The Bible really needs bullet points. Of course, they
weren't in the original, but neither were such modern refinements as
paragraphs, or speech marks, or vowels (in Hebrew), or even spaces between
words (I think). But part of translation is expressing what is said in the
format used in the language being translated into. And in modern English, when
you want to get a list over clearly, you use bullet points.
I've just been typing out this verse for the church diary -
doesn't it work so much better with bullets?
...what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
- that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- that he was buried,
- that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
- and that he appeared...
I've often thought the same of Ephesians 1. Apparently in
Greek it's one sentence - but you can't have a sentence that long in English!
Some Bibles even split it into paragraphs, which makes it more digestible, but
even more obscures the fact that it all links back to the 'for' in v4. But you
can have a huge long sentence like that in English if you bullet it:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For:
- He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.- In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
- With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
- In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
- And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.
I think this kind of thing would make the Bible much more
accessible to people. Not by changing it, but by actually getting closer to the
original.
