The first reason I prefer the English Standard Version for use in the church is its approach to translation. The ESV is an essentially literal Bible translation that aims for word-for-word precision in rendering the original languages in English.
Many other modern versions translate the originals with a thought-for-thought correspondence rather than word-for-word. This approach is certainly not wrong; after all, some amount of smoothing and rewording is always required when you translate something from one language to another. That’s why I say the ESV is an essentially literal Bible translation that aims for word-for-word precision. The question is not, “Is this a literal, word-for-word translation?” The real question is, “What does this translation emphasize: individual words and word order, or broad concepts and phrases?”
Perhaps an example would help. 1 Peter 4:11 begins with a 6-word sentence in Greek. Literally, those words go something like this: “If anyone speaks, as sayings of God” (with “of God” representing one Greek word). The ESV sticks pretty close to that: “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God.” Another essentially literal translation, the New American Standard, italicizes the words which have no Greek equivalent but were added for fluency: “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.” The New Living Translation is much more free with the words and instead attempts to replicate the logical sense and emotional impact of the passage: “Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.” What the NLT says is exactly how I interpret 1 Peter 4:11. But the fact is, this rendering contains quite a bit of interpretation which was done for you by the translators. The words of the NLT don’t correspond very closely with the Greek words Peter originally wrote.
My preference on this point is based on the conviction that the very words of God matter. In fact, Paul once built a whole argument on a single letter (Gal 3:15-18)! I believe that thought-for-thought translations have an important place; in fact, we used the NLT for years in our family devotions. But for use in the church, where intense and rigorous Bible study forms the center of our life together, I believe we are best served by a Bible that emphasizes the words, grammar, and syntax of the original writings.