I Read “The Message” in 2023 and Here Is My Review

In 2023, I read The Message. Yes, you read that first sentence correctly. The Message is “a translation of the original Greek and Hebrew Scriptures by a pastor, poet, and author who aims to make God’s Word accessible and engaging” – at least, that is what the website for this book claims.

The Message is hardly a translation, as I hope to explain shortly.

Some who know me might wonder why I read The Message at all.

Well, I don’t like forming opinions or giving reviews of books I have not read. Quite often, I am asked by Christians (some in my own church) what I think about The Message, and I cannot in good conscience, give an opinion without having read it on my own. Sure, I could read some reviews from other people I trust, but that is rarely enough for me. I am convinced I need to speak with confidence on something I have actually read and not borrow other people’s ideas or opinions. I want to study to show myself approved (II Tim 2:15).

So, this is a brief review of The Message.

Well, I didn’t really like it. There were times I enjoyed the paraphrase that Eugune Peterson created. Like John 1:14 when he says that Jesus moved into the neighborhood. I have always enjoyed that image and the tone of communicating Jesus was a human.

But, most of the time the lexical liberties that Peterson takes are too many and at times misleading to the original text. And they become distracting.

The Message is not a translation, and I don’t know any reputable scholar who would say that. Even if it’s website makes that claim. Eugene Peterson said he was trying to “bring the N.T. to life”; he never claimed in any article I read that he was trying to come up with a word-for-word translation of the Bible. Peterson said in an interview with Christianity Today that “I just kind of let go and became playful” when he was working on writing The Message.

This kind of playful approach to translation often makes “verses” memorable but not true to the text.

At other times, modern words are confusing and stray from the ancient near eastern context (e.g., shoes instead of sandals or poppy seeds instead of mustard seeds). The goal of a Bible student is to understand the authority and intent of the original audience and not to put everyone into a time machine as if they were living in the 21^st century.

Sometimes, The Message takes concepts and waters them down too much (e.g., “Grow up” instead of “be perfect”). Those are very different imperatives. The latter leads you to realize you cannot go to heaven without the righteousness of Christ; the former simply implies someone needs to mature or just do better.

The Message could potentially be a dangerous resource to use; just use it more like a commentary than a translation. But even then, I would never use it as the sole commentary. A good Bible student will use a number of commentaries to help him/her get a good sense of the text’s meaning.

I might reference The Message again in the future, but not as often as I have before. There are too many excellent Bible study resources with far fewer concerns that are available to us today.