Wednesday, September 30, 2020

The Passion Translation (TPT)

The Passion Translation (TPT) is not only not a "translation," but it also does not qualify as a "paraphrase" or a "really bad commentary." It is a complete re-write of the Scriptures that is not worth the paper it is printed on. Not only does it contain and teach a lot of heresy, such as falsely attributing Psalm 8:4-5 and Hebrews 2:7-8 to mankind instead of the Lord Jesus, but it is also highly endorsed by numerous false teachers, false prophets, and heretics, such as Bill Johnson, Patricia King, Che Ahn, Bobbie Houston, Chuck Pierce, Lou Engle, Andi Andrew, Bianca Juarez Olthoff, etc. Not one single legitimate preacher, theologian, or scholar endorses it! And with good reason.
 
The sole author of this work, Brian Simmons, is part of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), which is a huge Charismatic cult with many New Age and other demonic teachings and practices (including "Grave Soaking"). The Passion Translation website makes several extremely concerning statements:
"… the meaning of a passage took priority over the form of the original words. Sometimes in order to communicate the correct intended meaning, words needed to be changed."

"The Passion Translation is more in favor of prioritizing God’s original message over the words’ literal meaning."
In other words, the Bible does not mean what it says and needs to be changed in order to say what it should say—according to the beliefs of its author. This goes beyond the danger of reading the Bible through the filter of your belief system, which is dangerous enough as is, to completely rewriting the Bible according to your belief system.

One of the simplest ways to determine whether a translation is reliable and trustworthy is to examine the above two passages. In both the Hebrew and Greek, the grammar of these passages is not only masculine, but it is also singular. So rendering these passages as gender neutral and plural—referring to the entire human race instead of to the Lord Jesus—results in false teaching and heresy. If a translation cannot remain true to both the original languages and the receiving language, and if the translators cannot pay attention to the context of what they are translating, then that translation is a waste of a perfectly good tree.

This version could be more accurately referred to as the Toilet Paper Translation. This per-version is not only worse than The Living Bible or The Message, but it is also on par with the New World Translation!