Bored in your Bible Time? The Message (MSG) Translation Might Be Perfect For You

Do you ever read the Bible as if it's a boring duty? Dry and lifeless? Just another thing to check off your to-do list?I have been there. And I've also been in a place where I literally can't put the Bible down because it's like God is speaking words personalized just for me.If you're in the first group, where you are simply uninspired by your Bible reading... I might have a solution for you.

Word-for-word or thought-for-thought? Why thought-for-thought?

I'm a Bible College graduate. I loved being at a good, conservative school that respected the Word of God. I saw both classmates and professors that really did live in Scripture. Breathed it in and breathed it out. It was there that I really learned to love and rely on the Bible in a new way.  Some of my professors had whole chapters (even books) of the Bible memorized. Every class began with the professors praying with their students.I LOVED everything about going to Calvary Bible College (Now Calvary University). But, if I had even a minor dissonance with the school, it might have been my rebellious love for the Message (MSG), a thought-for-thought paraphrase written by Eugene Peterson. (P.S. I don't think the school had any official stance on the paraphrase, but many of my classes said that they required a word-for-word translation like the HCSB or NASB. For more on word-for-word vs. thought-for-thought, check out this link.)Now I know there are some controversies regarding the Message, but I can't help but love the rich language and straight-shooting idioms in those well-designed pages. And that's why Eugene Peterson wrote it. He wanted the Bible to speak as directly as it did to the people of the Bible. Biblegateway.com has a great quote that summarizes why I love the MSG.

Why was The Message written? The best answer to that question comes from Eugene Peterson himself: "While I was teaching a class on Galatians, I began to realize that the adults in my class weren't 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 hadn't 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.'"

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Here's why I like the Message...

1. It's thought-for-thought

I LOVE reading things in the Bible that shock me and make me think. I have a Bible that compares the Message to the New International Version if I want it compared to a more balanced version. It's great. Check it out here: http://amzn.to/2hXxah0Check out this awesome verse from Colossians and tell me what you think of the side-by-side.Here's the NASB- a literal/word-for-word translation from the original Greek.

"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. ³ For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4 NASB

And here's the same passage in the Message.

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ." Colossians 3:1-4 MSG

Is that shocking? Is it refreshing? It is for me.

2. It was translated from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

If you want to learn to not only read Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek for yourself... but try to piece together the intricate idioms and sayings from their cultures, you can! Feel free! I think that's wonderful. And I have friends who have done that in their Greek classes. But for me, I like that someone else already did that for me.I think if Paul were alive today and was writing to English- speaking Americans, he might speak with some of the idioms that are used in The Message. More than anything, he (and the other writers of the New Testament) wanted his readers to be impacted enough by God's words to have changed lives.

3. It doesn't have verse numbers

Here's something fascinating you might not have previously known. Most chapters and verse markings of the Bible were added much later, in 1227. (Source, gotquestions.org - I used to write for gotquestions.org and highly recommend that ministry!)So when you read the Bible without verse numbers, you might feel the same connectedness that the original readers might have felt! I love that thought!

What do you think?

Do you think reading the Message might give your devotional life a jumpstart? Do you still have reservations about reading out of the Message? Tell me what you think! Here are my recommendations if you're considering buying a Message Bible. (contains affiliate links. These links help pay for the monthly costs of keeping up a website!)