The Message - Endorsements

"Even if something is beautiful, if it isn’t understandable it is of little help. When both beautiful and understandable, it is all the more effective. In the introductory verses of Psalm 51, David’s confession is an example of how The Message embodies both virtues:

‘Generous in love - God, give grace!
Huge in mercy - wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.’"

- Dr. Nelson L. Price
Pastor Emeritus,
Roswell Street Baptist Church
& author of fifteen books

"Over the years I have struggled to keep the ‘law of kindness’ on my tongue. Apparently the Proverbs 31 woman did this with ease! It was with excitement and a renewed sense of purpose that I read and quickly memorized The Message translation of Proverbs 31:26 -

‘When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say and she always says it kindly.’

Thank you for the truth spoken clearly and simply."

- Cynthia Heald
author of
Becoming a Woman of Excellence

"One of my favorite passages in The Message is Peterson’s rendering of that powerful proclamation in Romans 8 (v.31),

‘With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?’

Somehow, when I read Romans 8 in those words, it all becomes more real, less ‘Oh yeah, this passage again,’ more ‘Oh yeah, I can keep going’; less 'intro to the New Testament,' more 'Life 101'; less 'never-never land,' and more 'never, never give up!' It’s a verse I need to read often: ‘With God on our side, how can we lose?’"

- Duffy Robbins
Associate Professor of Youth Ministry
Eastern College
youth speaker and
youth ministry trainer

"In 1 Corinthians 12, The Message unveils the truth that each person is equally important to the Body of Christ - fulfilling their unique calling with dignity but without comparison. It expounds in detail for each believer that they are genetically designed and geographically located to advance the work of God and display His presence through attaining their own distinctive destiny."

- Rod Parsley
World Harvest Church
Columbus, Ohio
Host, Breakthrough television broadcast
best-selling author (He Came First and On the Brink)

"When Eugene Peterson translated John 1:14, he made clear what incarnational theology is all about. The fact that God became a man and lives in our neighborhood invites us to look for God in those who live next door to us."

- Tony Campolo, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Eastern College