One thing I want to teach myself to continually do when reading the Bible is to, as much as possible, ignore chapters and verses and pay far more attention to sentences. As I’ve been teaching verse by verse through several books of the Bible, I run into what to me are “unfortunate” chapter and verse divisions.
On the plus side, the addition of chapter and verse divisions are a huge blessing. You can see someone hold up a sign on a televised football game of “John 3:16” and practically everyone instantly recognizes what truth that represents. When a pastor goes to preach a sermon, he can tell us exactly where to go in our scriptures for the text he will exposit and we can all quickly be there with him. I fully agree they are great for navigating God’s word together and I’m thankful for them from that perspective.
But I also have to remember the chapter and verse additions were uninspired and added much later: Chapter divisions were added in 1227 by the Archbishop of Canterbury and verse markings were added to the OT in 1448 and to the NT in 1555. They are not punctuation that denotes the end of a thought. When we get so focused on verses rather than sentences we can sometimes miss the main point – and that’s my main point.
I want to read my Bible like I read any other book, by paying attention to the sentence structure and punctuation so I’m getting the whole thought and I can think the inspired author’s thoughts after them. The issue is so many verse markers are placed mid-sentence or mid-thought. For example, Acts 8:1 which is the start of an entire new chapter and verse 1 is “And Saul approved of his execution.” What a way to start a new chapter. If you were to jump in there, unfamiliar with the Bible, you are missing the whole context of that phrase. It’s far more of a concluding statement of Chapter 7 than a new beginning of Chapter 8. However, that’s not the point or why I’m talking about my desire to pay far more attention to punctuation than verse markings.
The main point is sometimes it makes a huge difference in the impact to my soul. I had an example of that this morning. I was reading Philippians 4 and ran across a verse that most of us have memorized and use. We’ve memorized it this way because it is the way the verse markings told us to. But this morning I ignored that and read it according to the punctuation and the sentence structure. So here’s the verse per the verse markings:
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 ESV
Great verse and one in our day and age we need to contemplate more and more. But I noticed that is not the start of the sentence and I looked at the sentence structure and punctuation (at least in the English translation of the ESV) and it impacted my soul FAR more. Here’s the full sentence:
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
What a difference it made to me to read it that way! If I just memorize it according to the verse marking, I miss the main point! I miss the WHY. Why am I not to be anxious, which seems impossible in this fallen world? HOW can I not be anxious? If I memorize the verse and not the sentence I miss the answer:
The Lord is at hand;
So it hit me afresh that what God in His word is telling me is this: I am “at hand”, I’m near, I’m with you THEREFORE you don’t need to be anxious about anything. So, the way I lose my anxiousness is by realizing the omnipotent God is there, He is at hand and nothing takes Him by surprise and nothing ever happens that He doesn’t ordain for my good and His glory. This is so vital, because it points me back to who God is and His character. Now that sentence has a far larger impact on my soul than just memorizing it as verse 4 which reads as just an imperative; just a command to obey. Maybe you don’t read it this way, but to me it is the difference between “Just obey and don’t be anxious you sinner” vs. “I’m here and near, so I got you – don’t be anxious.” It is hard to express the difference it makes.
If I read purely by the verse numbers, here is vs. 5
5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
And so that can come across as “Be reasonable and let everyone see it – because God is watching.”
See the difference in ignoring the verse markers and reading it by the punctuation? As a believer in Christ, I should be a very reasonable person and known to be such – AND – separate thought – the next time I’m getting myself into a panic, I want to meditate on the second whole sentence – The Lord is near; don’t be anxious but be thankful I’m not in this alone and without sovereign help.