Hello everyone. I have been a Christian for 2 years and have been using the NKJV as my primary bible...mostly since this is the version my pastor preaches from. Recently our church has begun giving away the New Living Translation Bible to new believers. So I picked one up and started using it. I enjoy this translation and the way it is written in todays language. I made mention to a Christian friend that I am considering making the New Living Translation my primary Bible. They said that the NLT is fine but a mature Christian serious about learning the Bible should "graduate" to a more literal translation like the NKJV.
Is my friend correct? Is their a reason the NLT not be my primary bible? Thanks for any advice.
Elaina
Elaina:
Good question.
The matter is not so much whether there is something 'wrong' with a particular version of the Bible such as the NLT.
But rather, what sort of version is it, and how is it particularly useful.
The New King James is a more formal translation which keeps close to the underlying Greek and Hebrew. As such, it is particularly good for verse by verse and phrase by phrase study; it can be used with particular confidence in this way.
The New Living Translation, which emerged from Dr Ken Taylor's Living Bible but was thoroughly revised, can be an easy to read version which, particularly when people are familiarizing themselves with a narrative of events, a series of happenings, can be useful, too.
In the end, it's a question of the sort of reading and study that you might be using it for.
A paraphrased, dynamic sort of version such as the NLT scores highly for ease of reading. It isn't necessarily the last word at precision, though, because the translators have decided from the start to be somewhat freer and maybe idiomatic in their method.
God bless His Word to you!
