The Message Bible

[Sam]

I think of The Message as a more modern version of The Living Bible since both are attempts to take the Scriptures and bring them into every day conversational English so they are more understandable.

I remember the attitude I once had toward The Living Bible. Back in the nineteen sixties the first part of it was published as “Living Letters.” I received a copy through a book club I belonged to. Being a good Apostolic/Pentecostal fundamentalist (or some might say funny mentalist) minister, I was against it. To me it was a corruption of the Word of God --the Word of God being synonymous with the King James Version, of course. It was sorta like how I remember the reaction of some ministers when the Revised Standard Version (RSV) came out in the nineteen fifties. I remember reading about one minister publicly throwing a copy of the RSV in a tub of lye. I remember seeing a picture of another minister in a magazine or in a newspaper. He had a RSV Bible in one hand and a blow torch in the other. His quote below the picture was, “It’s like the devil. It’s hard to burn.” Religion can make you do some weird things. We were so concerned about people reading some non-KJV Bible while thousands of people were reading and understanding the Bible for the first time and their lives were being changed for the good.

Well, over the years I’ve mellowed somewhat and have a different attitude toward the TLB and toward other versions of the Bible which are not King James. I have many different versions around which I have read and still read. I even like The Living Bible and have a few copies of that including the Roman Catholic Version with the imprimatur and the apocrypha.

[Sam]

This is an article from Wikipedia about the person who gave us The Living Bible:


Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor (May 8, 1917 - June 10, 2005) was an American publisher and author, better known as the creator of the The Living Bible and the founder of Tyndale House, a Christian publishing company.

Taylor was born in Portland, Oregon. His parents were George and Charlotte Taylor. His father was a Presbyterian minister. He graduated from high school in 1934 and enrolled in Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. In 1940, Taylor also began to work on a Th. D. at Dallas Theological Seminary. During the course of his studies he was offered the position of editor for HIS Magazine, headquartered in Chicago. Taylor moved back to Wheaton, began working at the magazine, and finished his theological degree at Northern Baptist Seminary.

Taylor worked briefly with Clyde Dennis, founder of Good News Publishers, on translating Gospel tracts and distributing them overseas. In 1947 he moved to Moody Bible Institute, where he served as Director of Moody Press (now called Moody Publishing) until 1963. During that time he assisted a student named George Verwer in distributing Christian literature in Mexico.

Taylor developed a series of Bible stories with pictures for his own children to read. They were eventually published in a book called The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. He followed this volume with Stories for the Children's Hour and Devotions for the Children's Hour.

After these books were published Taylor began working on an ambitious project --the Bible in easy-to-read modern language. He published the New Testament epistles under the title Living Letters at his own expense in 1962. His Bible paraphrase was successful enough to allow him to leave Moody Press and work exclusively at Tyndale. Taylor finished the entire Bible in contemporary language and published it as The Living Bible in 1971.

Taylor died on June 10, 2005 from heart failure.

[Sam]

This is an interview with Ken Taylor that I read several years ago. I kept a copy but have no idea of the date or where the interview was published -probably about 20 years ago. In the article he speaks about how The Living Bible came into being and how it has helped some in their quest for God.

Kenneth Taylor is founder and chairman of the board of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. He is the translator of The Living Bible and has written more than twenty books. The Living Bible has sold more than 37 million copies since its first printing.

Question: You are in your mid seventies and have achieved much success in Christian publishing. What motivates you to continue looking for new avenues of outreach?

Answer: I have the ability to continue to carry on the Lord’s work in the publishing field and in translating. It would be very disappointing to me if I were unable to do that. I trust and I believe that I am motivated by the glory of the Lord; I am willing to please Him.

Question: Many people have shared their stories with you of how God used The Living Bible to draw them closer to God.

Answer: A letter I received recently was from a young person, a woman, who said that she had been mystified by the Bible. She felt that she ought to read it, but it was so difficult. Someone suggested she use The Living Bible. She got hold of a copy and said it had just transformed her life. For the first time she has really been able to experience a personal relationship with God. The words are real as if she was hearing from the Lord Himself and He was speaking to her directly. As a result she is encountering God in a way she never had before.

A Canadian friend shared with me that his son had asked him for The Living Bible for Christmas. He felt that it would be easier to understand than the King James Version he had tried to use. The son determined to read The Living Bible through during the next year. Soon his son began meeting with three or four kids at school. One of the boys accepted the Lord. Since then the young people’s roster grew from nearly nothing to over a hundred with most of them using The Living Bible for their studies.

Question: The motivation for writing The Living Bible grew from a need in your family.

Answer: We had a large family of ten children. All of them were at one time at home. We had the practice of Bible reading every night after supper and a time of prayer and discussion.

All too often while I was reading the King James Version --the only one available at the time--one of the children would ask, “What does that mean?” They did not know. So I would explain it to them.

Eventually, it occurred to me that it might be wise to put it into a language of their own ability so they could comprehend its meaning. I began to write out the chapters from time to time for our devotional time.

It changed the whole atmosphere of our time together. The children were able to answer the questions and respond with understanding. Eventually, it occurred to me that there were many other children in other families that could be helped in the same way.

As I was reading it to some friends, they wondered if it was at the level that was perhaps needlessly in children's language and suggested that it be raised a level or two so adults would find it equally beneficial. Eventually, I did so. It took a couple of years to do that.

Question: How long did it take you to write The Living Bible?

Answer: The first part of the project, The Living Letters which paraphrased the epistles, took about six years. The rest of the Bible took about nine years. So it took a total of about fourteen or fifteen years to produce the one volume The Living Bible.

I think the sheer joy of my own understanding and deepening of my faith as I worked on it kept me going. It was a faith that the translation would be really used of God in other families. As I bent over my translation desk, there was all of this glimmer up ahead that the words were going to be helpful to many people. I certainly did not anticipate it would be as widely used as it has.

Question: How did God prepare you to accomplish that kind of work?

Answer: My father was a pastor. He had a strong feeling for the importance of the written word. He wrote what he called gospel advertisements in the local papers, short articles telling about Christ.

When I went to seminary in Dallas, I was uncertain if I felt called to the pastoral ministry or some other type of ministry. One thing that kept coming to me was the possibility of using my training in Christian journalism. At that time I became an editor at Intervarsity Magazine. I was director at Moody Press for eighteen years. At that time I was raking away at the first part of The Living Bible.

So I had publishing experience and editorial experience. That was all marvelous preparation. When I couldn’t find anybody to publish The Living Bible, my wife and I came to the conclusion that we should publish it ourselves. We are glad now that it worked out that way.

I felt that The Living Bible was a talent, a gift that the Lord gave me to write interestingly and find the right expressions, words, and so forth. It was His book. I really felt that the Lord had His hand in it from the beginning.

Question: Are there some favorite passages that encourage you?

Answer: The book of Isaiah is especially comforting. It’s wonderful to see the patience of God. I see time and time again how much He wanted His people to come back to Him.

There are so many people who don’t give Him first place in their lives and that was really invigorating in my own Christian life to be reminded, to be refreshed about how much He loves us and longs for our fellowship.

[allstate1]

Wow I guess I didnt get enough church yesterday! My carnel mind read Massage Bible.

[*AQuietPlace*]

The Message's take on I Cor. 11 is certainly interesting.

[Maximilian]

Big fan of The Message, that is, when you're looking for a thought-for-thought paraphrase. It works very much as a psuedo-commentary, while trying to deliver "the message" behind the words. Impressed.

This certainly doesn't mean Patterson gets a free pass, and that every one of his decisions of interpretation are fully correct. However, his gift with putting life into the words of scripture is something to behold. It has caused me to teach/preach with more life. This should take our exegetical teaching to a whole new level.

Patterson finds the words in our vernacular, how he imagines they would've sounded to the original audience.

[Ferd]

Like so many others here it is not my primary but it does give "flavor" if you will.

I generally study from the KJV because I am comfortable with it. but I always use several different translations and when dealing with difficult passages The Message is gernerally referenced along with a bunch of others.

I find teaching much more easy when I can look at a subject from multiple perspectives.

[Blubayou]

I read the Message through and like it for most of the Bible. I did not like it for the Psalms, and poetry books. I am just used to reading those in the KJV. I usually use the NIV with Bible Gateway when I read and study the Bible. It gives you many versions to refer to. I think it is a good tool just like several of the other versions.

[Ferd]

I tell you, on this subject, I am really lost right now!

I am acutally having to use real bibles with real pages! ugh!


For years, I have used a Thompson Chain reference library on my home computer for study. It has 17 versions of the bible in it and i use almost every one.

but we bought a MAC a few months ago and now I either have to find the software or something like it for MAC. I do use Bible Gateway some but it isnt the same.

[Blubayou]

I love using Bible Gateway- You can enlarge the print HA! I find I do most of my Bible reading and Study on this site.