Memorizing Scripture (or why we let ourselves off the hook with just a few inspiring verses)

I was once asked by a student if I memorized Scripture, for she had heard this was an almost non-negotiable Christian practice. I surprised her by asking, “What do you mean by Scripture?” She of course meant the practice of putting to memory selected verses from Scripture that “meant” something to her. This is a fairly common practice, and one that isn’t all that terrible, but I want to suggest memorizing Scripture is much more intimidating and robust than this.

In his book Life Together, Bonhoeffer is reflecting on what at his time was the common practice of many Christian communities to isolate one or two verses and reflect on them for their weekly (or in some cases, daily) Bible study. Things really haven’t changed all that much to our time. The Bible is our little book of promises, and we claim certain verses here and there as inspiring little tid-bits for our sentimental souls. But this is not Scripture. Consider:

The verse for the day is not yet the Holy Scriptures that will remain throughout all time until the Day of Judgment. The Holy Scriptures are more than selected Bible passages. It is also more than “Bread for Today.” It is God’s revealed Word for all peoples, for all times. The Holy Scriptures do not consist of individual sayings, but are a whole and can be used most effectively as such (pages 59-60).

Bonhoeffer is making the salient point that the Bible (or the word of God) is not to be taken as singular passages that are supposed to be inspiring little snippets of wisdom for the day. God’s revealed word is the whole of Scripture. This raises the practical issue of what do we then do in terms of memorization of Scripture. Certainly there is precedence for the memorization of Scripture. This was a practice of the people of Israel, and likely of the early church. Set in context, though, they were engaged in a much richer and robust practice of memorization: whole sets of texts. This is why it is my conviction that we ought to be encouraging people to memorize biblical outlines and not a smattering of verses here and there. In this way, people will come to have a greater understanding of the scope, trajectory, and overall cadences of various books, and by extension, the whole of Scripture. To do this, one must actually read Scripture, and not just inspiring little sections. To become people of the book, we genuinely need to become people of the whole book.

Back to my student. What did I advise? Surprisingly, something I learned in seminary.  It was there I learned the value of memorizing outlines. You see, in our introduction to Old and New Testament courses, we were obligated to do so, and we complained vehemently. It is tough work. But this, I submit, is truly committing Scripture to memory. She didn’t really like my response. I guess she’s ready for seminary.

Erik Leafblad

Comments

[quizout]

In Bible quizzing, teens memorize whole chapters at a time (and often whole books).

Its a fun way to study the Bible with other youth from your church (or another).

Can it be intimidating? Yes I guess so.

But the best motivation I have for memorizing Gods word is knowing that He has something He wants to say to me today.

[RebeccaC]

I memorized entire books during my summers at L-bar-C and Circle-C. Know what? I still have them buried in my subconscious 20 years later!

I totally agree that while memorizing the "weekly verse" for Sunday school is good, knowing the context of the verse and understanding the concepts are just as valuable if not moreso.

I think that sometimes we "let ourselves off the hook" because the task seems overwhelming. But if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, shouldn't He be able to empower us to memorize? I was just thinking about Paul's advice: Run in such a way as to win the prize. Seems to me that he wouldn't have been satisfied with only memorizing a few lines of Torah. I imagine that he had most of it committed to memory by the time he died. Just my opinion...

Good answer to her question, BTW.

[olympic games accommodation]

Great introduction for this article. I have found it really interesting to read. Keep up the good work.