My Interview on “The Bible Thinker” Reviewing The Passion Translation (Video)

Mike Winger, “The Bible Thinker,” asked me to give my academic opinion of The Passion Translation produced by Brian Simmons. Bottom line: It is a very sloppy, inaccurate, and unreliable “translation” of the Bible. Don’t use it for worship, Bible study, or preaching. Many people have found it “refreshing” because of its language and style, but you need to know that Simmons’ sources and methods are haphazard and misleading. If Simmons was one of my Greek students, he would not have passed. (That’s not a joke, his translation of Galatians, which I reviewed in particular, does not follow standard methods of translation) The New Living Translation is more reliable as a paraphrase, I also like The Message for an imaginative modern paraphrase. If you want to study the Bible devotionally, I recommend using the STORY OF GOD Bible commentaries, written with laypeople and pastors in mind.

See the video interview below, I also wrote an academic paper (5 pages) that can be downloaded HERE.