One of my first jobs after I got married was working in a Christian bookstore where I was the "assistant manager" even though I did not have the job title. One thing that I really enjoyed doing was selling Bibles to people. Whether it was to an individual for their own use or a church giving them away to people who do not have one. One Bible I saw during that time was the Spirit-Filled Life Bible which was in the New King James Version (NKJV). Never got a chance to thoroughly study it to see what it was all about, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to review the New Spirit-Filled Life Bible which is still in the NKJV, but it is also available in the New Living Translation (NLT).
A quick history lesson on the NLT. The NLT was released by Tyndale House in 1996. It is based on a popular paraphrase called The Living Bible which was developed by Dr. Kenneth Taylor who wanted to make a Bible that was easy to read for his daughter in a time where the King James Version (KJV) was still the most dominate translation of the day. What makes this a translation is a group of Bible translators got together to make this an easy to read translation. It is considered a thought-for-though translation, or dynamic equivalent, focuses more on the intent of the author rather than a word-for-word translation, which the English Standard Version (ESV) and New American Standard Bible (NASB) are considered. To many Bible scholars and teachers, the NLT is such a loose translation that is more of a paraphrase than it is a translation.
The New Spirit-Filled Life Bible executive editor is Jack Hayford, who is the founding pastor of The Church on the Way and has helped written several songs, including the popular hymn, Majesty. There a number of contributors to this Bible but most of them, if not all of them, are from a Charismatic background, which includes James Robison and Pat Robertson.
This Bible contains most of the elements that will make it a study Bible. It contains book introductions, study notes, and concordance. As I was looking through this Bible, I was looking at notes for some keys verses regarding eternal security and election. Reasons why I was looking on eternal security is because Hayford is from a Foursquare Church background which believes one can lose their salvation. To my surprise, they do address believers falling away, but no where did it indicate that a believer can lose their salvation, which maybe their hidden intent but it did not come across a main point in the study note. With election, it seems they stick with Arminian view that God looks at the past to see who puts their faith in Him to determine who are the elect.
If you are a Charismatic, then this Bible is for you. If you are looking for an in depth study Bible, this is not for you. While the NLT is a good paraphrase to read for devotionals, I do not recommend it for study. That is almost like recommending The Message, today's popular paraphrase, as a good translation to preach from.
Thanks Booksneeze for letting me review this Bible.
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