The translation took more than a decade to complete; 13 evangelical scholars worked on the translation: Ronald F. Youngblood, Kenneth L. Barker, John H. Stek, Donald H. Madvig, R. T. France, Gordon Fee, Karen H. Jobes, Walter Liefeld, Douglas J. Moo, Bruce K. Waltke, Larry L. Walker, Herbert M. Wolf and Martin Selman.

[1] Forty other scholars, many of them experts on specific books of the Bible, reviewed the translation teams' work.

The Committee on Bible Translation wanted to build a new version on the heritage of the NIV and, like its predecessor, create a balanced mediating version–one that would fall in-between the most literal translation and the most free;[3] between word-for-word (Formal Equivalence)[3] and thought-for-thought (Dynamic Equivalence).

The Masoretic text, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek Septuagint or (LXX), the Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Targums, and for the Psalms the Juxta Hebraica of Jerome were all consulted for the Old Testament.

[5] Mark L. Strauss has stated that the majority of changes are "based on advances in biblical scholarship, linguistics, and archaeology".

The TNIV translators have, at times, opted for more traditional Anglo-Saxon or poetic renderings than those found in the NIV.

The TNIV translators took this word to mean more than simple honesty in Psalm 26:3, referring more specifically to reliability or trustworthiness.

Examples of other changes are "truly I tell you" becomes "I tell you the truth;" "fellow workers" become "coworkers;" "the Jews", particularly in John's Gospel, often becomes "Jewish leaders" when the context makes the statement's real meaning apparent; and "miracles", especially in John, become the more literal "signs", "miraculous signs", or "works".

Other notable changes are that "Christ" has regularly been rendered as "Messiah", and "saints" has often been replaced with terms such as "God's people" or "believers".

Scholars from the Free Methodist Church of North America had a varied response from it "constitutes no threat" to "most accurate ever.

"[23] Evangelical scholars and pastoral leaders supporting the project include Mark L. Strauss, Tremper Longman, John Ortberg, Adam Hamilton, Craig Blomberg, Darrell Bock, Don Carson, Peter Furler, Bill Hybels, Ben Witherington III, Lee Strobel, Philip Yancey, Dan Kimball, Terri Blackstock, Erwin McManus, Ted Haggard and others.

[26] The Presbyterian Church in America and the Southern Baptist Convention passed resolutions opposing the TNIV and other inclusive-language translations.

[27][28] Evangelical scholars and various public figures critical of inclusive-language translations include John F. MacArthur, J. I. Packer, Jack T. Chick, Gail Riplinger, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Texe Marrs, Wayne Grudem, Peter Ruckman, D. James Kennedy, Josh McDowell, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., John Piper, Pat Robertson, R.C.