The Message is Not a Bible Translation Petersons Philosophy.Prologue. Before I get into the heart of my review of The Message, I want to offer an important comment regarding Eugene Peterson the man.Despite my concerns about the theology he inserted into The Message under the pretense of translation, I have no reason to doubt Peterson is a brother in Christ Jesus.Peterson has made some serious mistakes in his book, but he is a brother nonetheless.I also have a couple good friends who have spent time with Peterson in his cabin in MT.Everyone who has met Peterson describes him as a generous and genial person and of this I have no reason to doubt.Therefore, the following critique is focused solely on the substance of Petersons work in the Message and not his eternal relationship with God.The database recognizes 1,746,000 software titles and delivers updates for your software including minor upgrades.The Complete Works Of Francis A.Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview (5 Volume Set)' title='The Complete Works Of Francis A.Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview (5 Volume Set)' />Preface.To give a bit of context, following is a short video of Eugene Peterson wherein he discusses his philosophy of Bible translation for The Message.This video is from the 2.Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA.You can watch the full interview UC TV, but for the sake of brevity, I have included only the part of the interview related to his translation.Feedback archive Feedback 2008.Church of England apologises to Darwin Anglican Churchs neoChamberlainite appeasement of secularism First published 20.RECLAIMING THE CHRISTIAN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION.Everything we think, say, and do reflects our worldview.Whether we realize it or not, basic beliefs about God.Since the full release of The Message in 2.Eugene Petersons work has certainly captured the attention and passion of many readers.Almost immediately I noticed kids in my youth group and adults in my church turning to The Message as their primary translation.I also observed pastors, including the popular teacher Rick Warren, using The Message as their primary text for preaching.As a man given the responsibility to teach Gods Word, I responded by beginning my own investigation of Petersons work so that I could give the proper spiritual direction to the people who look to me for guidance.In the past five years, I have written and talked numerous times about my concerns over The Message.I have made a good faith effort to expose what I perceive to be the deceptive marketing techniques employed by Nav. Installation Of Church Officers Pledge Of Allegiance . Pres NOTE it is hard to tell how much, if any, of the marketing can be put on Peterson.This article may hold some deeper insight.In this same time sales of The Message have soared.Emboldened by the growing market, publishers have developed entire curriculum that depends solely upon The Message as the primary text.Given these trends, I find it necessary to publish again a simple and clear exposition showing why readers must use caution when reading The Message.This post will lay out some areas of concern that all pastors, teachers, and followers of Jesus should take very seriously.In future posts I will offer both guidelines on how to select a reliable Bible text and offer some of my own guidelines for what makes a good translation.The vision for Petersons work is expressed well in this direct quoteWhile I was teaching a class on Galatians, I began to realize that the adults in my class werent feeling the vitality and directness that I sensed as I read and studied the New Testament in its original Greek.Writing straight from the original text, I began to attempt to bring into English the rhythms and idioms of the original language.I knew that the early readers of the New Testament were captured and engaged by these writings and I wanted my congregation to be impacted in the same way.I hoped to bring the New Testament to life for two different types of people those who hadnt read the Bible because it seemed too distant and irrelevant and those who had read the Bible so much that it had become old hat.Before I post some of the problems with the actual text of Petersons Message, I think it is important to give a quick survey of some of the underlying problems with his approach.Problems With Petersons Philosophical Approach.Petersons assertion that the New Testament was written in the street language of the day is misleading.Arthur L. Farstad writes As a Bible translator and editor myself, I must disagree.Yes, God did use the koine or common Greek dialect of the first century.However, it was written by men whose minds were saturated with the truth and beauty of the OT Scriptures.Also, who would say that the Sermon on the Mount, the Upper Room Discourse, Romans 8, First Corinthians 1.Book of Hebrews, or Revelation 5to choose a few famous textsare in street languageJournal of the Grace Evangelical Society Volume 9 vnp.By updating the Scripture in a modern street language, Peterson removes the historical and religious context resulting in a book far removed from the day and culture in which it is written.This qualitative decision may give some readers a fun reading experience, but it will not give a realizable understanding of the Scripture.Peterson has confused the mission of a Bible translator with the mission of the Holy Spirit.As Peterson moved from seminary teacher to pastor, he encountered a congregation that had little interest in reaching the Scripture.In the introduction to The Message he writes The first noticeable difference was that nobody seemed to care much about the Bible, which so recently people had been paying me to teach them.Many of the people I worked with now knew virtually nothing about it, had never read it, and werent interested in learning.Many others had spent years reading it but for them it had gone flat through familiarity, reduced to clichs.Bored, they dropped it.And there werent many people in between.Very few were interested in what I considered my primary work, getting the words of the Bible into their heads and hearts, getting The Message lived.They found newspapers and magazines, videos and pulp fiction more to their taste.The Message, IntroductionPetersons concern for the spiritual life of his congregation is admirable.His hope was that The Message would serve as a tool to get people interested in reading the Bible.Petersons underlying assumption is that his translation can do something the Holy Spirit is unable to do give people a passion to read The Word.In reading The Message, I am drawn to the conclusion that Peterson has a diminished view of the Holy Spirit.The Message often eliminates the personhood and ministry of the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity who is given by Jesus as the beginning and source of our faith.Galatians 3 24 ESV2 Let me ask you only this Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith Are you so foolish Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh Did you suffer so many things in vainif indeed it was in vainGalatians 3 24 NIV1.I would like to learn just one thing from you Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard Are you so foolish After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the fleshHave you experienced so much in vainif it really was in vain Galatians 3 24 The Message2 Let me put this question to you How did your new life begin Was it by working your heads off to please God Or was it by responding to Gods Message to you Are you going to continue this craziness For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God.If you werent smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this upNotice that in verse 2, Paul says we received the Spirit by believing in the Gospel.In Petersons translation, we receive new life not the Spirit by believing.And for no reason found in the Greek, Peterson removes the Spirit in verse three.So, according to Peterson, the Christian begins their life in Christ, not by the person of the Spirit, but by God.Again, this is not an issue of selecting a varient translation, it is simply Petersons opinion and, for whatever reason, he does not want to mention the Spirit in this passage and so Peterson removes all mention of Him.I will explore this issue of Petersons mishandeling of the Greek term for Spirit in greater depth later in Part 4 of this series.Peterson believes the Bible, without his interpretive skills to modernize it, is insufficient to transform lives.
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