The Life of Jesus is a translation of the Greek New Testament, which is a collection of five short biographies and twenty-two letters written by some of Jesus' followers in the Eastern Mediterranean region between approximately 50 and 90 A.D. Surprisingly enough, when the books and letters which have become the New Testament were first written, the authors didn't use the traditional language of the existing Bible, Hebrew. Instead, they used the common language used by commerce, Greek. This was so that a larger group of persons would be able to read and understand it. Consequently, no Greek words were available to express any special spiritual concepts which the authors wanted to communicate. They had to use whatever existing Greek words were available to explain their ideas most closely. In the same way, The Life of Jesus doesn't include any words which are only used in churches or religious institutions.

Words used in most traditional Bibles like sin, repentance and grace are gone. Instead, common words like offense, rethinking and gift have been used. So now using this approach, like in the first century, a larger audience of people is possible. Persons who aren't familiar with church terminology, persons with less education and persons who speak English as a second or third language will be able to understand what was written more easily. Although common words have been used to explain spiritual concepts, the original writing styles are not simplified. When the author wrote with a complicated writing style (take Hebrews for example) this New Testament translation uses the same writing style. When the original author wrote with a simple writing style (such as in John) this version also uses the same style. The original New Testament was written when worldviews were much different than those of today.

Persons held much different views on subjects such as women's rights, slavery and racism. This translation doesn't attempt to conform the ancient authors' writing to agree with modern opinion. Instead, it lets the authors speak in their own voices in their own time and culture, reflecting the contrast between the ancient way of thinking and Jesus' new way.