Be Sure to Check The Message
by Bill Blair on 17/09/08 at 12:45 pm
In one my current classes I was required to memorize some verses that are pertinent to the material in the class. One such passage is Matthew 18:15-17. We were required to memorize it in the ESV, and it reads in that version like this:
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17, ESV)
I joked with some people in class that I decided to memorize the passage from The Message version which is a paraphrase version of the Bible. After joking about this, I decide to pull up what The Message version says about this passage. It reads in that version like this:
“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love. ” (Matthew 18:15-17, The Message)
The last line of the verse is quite a contrast from “let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” to “you’ll have to start over from scratch.”
I have never read from The Message to know whether this passage is the exception or the rule, but it is enough for to say this: Be careful with The Message, because in the attempt to put contemporary language to the Scriptures it might just be giving you a different “message” altogether.
Are there any other passages you know of that miss the mark in The Message?
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