Britain's Revised Version and the American Standard (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday May 17, 2023

The History of the English Bible: Britain’s Revised Version and the American Standard Version

Lesson # 6

The Revised Version was produced in Britain and the American Standard Version in North America.

Both were a revision of the King James and were intended to be in line with the Authorized Version but based upon the best and earliest MSS.

Thus, it should be considered the fifth major revision of the King James.

The Revised Version was lauded as a very accurate translation.

However, its English style was criticized.

Dr. Wallace commenting on this, writes “You’ve all heard the old line, ‘Something is lost in the translation.’ That is always the case. There is never exact correspondence in wording, structure, literary power, cadence, and emotive impact between two languages. What the KJV sacrificed was accuracy; what the RV sacrificed was beauty. The problem is, even if a translation is accurate, if it doesn’t get read it won’t have an impact on people’s lives. An old Italian proverb suggests the more beautiful the translation, the less faithful; the uglier the translation, the more faithful it must be. The KJV is the beautiful and graceful matron of the family who gave birth to a homely daughter that kept pointing out her mother’s faults! And even though the RV launched a new era—the era of accuracy—the RV was a dismal failure. No one wanted to read it. The KJ was still safe on the throne for another 20 years, but the seeds of revolt had been planted. We can be grateful to God that we live at a time when there is an abundance of excellent translations. We don’t have to choose between an elegant translation that misses the mark and an accurate one that’s ugly.”

The publication of Britain’s Revised Version (1881-85) and the American Standard Version (1901) served as the motivation for the production of the modern English translations we know of in the twenty-first century.

This movement came about because of the discoveries of the large numbers of Greek papyri in Egypt which shed light on the life of a Greek speaking person in the ancient world.

Consequently, it was made clear that the New Testament documents were written in the everyday language of ordinary people in the first century.

These discoveries made clear that the New Testament documents were written in a plain and simple style to meet the needs of the church in the first century.

The twentieth century like the sixteenth century was a period for translation of the Bible into the English language.

Each century began with a particular type of translation which was imitated for many generations after its production.

Tyndale’s Bible served as the standard by which all sixteenth century Bibles were produced while on other hand Britain’s Revised Version and America’s Standard Version set the standard for the translations to follow in the twentieth century.

As we noted earlier, Britain’s Revised Version was designed to be a revision of the King James based upon a superior textual base than the latter.

The translators of this Bible were more occupied with producing a literal translation than an elegant memorable translation in direct contrast to the King James’ translators.

The sister of Britain’s Revised Version is the American Standard Version of 1901.

The Americans promised England that they would not publish their translation until Britain’s Revised Version had been on the market for at least fourteen years.

However, the Revised Version never displaced the King James in terms of popularity even among the clergy.

The American Standard Version (ASV) was a superior English translation than the RV and was also a revision of the Authorized Version (AV).

In fact, it should be considered as the sixth revision of the King James.

The AV became a great study Bible and was considered by many to be a better translation than the RV.

The work of a revision for the RV began fifty years after it was published.

Its English style needed to be reworked which prompted the International Council of Religious Education to recommend a revision.

This work began in 1937 with a committee of 32 scholars who were determined to make the RSV maintain the literary quality of the King James.

Interestingly, the RSV was primarily the work of the American scholars and should be considered as the seventh revision of the Authorized Version.

September 30, 1952 was the first day of publication and it was well received since one million copies were sold on that day alone.

Today it is still one of the most popular translations of all time.

Thus, it replaced the AV.

The great New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce praised it, saying “For the English-speaking world as a whole there is no modern version of the Bible which comes so near as the R.S.V. does to making the all-purpose provision which the A.V. made for so many years.”

Ironically, though it was one of the most popular translations of all time, it was at the same time, the most hated English translation of all time which prompted a production of a multitude of translations in the twentieth century.

Dr. Wallace again makes an insightful comment, he writes “we cannot understand Bible translations unless we put them in their historical context. When the RSV was produced, there was a distinctive religious and political climate. On the religious front, we were embroiled in the fundamentalist-modernist controversy. This reached its apex in the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial when a high school biology teacher was put on trial in Tennessee for teaching Darwinian evolution in the classroom! And on the political front, immediately after World War II the Cold War with Communism commenced. This was the era of Senator McCarthy who smelled a communist under every rock. It should not surprise us that the strongest attacks on the RSV came from the religious and political conservatives. Senator McCarthy condemned this new translation as communist propaganda. His sole basis was that the RSV used the word ‘comrade’ in three verses. And since the communists referred to themselves as ‘comrades,’ McCarthy surmised that the RSV was the result of a communist plot! Remarkably, he was successful in persuading some members of the military of his logic. The RSV was banned for use in the Air Force for several years. But by far the deepest criticisms of the RSV came from religious fundamentalists. The RSV was sponsored by the National Council of Churches. This is a large group embodying several denominations, but very few fundamentalist churches were included. The doctrinal commitments of the NCC had some modernist leanings to them. So, when the RSV appeared, there was an instant suspicion on the part of some fundamentalists.”

One of the most controversial translations in the RSV which brought the wrath of Fundamentalists against it was Isaiah 7:14.

In this passage, the KJV has: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

This is quoted of course in Matthew 1:23 where it is used to support the virgin birth of Christ.

However, the RSV rendered the verse: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

A tremendous amount of literature was produced because of this translation by the RSV.

Many set out to publicly burn the RSV because of this perceived error in translation.

The Hebrew word which is translated “young woman” by the RSV is ʿalmâh (עַלְמָה), which the KJV renders “virgin.”

The reaction to the RSV was merely emotionalism rather than the result of careful objective scholarship since this Hebrew word does not mean “virgin” but rather “young woman.”

However, when the RSV translated Matthew 1:23, they have “virgin” for the simple reason that it is the Greek word that Matthew used!

They were not denying the virgin birth but simply being honest with the Greek and Hebrew words.

The virgin birth does not stand or fall based upon one text of Scripture.

The great scholar and translator Henry Alford wrote “a translator of Holy Scripture must be… ready to sacrifice the choicest text, and the plainest proof of doctrine, if the words are not those of what he is constrained in his conscience to receive as God’s testimony.”

The translation which was the result of this controversy was the New American Standard Bible which was produced by the theologically conservative Lockman Foundation in La Habra, California.

The team of scholars who worked on this translation were anonymous but soon became known that many were Talbot and Dallas Seminaries professors.

This translation was a revision of the ASV and not the RSV.

It was very popular among conservative pastors but was not very well received by their parishioners.

However, it served as a great study Bible.