Those of you who have known me, or read my writing, especially over the last year or so, may find this a little surprising: I think I’ve come home to the NKJV!
I was thinking about writing a post about how my thinking has changed over the past couple months, as I have no longer been researching and trying to find the best Bible translation, and instead I have relaxed a bit and looked for the best translation for me. I had settled in pretty well with the Holman CSB for a while, but it wasn’t long before I became uncomfortable with the frequent unusual renderings that I was being confronted with. So I moved back in with the NASB, and was very comfortable.
Now, this class I’m involved in on evangelism in the mainline churches caused me to start wrestling with translations again, because the translation which is most widely accepted in mainline churches, among liberal scholars, and in my own local church, is the NRSV. I had come to the conclusion that if I am to have fellowship with these people, I need to use the NRSV, to carry it and teach from it. But I was frustrated by the lack of satisfactory NRSV Bibles that are available on the market today. Besides, I have an aversion to the NRSV and liberal scholarship, and using the NRSV would be a bitter pill for me to swallow.
So I started looking at the other more literal translations. While I like the NASB, it is closely tied to conservative scholarship; and it doesn’t read as smoothly as I’d like, particularly out loud. When I told people the bible I was carrying was the NASB, I’d get puzzled looks and “Huh?” Mainliners don’t know the NASB. Conservative scholars love it, but liberal scholars grudgingly reject it, and evangelicals think it’s too hard to understand. It’s not likely to ever make much inroads beyond conservative scholars. And that’s sad, in my humble opinion.
But anyway, I turned to the NIV, and the TNIV. The NIV is the Bible of the evangelical movement. While quite accurate, it is still to close to being a paraphrase for most scholars, and is usually rejected by the mainliners and liberal scholars. The TNIV, while more accurate than the NIV, is hung with the unfortunate reputation of being an “inclusive” Bible, and I’m afraid it will never be well accepted even by the evangelicals it was targeted for. That is also sad.
So I picked up the ESV, a conservative revision of the old Revised Standard Version. I found the language to be beautiful and lofty, if slightly archaic in many places. It’s a smoother reading Bible than the NASB, and it’s reasonably accurate. It has become the Bible of conservative scholarship, and will probably replace the NASB in that role over the next few years. That’s good for the ESV, sad for the NASB, and I’m a little uncomfortable with it.
As I was reading along in the ESV last night, something kept saying to me, “Read that passage in the NKJV! Read that passage in the NKJV!” So I went and found my old, beat-up NKJV, and started reading. And it was like I had come home! I could hardly put it down! My mind relaxed, and I could understand it all! It was the Word as I remembered it! It was the Word as I had learned it and as I had heard it preached so many times for so many years! I couldn’t believe I was reading the NKJV and enjoying it! Even the rhythms are there, just like in the old KJV.
So now I’m looking at replacing that beat-up old NKJV Bible. And while it’s not the NRSV, what it is, is immediately recognizable and acceptable to nearly all circles of Christians. It can be my Bible! I can carry it, and teach from it, and everybody will know it is the Word of God. I don’t have to recommend it to people; it will just be what I carry and use.
I feel like I have come home.
ElShaddai Edwards said:
It’s been said a thousand times – if you read it, it’s the right translation.
I still don’t understand the extreme aversion to the NRSV given that you don’t equate liberal scholarship with the liberal leadership described in your last few posts, but I’m glad you have a translation that works for you.
I agree with your dim view of the future of the TNIV – if they had found a way to change some of the gender language without changing the plural/singular relationships, I think much of the disagreement would evaporate. Most of the comments I see now seem to be expressing regret about the ambiguity of a singular/plural “they”.
I also agree about the NASB – after 20 years of using it exclusively, I now find it very difficult to just pick up and read. It’s become more of a reference book than a Bible to me.
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Gary Zimmerli said:
Well, I have learned to separate the NRSV from the liberal leadership somewhat, ElShaddai, but it has been hard since they’ve been so, sooooo adamant that it’s the very best Bible out there and that everybody in the mainlines should be using it. It’s their Bible, not mine, and that’s why I have such a hard time accepting it.
As for the NASB, I still think it’s a valuable study resource. It has some very strong positives in that direction. But I’m not quite as comfortable using it as my main, everyday Bible.
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Kevin Sam said:
Gary, it’s an interesting post about your homecoming back to the good ol’ NKJV and your experience with the other translations. I feel like I’ve followed your walk through them from your previous posts on bible translations. I know exactly how you feel because it was also my translation while growing up in the Christian faith. My bible wasn’t the NIV or NASB like it is with many others. The NKJV has a ring to it that I’m so familiar with. Maybe that’s why when I pick it up, it sounds like how I think a bible should sound like. I think you have to be comfortable with the bible and have confidence in it that it is speaking the word of God in the ears of the listeners and readers.
And like you, I’ve also had to make a psychological separation between the NRSV and the liberal scholarship that’s usually associated with it. Some of the liberal scholars I’ve been reading gives me the chills and I wonder where in the world any mainliners have a hope of surviving without being infected with secular humanism and doubt. I’m not against higher textual criticism but there’s that innate concern that I could be taken down the wrong path if I’m not spiritually in tune with the Spirit and the word. Okay, enough about my ranting.
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tc robinson said:
Interesting, I say! Regarding the NRSV I would have bought one everyone, so I could keep using it (smile).
I’ve never warmed up to the HCSB, though it has some good features.
I really don’t know what to say about the future of the TNIV. It’s my primary text, but even if it’s not regarded as the second coming of the NIV, it’s close enough for me to keep using it.
By the way, I read from the NKJV yesterday. Here’s how it happened. I was at my office yesterday, and a sister came to share some things with me. So we got to read some of the Psalms. She led me to Ps 116:7. I’d left my TNIV at home, so I grabbed an NIV off my desk and handed it to her, but she had read it in the NKJV. Well, on my desk was a NKJV, and I had the pleasure of reading from it.
I know it’s Dr. David Jeremiah’s version of choice.
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Scripture Zealot said:
I’ve grown weary of all the Bible translation comparisons as of late, although I have a post I’ve already done that will go up next week.
However I’m curious about what you thought were strange renderings in the HCSB if you don’t mind. If you don’t want to get into it, that’s fine. I’m wondering if it’s just strange sounding things you’re not used to or renderings you think aren’t right.
As far as NRSV, I’ve read many conservative scholars who use it. But that’s moot at this point.
It’s very refreshing to hear someone who’s not afraid to go back to an “old” version. It’s God Word!
I found your blog from ElShaddai’s.
Jeff
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L. Wells said:
Very refreshing post Gary. I, like you and Kevin struggle sometimes with the fact that the NRSV has its main backing from the liberal scholars. I do however, typically find it to be very accurate when I check up on a passage that seems questionable.
The biggest problem I have with it, is that it doesn’t have that authoritative tone to it. It doesn’t SOUND like the Bible. Another serious problem is one you mentioned. The lack of a good study edition available unless you want a critical Bible.
Recently I’ve grown weary of reading critical Bibles all the time and have been looking for something more devotional in nature. I have a former priest who always was quick to recommend the NKJV, and still does to this day. Perhaps I too will look back at my NKJV Life Application Bible to meet my devotional needs.
Who knows? I might find my oasis there, right where I left it.
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Gary Zimmerli said:
Scripture Zealot wrote:
“However I’m curious about what you thought were strange renderings in the HCSB if you don’t mind. If you don’t want to get into it, that’s fine. I’m wondering if it’s just strange sounding things you’re not used to or renderings you think aren’t right.”
I don’t really want to go deeply into this on this post, SZ, but for now suffice it to say that they are things that I am not used to. When I check them out, they have usually been legitimate renderings, just different. The example that pops into my head right now is “winnowing shovel” rather that the usual “winnowing fork.”
No, the HCSB has proven to be an excellent translation, IMHO. It’s just that there are some renderings that jar me a little.
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Gary Zimmerli said:
l.wells wrote:
“Perhaps I too will look back at my NKJV Life Application Bible to meet my devotional needs.
Who knows? I might find my oasis there, right where I left it.”
Yes, do it! It may not click with you right now, but it may later on. You may find that oasis!
Jeremiah 6:16 (NKJV)
Thus says the LORD:
“ Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls…
It’s an old path, but a good one!
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Gary Zimmerli said:
Oh, by the way, I replaced my beat-up old NKJV over the weekend. The local Barnes & Noble Bookstore had the NKJV Giant Print Center-column Reference Bible in black bonded leather for only about $35 +tax. If I had ordered it from EvangelicalBible.com it would have cost about $35 as well, and so I figured a couple bucks for tax was well worth it to have the Bible in my hands that very day! (I know it’s bonded leather, but it will still last a while. 😉 It’s not easy to find genuine leather at the prices I can afford.)
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Scripture Zealot said:
Thank you Gary. That’s good enough for me.
I see in my previous post it should be “God’s Word”.
Nice find on the new Bible.
Jeff
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