When the Message gets it right!

A few weeks ago Eugene Peterson passed away. I do some preaching and teaching in my church and I have a reputation for giving frequent health warnings about the Message. In short, my view of it is that we should treat it like a sermon rather than a translation. So whatever we find  in there we should check against the Bible itself, ie against a proper translation, rather than something that is essentially the paraphrase of one man. However, sometimes the Message does put things well, and can sometimes make at least some of the meaning clear. So as Eugene Peterson has recently passed away, let me draw attention to one of those instances.

It is one verse in the Lord’s prayer, Matthew 9:13. The ESV says

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

There can be somewhat sterile and pointless debates about whether or not God can lead us into temptation. The Message actually brings out the meaning well here with its version:

Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil

We all face two major obstacles in lives. One is ourselves, and the other is the Devil. Indeed, if you are using a proper translation you will probably have a footnote saying “evil” could be “the evil one”, or it may even be in the main text.

There are two very wrong views we can have ourselves. One is to focus purely on our weaknesses and sinfulness, considering ourselves to be absolutely useless. That is a very unbiblical view. At the other extreme we might say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) and that is that. If we follow that line it will not be long before, like Peter, we fall flat on our face.

The complete truth is this:

I can indeed do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but in my own strength I can make the most unholy mess of absolutely anything.

We need to hold both sides of this. We need the courage and the faith to believe the former, and to live it out, and we need the humility and the realism to admit the latter. And we pray to God to protect us from our weaknesses and sinfulness. There are numerous times when I give thanks to God for protecting me from my own stupidity.

PS Just so that you don’t think I have gone over to the dark side, I think the rest of the Message version of the Lord's prayer is a complete dog’s breakfast!