to a single choice. I mostly use the NASB and ESV Bibles, but I compare them with other versions as well. Yet the advantage of having one primary Bible choice is to become familiar with it, along with scripture memorization from that one Bible.
I end with this: No Bible will do you any good if you don’t read it. That is the most important choice of all–to read God's Word!
