The fourth period is ten minutes for paraphrasing the Bible. When we have a fresh understanding of a portion of the Word, we should write out the whole portion in simple and intelligible language for the easy comprehension of others. A person who is trained in this exercise will find meaning and significance in every word of the Bible. This requires fine work. It may take a few days to paraphrase one verse. We have to touch the thought of the Holy Spirit with our spirit, and we have to open up ourselves to receive the proper impressions. Our thoughts have to match the thoughts of the writers of the Bible. We have to use basically the same expressions, only with a little more explanation of our own to clarify their meaning.
Paraphrasing should be done paragraph by paragraph. To paraphrase a verse at a time is too little, and to paraphrase a chapter at a time is too much. We should group a few verses together that naturally form a section, read through the whole section, and then paraphrase it verse by verse.
Paraphrasing is different from translation. Translation is brief; it is not detailed enough. Of course, we should not write too much in our paraphrasing, or else we will find ourselves involved in extensive exegesis. Paraphrasing involves a little translation and a little exegesis. It is something that lies between these two things. Exegesis is the exposition of the Bible with our own words, while paraphrasing is the utterance of a passage in the tone of the biblical writers themselves. Translation is a mere rendering of the meaning of the original text, while paraphrasing adds a little of our own explanation to it. Therefore, paraphrasing is a work that lies in between exposition and translation. In paraphrasing we retain the tone of the biblical writers, but here and there we render our own explanations. This kind of paraphrasing helps others to understand words in the Bible that they do not understand. Let us consider a few examples.
Romans 1:1 says, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ...” (KJV). We can paraphrase it by saying “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ.” Paul used the word servant with the idea that he was the Lord’s bondservant, a slave who had no freedom of his own. It is up to us whether or not to interpret the meaning of the word servant. But this involves another kind of paraphrasing. Paraphrasing, however, does not have to involve interpretation. If we were trying to interpret this verse, we could write, “I, Paul, was sold to sin. But the blood of the Lord Jesus has purchased me, and now I have become His slave.” If we wrote this way, others would be clear about the Lord’s right and our consecration. We were sold to sin but the Lord has redeemed us. Now we love to serve Him, we choose to serve Him, and we willingly give ourselves to serve Him. We become His servants on the basis of His purchase and through our choice. When we elaborate on the reason for Paul’s being a servant, we make his word crystal clear.
The next phrase says, “Called to be an apostle.” It is easy for us to think that Paul was called to be an apostle. Actually, this phrase should be translated as “called apostle” or “called as apostle” according to the original language. He was not called to be an apostle; he was a called apostle. In verse 7 we find the same thing: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (KJV). The words to be present the same problem. Many people have been believers all their life, yet they still do not regard themselves as saints. According to the original language, the expression should be “called saints.” This means that they were called as saints. They were not called to be saints. The word called is an adjective, not a verb. It shows us the kind of apostles and the kind of saints that these ones were. It explains a condition, not an action. The advantage of paraphrasing is to discover many biblical truths through the phrases and expressions.
Consider Romans 6:6, which says, “Our old man has been crucified with Him.” This verse can be expressed in many different ways. It can be expressed as, “Since my old man has been crucified with Him, I no longer have to be crucified.” If our emphasis is on how our old man is crucified with Him, we can say, “Because God has placed us in Christ, we are crucified together with Him.” This is based on verse 11, which says, “Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin...in Christ Jesus.” It is because we are in Him that we can be with Him. The basis of our being with Him is our being in Him. Without being in Him, we can never be with Him. Those who are not in Christ cannot be crucified with Him. Only those who are in Him can be crucified with Him. Because God has put us in Christ, we can be crucified with Him. The work of paraphrasing is to make a sentence clear. Every verse has some crucial words, and we must pay attention to these words. If we come across a verse that we do not quite understand, we have to ask the Lord to shine on us so that we can express the verse in language simpler than the original and in utterance more concise than an exegesis. Every time we work on a sentence, we have to ask, “Why is this sentence so difficult to understand?” We have to tackle all the crucial terms in the Bible before we can paraphrase it. For example, if we study the word crucified in Greek, we will find that it refers to an accomplished fact. Therefore, we can rewrite this verse: “Our being crucified with Christ is an accomplished fact; it is not an experience that we pursue after.” Christ is the One who was crucified. To Him it was an experience, but to us there is no need of an independent crucifixion; we are crucified in Him already. With us this is a fact. Thus, there is more than one way to paraphrase this verse. Everyone has his own way. It all depends on how much one needs clarification or how much others need clarification on a point. Whatever we write, we have to do it in such a way that those who do not understand the verse will understand it.
Consider 1 Corinthians 3:1, which says, “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.” The word but means a great deal here. It means, “You have been believers for all this time. You should know what it means to be spiritual and what it means to be under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Yet in many things you are still under the influence of the flesh, you still walk by the flesh, and you have not subjected yourselves to the authority of the Spirit. I cannot help but to consider you as being fleshy.” If we consider for a moment Paul’s expression infants in Christ, we will realize that Paul was saying, “You have been wasting too much time. It is excusable for a new believer to be under the influence of the flesh. But you have been believers for so many years, and you are still under the power of the flesh. Even today, you are still not grown up in Christ, and I still have to feed you with milk.” Whatever our understanding is concerning this passage, we should write it down. In this way, when we read our writing again, we will be clear about the meaning of the passage. If we apply ourselves to this exercise for ten minutes a day, by the time we finish the whole book of 1 Corinthians we will have a good grasp of Paul’s thought in writing this Epistle.
The above division of time is a suggestion based on others’ experience. In actual practice, everyone can make appropriate arrangements based on his specific needs before God.
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