Why we use the ESV

Why we use the ESV

As we jump into a new message series through the book of Ephesians in our Bible, I wanted to take a minute to share with you why we use the ESV and emphasize the value of all of God’s Word at North Valley. Don’t miss the opportunity to dig into God’s Word by joining us for this 12-week message series, picking up a journal, and joining a group.

The Bible

The Bible is God’s words! It should be central to the Church’s ministry and mission. It is the guiding point that leads us to the person and work of Jesus! There are 66 books in the Bible (39 OT, 27 NT), 40 authors with one divine author, giving us one unifying theme of one story about Jesus being the rescuer of mankind.  It took 1600 years to complete!  What makes it unique is that the OT writers make the claim that what they are writing is God’s revelation more than 2,600 times! When the Bible manuscripts are compared to other ancient writings, they stand alone as the best-preserved literary works of all antiquity!

The Translations

There are many English translations of the Bible, with three different types. There are word-for-word translations, thought-for-thought, and phrase-by-phrase.

The best word-for-word translations translate from the original languages. For example, the original scriptures found in the Old Testament were written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek.  The ESV is essentially a literal word-for-word translation. It was created with more than 100 top scholars, pastors, and leaders, seeking to clarify and unify a word-for-word translation of the entire Bible from the original languages.

The ESV at North Valley

As a church, our teaching team primarily uses the ESV. While we may refer to other translations, such as The Message, the NLT, or the NIV, we will more often than not teach from the ESV. To learn more about the history of the ESV, watch the video.

The History of the English Standard Version from Crossway on Vimeo.