Matthew 5:3
KJV - “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
THE MESSAGE - “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”
Comment: Being poor in spirit is to be at the end of your rope? Then vast numbers of unsaved people are candidates for heaven on this basis.
Matthew 5:8
KJV - “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
THE MESSAGE - “You’re blessed when you get your inside world, your mind and heart, put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”
Comment: This must be transcendental, because it doesn’t make any non-transcendental sense.
Matthew 5:14
KJV - “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”
THE MESSAGE - “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.”
Comment: “God-colors”? I didn’t even learn about God-colors when I was a member of Parmahansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship Society before I was saved!
Matthew 5:43
KJV - “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.”
THE MESSAGE - “Jesus said, You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’”
Comment: The Lord Jesus was not quoting the Mosaic Law; He was referring to the teaching of the Pharisees who had perverted the Law. The Law of God did not command, “Hate your enemy.”
Matthew 9:34
KJV - “But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.”
THE MESSAGE - “The Pharisees were left sputtering, ‘Hocus Pocus. It’s nothing but Hocus Pocus.’”
Comment: This is clearly a “translational-paraphrase.”
Matthew 11:28-30
KJV - “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
THE MESSAGE - “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me -- watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.”
Comment: The Message sounds like an iron tonic television commercial here!
Matthew 28:19
KJV - “...baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
THE MESSAGE - Matthew 28:19 -- “...baptism in the three-fold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Comment: The Message gives an Anti-Trinitarian, Jesus-only spin to this verse, which teaching claims that God is not three Persons in one Godhead but that He simply manifests Himself in three ways.
John 1:18
KJV - “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
THE MESSAGE - “No one has ever seen God, not so much of a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.”
Comment: To translate “the only begotten Son” as “this one-of-a-kind God-expression” is not only heretical; it is absurd.
John 3:5
KJV - “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
THE MESSAGE - “Jesus said, You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the ‘wind hovering over the water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.”
Comment: Peterson’s “translation” gives the baptismal regenerationists the best support they have ever had. The Roman Catholics who write to debate me would love this version.
John 10:30
KJV- “I and my Father are one.”
THE MESSAGE - “I and the Father are one heart and mind.”
Comment: To add to the words of Christ in this strange manner, it truly appears that Peterson has no fear of God.
Acts 8:20
KJV - “But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee...”
THE MESSAGE - “Peter said, ‘To hell with your money!’”
Comment: Since Peter cussed some the night he denied his Lord, I suppose Peterson believes he was still cussing in the book of Acts.
Romans 8:11
KJV - “...he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
THE MESSAGE - “...he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself.”
Comment: Peterson spiritualizes Christ’s resurrection here.
Romans 8:35
KJV - “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
THE MESSAGE - “Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture.”
Comment: Revelation 22:18-19 should cause Peterson (and everyone who approved The Message) to lose a lot of sleep.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13
KJV - “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
THE MESSAGE - “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears, and the sun shines bright! ... Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”
Comment: It is the “translator” who is squinting in a fog!
Philippians 2:12
KJV - “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
THE MESSAGE - “Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.”
Comment: This is another New Agey, heretical spin to the Scriptures.
Colossians 2:10
KJV - “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”
THE MESSAGE - “You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him...”
Comment: What? And this mess was reviewed by 21 scholars and approved by the likes of J.I. Packer?
1 Peter 3:1
KJV - “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.”
THE MESSAGE - “The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs...”
Comment: Peterson has done away with wifely subjection. Do we have the “feminist version” here?
Eugene Peterson and the Message | Bible Versions, People
