Why Christians Should Never Use The Passion Translation (TPT)

In last week's article I laid out several Bible translations and did my best to explain how they are formed, what they could be used for, and whether I would recommend using a given translation. With a translation like The Message, I went as far as to say I do not recommend it and want Christians to be clear that it's more a poetic devotional that conveys biblical concepts, rather than a Bible one should use to understand the Scriptures. With the NIV, I labeled it "use with caution" because modern versions changed gender pronouns to more neutral expressions and other particulars that are meant to cast a wider, more liberal net. Clearly, not every Bible translation is to be considered equally reliable. Faithful Christians may disagree about which translation is most useful, but every legitimate translation must remain accountable to the words God inspired.

That leads us to this article where I would like to address a supposed translation that did not even belong in last week's list because it's a dangerous imposter full of error, misleading claims, and flows from a polluted source. Unlike paraphrases like The Message, this "translation" does not claim to be a paraphrase, but a better and truer revelation of God's word. 

I am talking about The Passion Translation ("TPT"). 

The Passion Translation does not consistently or faithfully interpret Holy Scripture. It repeatedly adds ideas, removes important details, imports questionable theology, and presents one man’s interpretations as though they were the words of God. For these reasons, Christians should never treat it as the Bible, preach from it, memorize it as Scripture, use it for serious study, or use it for devotions. The only use of TPT is for researching how NOT to translate the Bible and for understanding how dangerous false teachers can be when they infiltrate the church through translation work. 

Here are four facts about TPT with research to back up each one: 

1. TPT is Not Really a Translation

The Passion Translation is principally the work of Brian Simmons. Its official website calls him the “lead translator,” but no identifiable translation committee comparable to those responsible for the NASB, ESV, NIV, NKJV, or CSB is disclosed. The website claims that TPT remains faithful to the original biblical languages and follows the tradition of mainstream dynamic-equivalence translations.

That claim does not withstand scrutiny.

Mike Winger assembled respected biblical scholars (two of whom were my professors during my doctoral studies) including Douglas Moo, Darrell Bock, Nijay Gupta, Tremper Longman, and Craig Blomberg to independently evaluate individual books of TPT. Their conclusions were remarkably consistent in saying that this is not merely a loose translation. It is an unreliable paraphrase filled with unjustified expansions and interpretive alterations. 

Darrell Bock states plainly that TPT’s Ephesians “is NOT a translation” and should be treated, at best, as a paraphrase. He identifies repeated additions, reversals of emphasis, missing nuances, and statements that simply do not appear in the Greek text. 

Andrew Shead’s detailed examination of the Psalms found that TPT’s text was at least 50 percent longer than the Hebrew because Simmons repeatedly inserted material. Shead concluded that the result had moved so far from the inspired text that it could no longer properly be called Scripture.

2. It Changes What God Said

Moving beyond Simmons' additions and stylistic paraphrasing of the text, he gets far more dangerous when he changes original statements to fit his own theological errors.

In Romans 8:14, the Greek refers to those who are led by the Spirit as “sons of God.” TPT changes this to “the mature children of God” who are moved by the Spirit’s “impulses.” Douglas Moo notes that “mature” has no basis in the Greek. The addition changes a promise describing all believers into something apparently reserved for an advanced class of Christians.

In Galatians 3:28, Paul writes that in Christ there is neither “slave nor free.” TPT replaces this with “rich or poor.” Nijay Gupta calls this one of its most egregious alterations because it substitutes Paul's words with a completely different social distinction and changes the actual message of the passage.

TPT also inserts phrases such as “heaven’s freedom,” “victorious life,” “revelation of grace,” and other concepts where the corresponding words are absent from the original text. Some additions may sound encouraging or even be theologically defensible in isolation but that is beside the point!  A translator has no authority to place his sermons, impressions, or doctrinal preferences into the mouth of God.

A commentary may explain Scripture. A devotional may apply Scripture. A paraphrase may creatively restate Scripture. But none of those things should masquerade as Scripture.

3. It Misuses Aramaic Sources

To sound academic and impressive to naive Christians, TPT frequently appeals to “the Aramaic” to justify its unusual readings. Its website claims that insights from the Syriac Peshitta provide additional clarity and emotional nuance. It even makes the sweeping assertion that Greek speaks to the mind while Hebrew and Aramaic speak to the heart. At first, a reader thinks they have found a translation that really gets to the deeper meaning and will give them that closeness to God's voice they have been yearning for. Upon further investigation, one quickly finds that Brian Simmons' claims are linguistically naive and textually misleading.

Paul wrote his epistles in Greek. We possess no first or second century Aramaic manuscripts of Galatians, and Paul’s arguments repeatedly depend upon Greek vocabulary, Greek wordplay, and quotations from the Greek Septuagint. The later Syriac Peshitta is valuable for textual study, but it is not a superior original from which Paul’s Greek writings should be reconstructed. None of the facts support what Brian Simmons has done to letters like Paul's to the Galatians. 

Douglas Moo concludes that using these later Aramaic sources to introduce meanings absent from the Greek renders TPT unusable for those who want reliable access to God’s Word.

4. It Reflects a Dangerous View of Revelation

The most serious problem is the spiritual framework surrounding the project.

Simmons has claimed that Jesus personally commissioned him to produce the translation and promised to reveal “secrets” of the Bible and the Hebrew language. He has also described being transported to a heavenly library where he saw a book called “John 22” — a chapter that does not even exist in Scripture. Mike Winger recently highlighted these supernatural claims as central to understanding the authority Simmons attributes to his work. 

This reflects the same error I have long warned about when certain teachers and preachers use mystical experiences to bypass biblical accountability, doctrinal faithfulness, and to grant spiritual authority to claims that cannot be proven from Scripture. Once private revelation becomes the interpretive key, the Bible is no longer functioning as the final authority. The supposed experience becomes the authority over the Bible.

Beyond all the debates regarding mainstream translations and paraphrases, TPT uses the most dangerous translation methodology of all by using personal revelation to interpret the Bible. No Christian should use it, support it, or entertain it. It is a heretical approach to revelation.

Use a Faithful Bible

Christians do not need a self-appointed apostolic translator to intensify God’s emotions, uncover secret meanings, or make Scripture more spiritually powerful. The Word of God is already living, active, sufficient, and capable of making us wise for salvation.

Use a trustworthy translation such as the NASB, ESV, LSB, NKJV, or CSB (see my previous article to do a deeper dive).