A: The NIV charter laid the groundwork for the creation of a Bible translation focused on bringing modern readers as close as possible to the experience of the original audience: providing the best possible blend of transparency to the original documents and ease of understanding in every verse.

The NIV project was initiated by the formation of the Committee on Bible Translation in 1965, and the CBT’s original constitution remains the same today.

COMMITTEE ON BIBLE TRANSLATION CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE I – Name
Section 1. The name of the Committee shall be COMMITTEE ON BIBLE TRANSLATION.
Section 2. The Committee, called into being by the Palos Heights Bible Translation Conference (August 26 and 27, 1965), shall be a self-perpetuating body, independent of all ecclesiastical organizations, educational institutions, committees, and other associations.

ARTICLE II – Purpose
Section 1. The purpose of the Committee shall be to prepare a contemporary English translation of the Bible as a collegiate endeavor of evangelical scholars, and to pursue matters related thereto.

ARTICLE III – Membership: Limitations/Qualifications, Admission, Tenure
Section 1. At the time of the adoption of this Constitution and its By-Laws, the membership of the Committee shall be declared to be:
E. Leslie Carlson, Earl S. Kalland, Francis R. Steele, Edmund P. Clowney, Kenneth S. Kantzer, John H. Stek, Ralph Earle, Charles F. Pfeiffer, J. C. Wenger, Burton L. Goddard, Stephen W. Paine, Marten H. Woudstra, R. Laird Harris, Charles C. Ryrie.
Section 2. The size of the Committee shall be limited to fifteen members.
Section 3. Only those shall be eligible for membership on the Committee who endorse the purpose for which the Committee exists, and who are willing to subscribe to the following affirmation of faith: “The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written, and is therefore inerrant in the autographs”; or to the statements on Scripture in the Westminster Confession, the Belgic Confession, the New Hampshire Confession, or the creedal basis of the National Association of Evangelicals; or to some other comparable statement.
Section 4. Admission to membership on the Committee shall be by invitation of the Committee only.
Section 5. Membership on the Committee shall be for indefinite tenure as regulated by the By-Laws.

ARTICLE IV – Organizational Structure
Section 1. The officers of the Committee shall be: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, all of whom shall be elected by the Committee from its own membership.
Section 2. The officers of the Committee shall be elected to serve for a period of three years and shall hold office until their successors are installed. They shall be eligible for re-election.
Section 3. The officers of the Committee shall constitute its Executive Committee.

ARTICLE V – Election of Officers
Section 1. The officers of the Committee shall be elected at the last regularly scheduled plenary meeting of the Committee in the calendar year in which their terms expire.
Section 2. Newly elected officers of the Committee shall assume office January 1 of the next calendar year following their election.

ARTICLE VI – Meetings
Section 1. The time and place of regular meetings of the Committee shall be at the discretion of the Committee.
Section 2. Additional meetings of the Committee may be called at the discretion of the Executive Committee, with due notice to all the members.

ARTICLE VII – Projected Translation
Section 1. All those engaged by the Committee as translators or editors shall be required to affirm the following article of faith:
“The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written, and is therefore inerrant in the autographs”; or the statement on Scripture in the Westminster Confession, the Belgic Confession, the New Hampshire Confession, or the creedal basis of the National Association of Evangelicals; or some other comparable statement.
Section 2. The Committee shall see to the safeguarding of the integrity of the text of the projected translation by making adequate provision for its copyright.
Section 3. The Committee shall seek to make provision for the availability of the projected translation, apart from the normal channels of trade, to Bible Societies, and similar distributing agencies.
Section 4. The Committee shall for a reasonable time provide for a periodic review and revision of the projected translation with a view to improving its renderings, embodying the fruits of future biblical scholarship, and keeping its idiom current.
Section 5. This article shall be applicable also to any revision(s) of the projected version (NIV) under whatever name such revision(s) may be published.

ARTICLE VIII – Amendments
Section 1. The only parts of this Constitution not subject to amendment are articles II, III.1, .2, .3, .4, VII.1, and VIII.1.
Section 2. Amendments to the Constitution of the Committee shall be made only at a regularly scheduled, or properly called, plenary meeting of the Committee, and only when the specific proposal to amend has been submitted to the Committee at its last preceding plenary meeting, and has been recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Such amendment shall require a two-thirds vote of the members present.
Section 3. Amendments to the By-Laws of this Constitution may be made by the Committee at any of its plenary meetings by a two-thirds majority vote of the members present.

A: The chief goal of every update to the NIV is to ensure that the text reflects the latest and best biblical scholarship and established shifts in English idiom and usage. The 2011 NIV update represents our latest effort as a committee to articulate God’s unchanging Word in the way the original authors might have said it if they had been speaking in English to the global English-speaking audience today. This is the reading experience that the NIV seeks to recreate.
Our aim is to translate the NIV is such as way as to provide the optimum combination of transparency to the original documents and ease of understanding in every verse. To learn more about the NIV translation philosophy and its application to the recent update, see Updating the NIV for 2011.

A: Members of the committee work individually – each in their own particular areas of specialty – as well as in small groups and as a full committee. In addition to considering proposals from within the committee, we also solicit and receive input from Bible scholars, ministers, missionaries and lay-people. Every proposal is evaluated with many leading to revisions to the text, while others are tabled for discussion at future meetings for potential inclusion in later updates. And changes are not made easily. At least 70 percent of the committee members present at the time of the voting are required to agree before the text can be altered. This ensures that no individual, indeed not even a large group of individuals, can hold sway in the committee.

A: The committee represents the very best in evangelical biblical scholarship, and our members are drawn from various denominations and from some of the finest academic institutions in the world. A complete list of the CBT members can be found in the Who We Are section of this website.

A: The CBT was formed in 1965 to create a modern English Bible translation from the oldest and most reliable biblical manuscripts available. Since then, the committee has continued to meet each year to monitor developments in biblical scholarship and English usage and to reflect these developments in periodic updates to the text. The committee represents the very best in evangelical biblical scholarship. Our members – a self-perpetuating, independent body of 15 – are drawn from various denominations and some of the finest academic institutions in the world.