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Summary: for new and long-time Christians
Review: Before purchasing The Message for my husband, I read many reviews. Reviewers' concern about its accuracy nearly caused me not to buy it or even look at it. What a tragedy that would have been. I've been reading the Bible for at least 30 years and have, I'm sure, read every version printed in English. I still love the beauty of the King James and use that when I want to memorize. But NOTHING has spoken to me like this Bible has. I am understanding the Bible in a way I never have before. (Let me add I'm a good reader--English major and English teacher). This Bible would be an EXCELLENT gift for a new Christian, teen or child. I remember well how much I read the Bible, wanting to be interested in it and understand it as a young person, but finding it just not accessible to me despite attending three to four church services a week plus Sunday school, Christian summer camps, vacation Bible school, Christian children's clubs, etc. The Bible has always seemed remote to me, even as an adult. After reading The Message, I really don't care how accurate it is (although I am glad to read it is an accurate paraphrase). It is blessing my life and my husband's, bringing God's messages to us in a way we can easily grasp and use, and that's good enough for us.
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Summary: Good for Bible Reading Enjoyment
Review: While this version should not be used for "study" (choose a more traditional version like NIV for studying the Bible), this one is very good for reading enjoyment. This one is like reading a "novel", and it makes the Bible reading fun.
Great for reading enjoyment, but just don't use this for your personal "Bible Study time" though.
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Summary: A biased and dangerous paraphrase
Review: The problem with reading a paraphrase of the Bible is that you are getting the views of the one who is doing the paraphrasing on each individual passage, and never the unadulterated biblical text. Readers of The Message should be very aware of the fact that this is nothing less than the views of Eugene H. Peterson passed off as the Holy Scriptures. The most disturbing thing about this paraphrase is that it warps the gospel message into something entirely different. Instead of being declared righteous through simple faith in Jesus Christ for eternal life, through reading The Message one could easily get the idea that salvation is by works or by faith plus works (For a clear treatment of the Gospel and just a great book, see Confident in Christ by Bob Wilkin). Mature students of the Word could use the Message as an interesting commentary alongside the Scriptures, but not by itself. I recommend sticking to a good translation (Like the NKJV).
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Summary: Changes the Meaning of Scripture
Review: The Message is not a translation of the Bible. It is a paraphrase, and one that clearly reflects the views of the author. Reading through this, I got a creepy, prickly feeling that results when my antennas fly up and scream "danger! danger! danger!" The message of scripture is watered down, colloquialized, and loses its power and meaning. There are some passages that are interesting, and provide unique or different insights into the culture or language of the time, but I strongly feel that this paraphrase should be read ONLY by people who know the scriptures from a direct translation and are mature in their faith. This is NOT a version to be read by people who are new to the scriptures, or to their faith, because it presents a skewed and watered down version of the Bible. One could easily walk away from critical passages about the nature and diety of Christ, or the uniqueness of Christ and His gospel message, and miss the point. This book should NEVER be used as an alternative to the scriptures or be seen as an equally valid translation. That it is being presented as a Bible is very, very frightening. Don't be fooled.
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Summary: Best "Reading" Bible Available Today!
Review: Every Christian needs at least two Bibles versions, one for study and one for reading. While the New International Version is still the best choice for study, The Message is now the best choice for devotional reading. It belongs on every believer's bookshelf.The Message is not a translation, but a paraphrase. A paraphrase is not as accurate as a translation, but is much easier to read and to understand. The Living Bible is a tremendously popular paraphrase of the past. After decades of use however, it has become dated and is now difficult to find. The Message is clearly its successor for the English-speaking church. With the plethora of study Bibles on the market today, it is easy to get lost in all of the notes, graphs, charts and other helps. As a result, one can lose the joy of just READING the Bible. Study Bibles with all their helps play an important role, but for simply reading God's Word devotionally "The Message" is by far the best choice.
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Summary: Simplified language, but a confounded "Message"
Review: In my studies and in my teaching of New Testament Greek, I have collected a broad scope of Bible translations and paraphrases over the years. While far from a "King James only" advocate, I have for a lifetime admired the artistic beauty of this traditional rendering of the Sacred Volume. A special place is reserved on my shelf and in my heart for the NKJV for its fluidity which comes without sacrifice of content. Still my favorite translation is the virtually faultless ASV of 1901. Never has a translation been produced truer to the original text. In light of all the good translations we are so blessed to have in our libraries today, why should we be making a place for paraphrases as poor as this one? In my reading of "The Message," I have found its literary style, though shallow, very easy to read, but I have also found myself reading the most familiar passages without noticing. To make room for the tastes of a new generation plagued with attention deficiencies, this rendering of the Scriptures has been emptied of holy content and stuffed with a more entertaining verbage which makes little more than a half-hearted attempt to follow the same general outline as the Holy Writ. This publication does not meet the criteria set forth in the definition of the term "translation," and, when analyzed in the true light as a paraphrase, it still falls short of the mark. Regardless of one's opinion of the value of this work as a paraphrase, however, the fact remains that God never intended for His Word to be abridged. It is simple enough for the simplest of men to understand, yet it is profound enough to demand the life-long study of the greatest of human minds. The Bible is perfect, and being so, why can't we learn to leave it that way?
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Summary: Wow
Review: If you want to fully understand the Bible...........buy this now.
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Summary: Reading the Bible again for the first time
Review: I'm a parish minister, responsible every Sunday for the church's proclamation. This translation does more than I have ever managed to do to bring people into direct, immediate engagement with God through Scripture. You will be amazed, appalled, amused, and overjoyed at what you read here, and you will ask: is he making this up? He's not. I was trained in Greek and Hebrew, and every time I read a passage and think to myself, "OK, Peterson, you're around the bend now!" and go stomping off to dig out my reference books and translate it myself, I have had to admit he did a wonderful job of capturing both the flavor and meaning of the original. Admittedly, I haven't read it cover to cover (not the way to read the Bible anway) but I've read enough of both Testaments to know this is the best contemporary langauge translation out there. This is not a "word for word" but a "paraphrased" translation - that is, it attempts to translate whole ideas rather than smaller units of meaning, and this puts it in the tradition of such recent translations as the New Jerusalem Bible or the Revised English Bible, rather than translations such as the New Revised Standard Version or the New International Version. One real drawback of "The Message" is that it is a single scholar's translation and thus open to patterns of unconscious or conscious theological bias which are less likely in translations done in collaboration with others. I suppose his biases match mine, because I haven't noticed them yet! This is NOT the Bible to buy to the young person taking a college course in Bibilical studies - stick for one of the more traditional types of translation for them. But if you want to read the Bible for your own enjoyment, enlightment, guidance, and spiritual growth, put your other Bibles away and read this one daily for a month. You may never go back to your old translations again.
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Summary: Love this Book !!
Review: I really enjoy reading this book. Easy to read and understand. Smooth. The Bible is #1 and The Message is #2. This is a great gift for friend and family members.
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Summary: Text, context and commentary, all in one!
Review: The Message presents a unique opportunity to understand timeless biblical truth in today's context. Peterson has incorporated sound exposition into the text he offers. The result is a naturally flowing understanding that previously required diligent study of both text and commentary. While some are not comfortable with Peterson's unconventional blending of language, meaning and context, I submit this version of the bible is a faithful witness to the message the bible reveals. This version is excellent for those who have never read the bible before, those who seek to go deeper into scripture and those who would study and comment on the bible academically.
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