Eugene
Peterson's The Message (TM)
has enough
mistranslations in it for Bro. Rat
to take a full-time
40-hr./week job expositing them all
!
But, let's look at a few...
Romans
3:10
"There's nobody living right" (TM)
"There is none righteous" (NASB, NKJ)
"There is no one righteous" (NIV, WEB, CSB)
"There is no one who is righteous" (NRSV)
"None is righteous" (ESV)
Here TM
interjects the word "living" ("living
right") ...which isn't in the Scriptural text !
Big
deal ? Yes.
In the
NASB, NIV, NKJ, WEB, NRSV, NLT, ASV,
ESV, ISV,
TEV, CSB, it's a state of being.
One is
"righteous" ("good" NLT).
TM [and
also the BBE] alters it to a doing.
As
Reformation Christians we know that sinfulness
is a
condition. And, we reject the Romanist notion
that sin
is necessarily something done.
[ Matthew 7:18 describes humans
as bad trees bearing
bad fruit, not as good trees
producing bad fruit.
We're evil first ...then act
evilly !
"The hearts of men are full
of evil" Ecclesiastes 9:3 NIV.
"Their very minds and
consciences are corrupted" Titus
1:15 NRSV. ]
As R.C.
Sproul says: "We sin because we are
sinners,
not are sinners because we sin" !
TM has
it oppositely.
Romans
3:11
"nobody who knows the score, nobody alert
for
God" (TM)
"There is none who understands, there is none
who seeks
for God" (NASB)
"There is no one who understands, no one who
seeks
God" (NIV)
"There is none who understands; There is none
who seeks
after God" (NKJ)
"There is no one who has understanding, there
is no one
who seeks God" (NRSV)
"There is no one who understands. There is no
one who
seeks after God" (WEB)
This is
one of the most important verses in the
Bible.
"Nobody who knows the score" ? Gimme a break !
But we
move from the silly to the serious in the
second
clause:
TM's
"alert" is passive.
The
Greek ekzeteo, however, is active ! "To search
out"
(Strong's), "search diligently" (Zodhiates').
So, TM
screws the pooch on this verse by rendering
a key word
oppositely.
All the
other version read correctly.
Matthew
6:11
"Keep us alive with three square meals" (TM)
"Give us this day our daily bread" (NASB, NKJ,
NRSV, ESV)
"Give us today our daily bread" (NIV, WEB, ISV,
CSB)
The
Greek is epiousios artos ...literally "day's
raised
loaf" or "daily bread".
TM
interjects two things foreign to the Scriptural
text:
a.)
That it consists of "three ...meals", and
b.)
That it's "square meals".
This
isn't only translationally in error, it's doctrinally
in error.
Matthew
6:11 has us pray for only bare subsistence.
Just
enough bread to get through the day.
Eugene
Peterson transforms this to three full meals !
Not merely
bread to survive, but "square meals"
(no doubt
comprised of all the Food Groups including
correct
portions of veggies, and low-fat, sugar-free,
and high
in vitamins).
God's
Word doesn't have us pray for a balanced diet
three
times every day.
Isaiah
55:2
"Why do you spend your money on junk food" (TM)
"Why do you spend money for what is not bread"
(NASB, NKJ)
"Why spend money on what is not bread" (NIV
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread" (NRSV
"Why do you spend money for that which is not bread"
(WEB)
"Why do you spend money on what is not food" (CSB)
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread" (ESV)
At best,
TM trivializes this clause of the verse.
The
Hebrew is lo lechem ...literally "not food".
TM's
"junk food" is food ! So, it changes the meaning
from Food
vs. non-Food to Good Food vs. Bad Food !
Another
example of Eugene Peterson rendering the
Biblical
text oppositely from it's actual meaning.
John
6:37
"Every person the Father gives me eventually
comes
running to me. And once that person is
with me, I
hold on and don't let go." (TM)
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,
and the
one who comes to Me I will certainly
not cast
out" (NASB
"All that the Father gives me will come to me,
and
whoever comes to me I will never drive
away"
(NIV
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,
and the
one who comes to Me I will by no
means cast
out" (NKJ)
The
Greek heko means to "arrive" (Strong's),
"come", "have come", or "be here"
(Zodhiates').
TM's
"comes running" contains an interjection.
And,
"eventually" isn't in the Greek text, either.
Two
false doctrinal insinuations here:
a.)
We 'run' to God instead of are pulled.
The
Scriptural doctrine is that God "draws" us
(John 6:44
NASB, NIV, NKJ, WEB, NLT, ESV,
CSB)
...not that we come "running" to Him !
b.)
The interjection of "eventually" carries the
implication that we come on timing less than in
the Lord's
total control.
The
Scriptural doctrine is that we come to God
precisely
when He brings us to Him
...NOT
"eventually" !
TM's
"I hold on and don't let go" defies the Greek
ekballo
exo (literally: "eject out").
Ou me
ekballo exo ("not at all eject out") is
conceptually opposite of "hold on and don't
let
go".
One is
an action ("hold on and don't let go"). The
other not
taking an action ("not at all eject out").
John
10:30
'I and
the Father are one' (NASB, NIV, WEB, ASV, ISV)
'I and
the Father are one heart and mind'
(TM)
This
represents the Adoptionist
(and Mormon) position.
Once
again, it's an utter interjection.
The
Greek is heis ("one" as a cardinal numeral)
implying
oneness in essence.
Eugene
Peterson's adding "heart and mind"
reduces
that to a mere oneness of affection
and
opinion !
SUMMARY
Eugene Peterson's The Message
is riddled with dated slang,
interjections, and outright
mistranslations.
It's a misleading and
error-filled Bible version that's not only
thoroughly unreliable for
Scriptural study, but even unsuitable
for casual reading.
Theological
Glossary
