How the ESV Bible Embeds and Promotes Calvinism

I knew from previous study that the ESV Bible is slanted toward complementarianism. What I didn’t realize is how slanted it is toward Calvinism. But I wasn’t surprised when I learned this given who promotes it. It fits with so much of what I’ve covered in my Leaving Calvinism posts.

Heather has an eye-opening post today about The Twisted ESV. I’m including a few quotes here to give you an idea of what she’s covering. I strongly recommend clicking over and reading through all the examples she provides.

Why does this matter? The ESV has become the go-to Bible for a large segment of American Christianity, especially in Reformed and Calvinistic circles. However, it is also promoted in “non-denominational” churches that are subtly Reformed and Calvinistic due to their leadership. The ESV is relentlessly marketed and available in a mind-boggling number of options compared to other versions. There is an entire subset of Christianity that grew up on the ESV and view it as normal and authoritative.

Additionally, these same people have been conditioned to view the teachings of Calvinism as the literal Gospel. That is not an exaggeration. If you spend any time reading comments on posts or videos, you will see this idea over and over again. To reject Calvinism is to reject the Gospel. It is that black and white to them. Calvinism = The Gospel.

Here is what Heather says:

In this post, I want to show you something about the Calvinist ESV, how I believe that the Calvinists who worked on the ESV made sure their translation fits with Calvinism: with their incorrect view of mankind’s free-will (which is not really “free” at all in Calvinism, as we’ve seen in previous posts) and with their incorrect view of God’s sovereignty, that He preplans, decrees, orchestrates, causes, controls everything, including our thoughts, actions, sins, evils, unbelief, destinies, etc. (but just try to find “sovereign” defined that way in the Bible, especially in the KJV which I believe is most accurate.

Here are some examples.

 John 7:17

1. John 7:17 in the KJV: “If any man will do his will …”

And how about in the NIV: “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God …”

And the Berean Study Bible: “If any man desires to do his will …”

And the CSB: “If anyone wants to do his will …”

What do all these have in common: “will do… chooses… desires to… wants to…”?

They are all verbs, something we do, showing that man himself does the willing, wanting, choosing.

But now the ESV: “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will …”

The ESV changes it from a verb to the noun “Will,” changing it from the man determining/choosing what he does… to the man’s Will (which Calvi-god preprogrammed) being in control of the man and determining what the man wants and chooses (causing him to do only what Calvi-god predetermined he’d do).  The ESV is essentially saying “If Calvi-god gave you the regenerated Will that is preprogrammed with the desire to do his Will…”  Very different from the other translations.  Very Calvinist!

(And these kinds of changes are all over the ESV!)

Romans 9:16

2. Romans 9:16 in the KJV: “So then it is not of him that willeth …”  Once again, “willing” is a verb, done by the man, about what we choose to do or not do.

But the ESV says “So then it depends not on human will…”  This is very different.  Once again it changes the verb “will” to the noun “Will,” as if our human Will (predetermined and preprogrammed by Calvi-god) controls us.

[And so which one is right?  The KJV, of course, because according to the Greek, the word “willing” is a verb, not a noun.  It’s what we do; it’s not a thing that controls us.]

John 8:44

3. John 8:44 in the KJV: “… the lusts of your father ye will do…”

The ESV: “… and your will is to do your father’s desires.”

Once again, in the KJV, “will” is a verb; it’s what you do.  But in the ESV, it’s a noun, as if your Will (predetermined and preprogrammed by Calvi-god) determines/controls what you do.

1 Corinthians 7:37

4. 1 Corinthians 7:37 in the KJV: “Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will …”

But here is the ESV: “But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control …”

In the KJV, the man does the steadfast standing in his heart and has power over his own Will.

But in the ESV, both are passive: The man’s heart is firmly established and his desire is under control… but not necessarily by him.  Notice that the ESV completely gets rid of the idea of man having power over his Will, substituting in “desire” instead.  And it doesn’t even specify that he has power over his own desire, whereas the KJV says that he has power over his own Will.  In the ESV, it’s just “under control”… but by whom?

In the ESV, it’s as if it just happens to him, as if God made him be steadfast, with desires under control.  And this is what Calvinism teaches, that God does things like this to us, in us, not that we have any control over it or choice about it.

It’s similar to the difference between saying “I painted my house” and “I had my house painted.”  In the KJV, we do it.  But in the ESV, it just happens to us.

Very different!

John 8:9

12. John 8:9 in the KJV: “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one …”

ESV: “But when they heard it, they went away one by one.”

The ESV removes the idea that the men were convicted by their own conscience, that they have the ability/responsibility to make decisions on their own, to evaluate right and wrong, and to be convicted of sin.  And removing this allows Calvinists to put it all on God, as if God determines (predetermines) whether we are convicted of our sins or not.

That last one I found interesting because the literal translations (such as Young’s Literal Translation) all include the wording about the conscience. But it is removed from the ESV (and others).

This is just a small sampling of Heather’s extensive post. You can do your own further research and check her work by using Bible Hub and the Greek option on every verse.

Someone might say that these examples are splitting hairs. No, they’re not.

Calvinism is a philosophy and system that is imposed on the Bible. When someone reads through a Calvinistic lens, they see everything through that lens. A non-Calvinist might not pick up on these subtleties because they are reading without the lens. But these blatant differences will sing out to the person committed to Calvinism as yet more verses that confirm their belief in how they define the Gospel, God’s sovereignty, man’s will, how salvation happens, and more.