Popular worship singer Michael W Smith is under fire for endorsing the controversial Passion Translation of the Bible (TPT).
Although it was unclear how long ago the endorsement was, the TPT website listed a comment from Smith stating the translation “encourages, convicts, teaches, and comforts me, and it continuously draws me to worship”.
“The Passion Translation is a gift to Bible readers,” Smith continued.
“It is a beautiful marriage of powerful accuracy and readable, natural language. The vivid wording strips away the centuries, reminding me with every phase that each prophecy, letter, history account, poem, vision, and parable is God’s Word to me today just as much as it was to the original audiences.”
However, since the statement went viral on social media, his comments no longer feature on the TPT’s website.
The Passion Bible has often received criticism from scholars, with Bible Gateway, an online Bible tool with more than 200 translations of the Bible, removing it from its site last year. No clear explanation was given at the time, but the parent company of the site, HarperCollins, said they periodically review their content “making changes as necessary” to align with their business goals.
