The Message vs. Other Translations

It's been a week now since I began each morning reading a chapter of John.  The first morning, I read chapter 1 in the first translation that the Bible Gateway site gave me, something like the NIV.  Just out of curiosity, and because it's so easy, I then read the version found in The Message.  And then, I read a few others:  the NRSV and the Jubilee version (never heard of that one).

Each morning, I've read a chapter in a non-Message version and then turned to The Message.  I've been struck each morning by how much better I like the passage when I read it in Peterson's translation/paraphrase.  What an amazing resource!

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like The Message, but I know they're out there.  I've even heard of churches--mainline Protestant churches, that have banned that version.  I don't understand why.  Peterson isn't some wild-eyed kook, after all--he's a trained theologian with many years of pastoring experience.

I'm glad to have his translation because my experiment in reading the book of John over and over again will be richer for it.  John has never been my favorite Gospel--all the mystical language makes me want to turn to a different Gospel.  But the language that Peterson uses makes it so much better.

Here's an example, John 8:  23-24,  first in the NRSV:

23 He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”[f]
And now, The Message:

23-24 Jesus said, “You’re tied down to the mundane; I’m in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I’m living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You’re at a dead end. If you won’t believe I am who I say I am, you’re at the dead end of sins. You’re missing God in your lives.”

The NRSV makes my head hurt--and worse, I can see the language that's been used to oppress, or worse, to kill those that have a different belief system.  In The Message, I don't have the same struggle.  And I love the idea that the people are missing God--not just Jesus standing before them, but the work of God going on all around them.

And instead of Hell and sin language, we get the idea of a dead end.  It's easy to dismiss Hell and sin language as having nothing to do with us in our modern times.  But dead ends?  Who can't relate to that?

What a gift Peterson has given us with The Message.  I am in awe of his gifts.