We are nine months into the year of our Lord 2024. How many of us started the year with a plan and a commitment to read the Bible through in a year? How is that going? I would gladly confess at this point that I have not succeeded either. But after several attempts at it over the years, I find it too difficult and unprofitable. When I get behind and have to read 25-chapters of Jeremiah, what am I gleaning from the word? Not much. Please don’t get me wrong, I make a serious effort to study God’s word every day. Just in more bite-sized portions (BTW “Good for you” to those who can read the Bible in a year!)
The other side of, “trying to read too much per day” is a focus on individual verses or using the Bible solely as a source for proof-texting doctrine. Using individual verses means I do not understand the context. The Bible was not written that way and is not intended to be read in that manner. In fact, chapter divisions did not come along until the 1200’s and verse divisions were not commonly used until the 1500’s. Within churches of Christ, we rightly insist on replicating the teaching and practice of the Lord’s church as it existed in the apostolic age. Therefore, chapters and verses are by definition unscriptural.
Settle down, I am not suggesting we are all going to hell for owning Bibles with chapters and verses. They are handy and provide a map to help us find where we are going on the highway of inspiration. But by the same token, we don’t need to feel especially bound by them either.
Somewhere in my late 20’s (as my kids call it “olden times”), I was frustrated. I could not seem to remember Bible verses the way my preaching heroes could. It actually became a hindrance to me in my reading. Whenever I would come across a verse I thought I should remember, I would immediately stop and try to remember the book, chapter, and verse for the Scripture. When I couldn’t remember as well as I had hoped, I became frustrated. I found myself constantly interrupting my understanding of the Bible to do a memory exercise. Then something interesting occurred to me. The Apostles never cited things using chapters and verses. Then something else occurred to me. Hey, they didn’t even have chapter or verses. On the heels of those revelations came this one, “Maybe I should stop worrying about learning my Bible by verses!” I did and it was one of the best things that could have happened to me.
I think of the books of the Bible more like literature these days. What is the theme? What is the overall message? How are ideas supported? It also helps me remember where things are within books generally. For instance, the temptation of Jesus occurs right after his baptism. Since the first three gospels all record Christ’s baptism, it is early in all three books. Mark doesn’t include the story of Jesus birth or his genealogy, it must be in the first chapter. In Matthew and Luke it must be around chapter four. Bingo! I tend to remember things like this: If I know where the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), Peter’s sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2), the Lord’s Supper (two chapters before the end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) are, then they act as landmarks to help me find my way to anything else I want to read.
Become familiar with entire books. If you read James enough, you will remember where a verse can be found when you hear it in a sermon. The same applies to most books of the New Testament. They have a certain character. Is it about church discipline? That smells like I Corinthians or maybe II Thessalonians to me. Is it a quote from an early sermon by Peter or Paul? Let’s take a look at Acts.
I still cite verses in my writing and speaking because it helps others learn along with me. But I think little of them when studying. I can not recommend a practice to you more highly.
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