The tagline for The [Expanded] Bible (New Testament) is “Study the Bible While You Read.” So I got one, opened it and read. My first impression…CONFUSING!!! Isn’t this supposed to be an easy way to Bible study as you read? I soon discovered that in order to use it I needed to know the key. There are different indicators used to show whether a word can be translated in other ways, can be taken in an alternative direction, has a literal rendering and/or traditional rendering found in the KJV, needs more explaining, has a cross-reference or parallel scripture and has surrounding conflict due to discrepancies between manuscripts. Not as simple as I thought it would be.
After using it for awhile it became easier to decipher, but reading it is just plain…clunky (for a lack of a better word) due to all the bracketing and extra info inserted in the text. The version itself is based on a paraphrase The New Century Version. This could pose some problem for people who are anti-paraphrase (I don't like a lot of paraphrases). I’m not going to say it doesn’t have value though, but I am going to stick to traditional methods of Bible study.
No comments:
Post a Comment