Readers of the ESV in Public Worship: Stop saying this!

As someone with a rather itinerant ministry, I have the opportunity to observe several North American presbyterian and reformed ministers as they read the Scripture publicly. It is the habit of many to preface the reading of Scripture with words such as “Let us now hear the inspired and inerrant Word of God,” or words to that effect. I truly don’t know if this practice of prefacing the reading like this is required, or if it is from a shared seminary experience, or if the men are just imitating their mentors.

When a man reads the Scripture he should actually believe what he says about the Scripture. Since its first edition in 2001, the publisher of the ESV has put out five revised editions (some revisions were called “The Permanent Text”), and it has the habit of the publisher to make emendations to the underlying text somewhat whimsically (IMHO) Surely more “Permanent Texts” are coming… Someone who reads the ESV, especially the Old Testament, should be aware that not all of it relies on the MT (Hebrew or Aramaic,) but in several places prefers the LXX (Greek) as the underlying text.

The Westminster Confession (I.VII) rightly says this: “The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God…”

Church officers in my own denomination subscribe the Confession and the associated Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly of the 1640s.

The English text of the ESV Old Testament does not rely solely upon the Hebrew text.

Ergo: Church officers who read the ESV in worship may not be reading a translation based on the text immediately inspired by God.