Living Water: The Gospel Of John With Notes, edited by Arthur L. Farstad

In reading a book like this, especially a small tract-like one, it is important to look at a variety of factors relating to the book. Since this particular book (more like a booklet, really) is a translation of the Book of John sent out as a teaser with the explicit aim of promoting a little-known translation of the Bible (the Logos 21) as well as to help bring people to a belief in Jesus Christ through the translation of the Bible in a contemporary voice, a tendency it shares with at least one other book I have reviewed recently [1], this book must be examined from the light of its aims as well as its execution.

In its purpose, to the credit of the various people involved in the project, the book is fairly open and obvious in its attempts to encourage people to what it considers as a Christian worldview and a belief in Jesus Christ. The translation itself is a good one, based largely on the M-text (as opposed to the more questionable Alexandrian text that is in vogue in other translation projects). Some parts of the Gospel of John appear to be translated in something approaching poetic form, while other parts are translated as prose. There is at least some variation in voice and tone to describe the way that characters speak, and there is some variation of language to describe the difference between brotherly love (or fondness) and agape love. As far as the Bible is concerned as a text, it would be a worthwhile one, like many worthwhile translations.

The trouble of the book, as is often the case in a probject like this, is the notes and interpretation of the scriptures. There are a few times where the notes blatantly contradict each other, and others contradict the biblical text that is being translated, which is remarkable given that there are only a few notes. Some of the notes speak about the fact that a belief in Jesus Christ (apart from any change in behavior, baptism, or commitment to God’s ways) is sufficient to receive eternal life and eternal security (see the notes on pages 16, 20, 24, 40, and 66 for example), while other notes claim that eternal life only comes to those who obey Christ (like the note on pages 50 and 52). Perhaps the author is unaware that a contradiction exists between these two beliefs. Likewise, the book of John speaks eloquently about how the Hebrew scriptures speak of Jesus Christ, and yet in suggestions for new believers, the authors of the work only recommend reading the New Testament, and not those scriptures spoke of Christ in the first place to the first converts to Christianity (see page 70, at the bottom). The contradictory nature of the notes does take away from the ability of this translation to be recommended to readers, because even if a text is good, the fact that the subtext of the book is so confused and with ungodly and heretical views, the whole product cannot be recommended wholeheartedly. Therefore, this work is like many in that it contains some aspects that can be praised, but others which are not praiseworthy, making the work not without value, but also works that are not truly excellent either.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/book-review-the-story-of-the-voice/