So I did, and read the chapter to the family that evening with exciting results—they knew the answers to all the questions I asked!The Living Bible was well received in many Evangelical circles.

He was impressed with its easy readability, and he asked for permission to print 50,000 paperback copies of Living Letters for use in his evangelistic crusades.

[7] Reformed writer Michael Marlowe criticized the edition, saying that it was "the dumbing-down of the Biblical text to a grade-school level" done "in keeping with the linguistic and educational trends of the time."

Marlowe further accused Taylor of "wrest[ing] the scripture so as to conform it to Arminian teachings about salvation.

[6] In the late 1980s, Taylor and his colleagues at Tyndale House Publishers invited a team of 90 Greek and Hebrew scholars to participate in a project of revising the text of The Living Bible.

In the British edition of The Living Bible, this wording was changed to "to relieve himself", which is also found in most other non-literal English translations.