The Commons: 09/12/2026
What a strange time we live in.
Interest in bible translations is exploding through multiple YouTube outlets and I’m getting all kinds of questions…that you may not like the answers to.
I say it is a strange time, as I have not noted any increase in biblical literacy.
So, I’ll answer what I’ve been asked.
There is no “best “translation.
I teach from the NLT...I think it’s excellent for that task as long as everyone has a copy of the translation.
Personally, I use the RSV and the NRSV...because I like how they read.
I’m not a big fan of the ESV, but I don’t care if you are.
The NKJV, CSB, and NASB are all good translations…have at them.
I wouldn’t use the LSB because it has MacArthurs fingerprints all over it.
Using the KJV is cheaper than attending a Shakespearian play.
What I also see is that we have found another way to divide.
The translation wars are heating up.
Soon (if not already) the “in” crowd in churches will be carrying premium bibles like Schuyler or Humble Lamb to set themselves apart from the rabble.
This happened in the seventies when the cool kids carried hideous leather covered bibles that looked like they had been rebound by Daniel Boone after he discovered a marijuana patch.
The more things change…the more we stay the same…
In other matters…
I’m reading two new books…
The first is Bonnie Kristian’s “In Defense Of Evangelicalism: A Response To Its Cultured Despisers”.
As I somewhat fit the description, I feel obligated to engage with it…
The other is Robert P.Jones “Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy. “
Read along with me and we can do a book club type of interaction…
What’s on your mind?
The POTUS pledges that if his political party retains control of both the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, he will send $5000 to every American, thereby guaranteeing that some people who wouldn’t have voted now will vote Republican thinking they will or might get the money; that others will change their vote to Republican with the same goal in mind; and that the elections will not be a fair and free, and will be corrupt, from the outset. The midterms have now been rigged.
For 500 years, since the dawn of mass printing, the Bible has been the bestselling book in world — and the most misused, misinterpreted, and misunderstood in human history. I don’t see much chance of that changing any time soon, and certainly not now, no matter how much interest there is in translations on Youtube or other social media.
Went by a church in my town in Lancaster County PA that I’d never seen before; it had a sign that proudly announced: “Solid Preaching from the King James Version”. They probably think that’s the Bible Saint Paul and the Apostles used.
Robert F,
Reformed folks feel the same way about the ESV…
People now can get all the Bible knowledge and church experience they need from YouTube and Christian movie entertainment. Pop up church swarm street take overs where a pastor preaches tied to a stake in the middle of a pile of burning Bibles from the center of the intersection surrounded by drifting donut drivers and cops arresting everyone. Then they’ll claim they’re being persecuted for exercising freedom of religion, sue the government for that $5,000 that they didn’t get, and win a settlement from which they’re going to give a tithe to deduct on their income tax form.
Robert’s comment about the KJV church brought a memory to mind.
Probably 20-30 years ago we were driving through a rural part of Missouri.
A church sign read “Undenominational.”
I read from the NASB and NIV rotating every year because I like how they read. At church I preach from the NKJV. If I were to church plant again, I’d go NLT. The Bible translation you choose can attract divisive folks, in my opinion. NLT can help curb that because, in my experience, the “mature” look down on anyone who uses the NLT. Give me seekers and new believers any day, along with the truly mature.
I don’t mean to sound cynical. May God answer Jesus’ prayer in John 17, especially as it relates to stupid tribalistic tendencies, such as, which translation is superior…
Tony R,
I used to be one of those who looked down on the NLT…and now I teach from it.
I was very wrong…
Oh, and I am reading a book Andy Stanley highly recommended. I’m enjoying it so far. “What to make of a life” by Jim Collins.
Sorry, final post – a question for all you. What systematic theology would you recommend?
*I’ve been recommended Grudem’s and Frame’s. I disagree quite strongly with both of them. But they embody an appreciation for nuance, though they find themselves in conservative evangelical circles.
Curious which one I can read next. And I also want to recommend new ones to people who ask me every so often. I try to read a page a day of a systematic theo
Tony R,
I threw out Grudem.
I have all the Reformed systematics…but I think I like Thomas Oden more than most…
Thank you Michael! I will add Oden’s to the long term booklist and Jones’s book backslide to the asap purchase list. Looking forward to reading it before the midterms.