Bible Presbyterian Church, against the RSV, 1953

The following resolution was also adopted the 16th Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church, meeting in Philadelphia, June 6, 1953:

Revised Standard Version 

WHEREAS, the Revised Standard Version of the Bible has been greatly publicized and recommended as the “authorized” revision; and 

WHEREAS, there is danger of bias entering into the production of any version; and 

WHEREAS, the committee producing the Revised Standard Version is composed of a group of men noted for their liberal views; and 

WHEREAS, the Revised Standard Version reveals a loose handling of the texts of the original languages often emending on the basis of arbitrary assumptions, and showing an unwarranted use of the lesser versions contrary to the sound principles of scholarly textual criticism; and 

WHEREAS, footnotes are often misleading or in some instances totally lacking; and 

WHEREAS, this Bible, especially in the Old Testament portion, has been consistently altered in the doctrinal parts relating to prophecy and the person and work of Christ so as to reflect a Unitarian position; and 

WHEREAS, one who is not capable of checking the renderings in the Revised Standard Version by the original languages has no means of ascertaining the truth behind the altered renderings; and 

WHEREAS, one who uses the Revised Standard Version will miss many great truths of God's revelation, especially the integral unity of the Old Testament and the New Testament on the doctrine of Christ. 

Be it resolved that this 16th General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church, meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., disapproves the Revised Standard Version and strongly urges Christians everywhere to reject the appeals being made for the use of the Revised Standard Version for public and devotional reading. 

This resolution was sent to the publishers of the Revised Standard Version. The clerk was instructed to place this resolution in the hands of any publication that would carry it.

Source: A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and its Agencies, Margaret G. Harden, n.p., n.d. (ca. 1966), p. 88.