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Bible of Choice:  The NIV

Orginally published on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 7:20 AM
by Todd Rhoades

The New International Version of the Bible is by far the most preferred translation of the Scripture, according to a new survey of U.S. evangelical leaders. More than 65 percent of the participating leaders named the NIV as their preferred Bible in a survey conducted by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in light of the NIV’s 30th anniversary this year. The survey questioned the 100 members on the NAE board of directors, which included heads of evangelical denominations with about 45,000 local churches, executives of para-church organizations, and heads of Christian colleges.

Nearly half (49 percent) of those surveyed named only the NIV as their preferred translation, while another 18 percent listed a second translation along with the NIV for a total of 67 percent selecting the NIV in the survey.

Among those who chose two translations, the other version listed included the New Living Translation, The Message, the New English Bible, the New Testament in Modern English (J.B. Phillips, 1962) and the King James Version of the Bible.

(This is not good news for my KJV only friends who like to pee standing up)

My favorite Bible translation?  The Message.

(gotcha)

Todd

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  There are 9 Comments:

  • Posted by

    i like the niv, also the kjv,and several others, but i think most people refears back to the kjv if in doubt about some verses,BUT since we are on the subject of the bible, i want to ask you pastors a question, in matt.24 jesus’ deciples are asking when will these things be, and he tells them all the things that are going to happen, the bad destress , and then in verse 35, it goes into a more peaceful mode, i know without a doubt that all of it is true, but i cant understand how it all fits ,and it says that it will all happen in one generation, how long is a generation? and when he talks about people will say here is christ or over there, is he talking about people that say they are anointed, because christ means anointed, or is he talking about somthing else, thank you all.

  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    But don’t those translators sit when they… oh, never mind… it’s not Friday yet…

  • Posted by Brian L.

    Love the NIV.  It’s what I started reading and memorizing shortly after becoming a Christian back in 1982.

    It’s what I preach from today, along with instances of using some of the others mentioned in the article to further illustrate something.

    Perfect?  Nope.  It doesn’t pretend to be.

    But I’m also not a Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic scholar and therefore I’m not able to judge how “good” or “bad” it is.

    My guess is that 99.99999% of those who criticize the NIV and the rest aren’t, either.

    Brian L.

  • Posted by Randy Ehle

    I suppose I’d have to say that NIV is my preference, since I’ve been using it for 20 years.  Prior to that I used NASB.  As I’ve gotten into some Greek study in seminary (and anticipating - with fear and trembling - some Hebrew in my future), I’ve found a number of places in the NIV that just don’t seem to be the best translation.  But then, I’ve found the same thing in every other translation I’ve looked at - NASB, ESV, NET Bible (and especially the KJV).  So, for reading, I prefer NIV or TNIV, with New Living a close second.  For more in-depth study, I’ll use the NIV in conjunction with several other translations, with preference given to ESV, NASB, and NET.  And sometimes I’ll just try to wrestle through the Greek myself.

  • Posted by Brian L.

    Randy,

    I hope I didn’t give the impression that my comment regarding Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic scholars wasn’t directed at you or others who actually have studied the languages, even a little!

    It was directed at those like “KJV Man” who proudly states his ignorance of the languages.

    I’ve heard from others that the NIV is weak in areas, and seeing their credentials, I can accept their comments (and yours!) because they actually know what they’re talking about.

    Brian L.

  • Posted by Daniel

    NRSV or NET. NIV is inadequate in its translation of Paul.

    Deaubry--a generation is a generation. 30, 40 years tops. When Jesus says “this generation shall not pass away” he means “you folks who are here listening to me will mostly all be alive”.

    Read the parallel passage in Mark 13. “The coming of the son of man” is a short hand [removed]pulled from Daniel 7) which basically means ‘the vindication of Jesus’ message’ (interpreted as divine judgment on Israel), using the metaphor of one like a son of man coming on the clouds to the throne of the Ancient of Days (the point is coming in victory to heaven--not to Earth)--read Daniel 7 to get the context.
    All of these things occurred within a generation of Jesus in the Roman invasion of Jerusalem and their destruction of the second Temple in 70AD. This was a key piece in Jesus’ vindication (though other NT writers focus on the Transfiguration or Pentecost as other key moments in Jesus being ‘proven right’ by the Father, as well as the Resurrection, of course). Certainly Mark understood the Temple as an outstanding challenge to Jesus’ claim to be the one who forgives sins (that used to be Temple business only). And so the ongoing existence of the Temple would have been seen as a threat to the legitimacy of Jesus’ message.
    This is why the ‘coming of the son of man’ will be like lightning seen in the East and the West. You can’t miss it! And no one missed the Roman trampling of Jerusalem (notice how kind Jesus was when he foresaw this--he said flee to the hills, don’t stick it out! and woe to those who are pregnant...)

    Hope that helps.
    Read NT Wright’s work on Paul for more on reading Jesus’ eschatology right.

    Peace,
    -Daniel-

  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    But Daniel,

    Not everyone agrees that Wright is the last word on eschatology. (Get it? Sorry, I could NOT resist that...)

  • Posted by

    Peter:

    Dude, that was a bad pun.  But at least it wasn’t a joke of “eschatology” versus “scatology.” That could get messy.  =)

    KJV, NKJV, NASB, and the Textus Receptus for me. 

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    I grew up with the KJV.  As a young man, I used the NIV, but because of my younger verse memorizaion in the KJV ... I still use the KJV for that.  Today, I use the KJV, NKJV, Holman Standard, NASB, and when in doubt - dig into the original languages.

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