Lesson 1 | Restatement
Encouragement & Review
As you attempt to paraphrase Scripture, you may notice yourself deleting words, rewriting sentences, and altering grammar to make it fit the passage. Your deliberations reflect the fact that your understanding of the passage is being sharpened. You have entered the process of interpreting Scripture!
May God strengthen you with wisdom as you endure the sharpening process.
What we learned this lesson...
- Paraphrasing is an important teaching device.
- Both commentary-style vs. paraphrase-style have biblical warrant.
- Advantages of commentary-style:
- Explaining the context
- Unpacking points of uncertainty
- Stating implications explicitly
- Practicing theology
- Advantages of paraphrase-style:
- Yields a more direct, sensory experience
- Succinctness
- Capturing tone
- Expressing the logical flow
- Matches the perspective of the author
- Practice paraphrasing by restating the same sentence ten different ways.
- It is important to capture the Bible's tone.
- Don’t get stumped! …by failing to view Scripture through the author’s eyes.