Using 2 Peter 1:12-15 as an example, let me demonstrate a few “don’ts” in summarizing. First, the biblical text:
Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
—2 Peter 1:12-15 ESV
And here is a reasonable main point summary: Since my time on earth is short, I (Peter) will not hesitate to re-remind you of these vital truths so that you will always be able remember them.
And now, let’s look at a few examples of what not to do.
1. Do not simply rearrange the words and phrases of the original text.
As long as I am in this body, I intend to remind you of these qualities so that you may be able to recall them after my departure.
While this summary is certainly accurate and concise, it does not go all the way toward demonstrating that you understand what those words or phrases fully mean. Summarizing in your own words requires a solid grasp of the text.
2. Do not write in commentary style.
This is the flip side of the seventh strategy in the previous step, which stated, “maintain the same perspective as the author.” Commentary style would be to shift the first person in the original to third person.
Peter assures his readers that he will be diligent to remind them of these vital truths because he knows his time on earth is short. He wants them to be able to easily remember them after he has passed away.
This summary is accurate. Yet, because it only describes rather than restating the main point, there are potential dangers. Most notably, the danger of misapplying the text because you have created a separation between you and the text. Specific applications will come in due course, but at this stage in your study of the text, you still want the voice of the author coming through. Indeed the Holy Spirit will be using your efforts to understand his word to nurture appropriate applications in your heart and mind.
3. Do not add your opinion or assessments.
Peter is not confident that they will follow his instruction after he has passed away, so he rather boldly tells them he will remind them again and again of these vital truths.
Hopefully, my example makes very clear the potential dangers of adding your own opinions into the summary. But here’s the catch: we like our opinions and generally think we are right. So it is very easy to inadvertently slip them in unchecked. My caution is simple: Be attentive to yourself, and guard against inserting your opinions into the text.
4. Do not include every detail (it is, after all, a summary).
Since my time on earth is short—which Jesus himself has told me plainly, I (Peter) will not hesitate to re-remind you of these vital truths so that you will always be able remember them after I pass away, even though you practice these things even now.
Once again, this statement is accurate, but it is not much shorter than the text itself. The point is not simply to keep it short, but to bring the main point to the surface. The details in this example cloud the main point from view.
5. Do not make present day applications.
Just as Peter urged these believers to always remember these truths, we too should be diligent to keep them readily at hand and in practice.
The danger here is two-fold. First, in running to application too quickly, we can simply get the text wrong. As stated above, the time for thinking through applications will come (and is even under way at this point) but the objective at this stage is to make a clear restatement of the text in order to test and demonstrate the soundness of your understanding. Second, by specifying a particular application in the main point summary, we limit, even potentially exclude, other appropriate applications.
Now that we have explored what not to do, in the next step I will give some more examples of good practice in summarizing.