Indenting as a Study Aid for Reading the Bible

Morrison Heights Baptist Church, Reviews, Thoughts

Step Two: Indent each line to fall beneath the line it adds to.

When we say “ adds to“, we mean: what it modifies, – what it describes, i.e. what it’s about. It will become more apparent as we go along, let’s get started …

Lets look at the first few lines of our list. The first line, Paul, will be our base; it will remain fixed. We need to consider where to indent the next line: a bond-servant.Ask questions like:

  • Who does a bond-servant describe?
  • Who is a bond-servant about?
  • What does a bond-servant modify?
Paul
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.
The answer to these questions is the first line, Paul; so, we need to indent a bond-servant to align with the end of the first line, Paul. 

Paul,
    a bond-servant
                 of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.

 
The next line is, of Christ Jesus. We now have a few choices about where to indent this line.

  • Does of Christ Jesus describe Paul?
  • Does of Christ Jesus describe a bond-servant?
  • Is it Paul that’s of Christ Jesus or is it a bond-servant that’s of Christ Jesus?
Paul,
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.
At first, it may seem like of Jesus Christ could be describing Paul. But is it really Paul that’s of Jesus Christ? No, not really … The phrase, of Jesus Christ, really tells what kind of bond-servant we are talking about. I.e. What kind of a bond servant are we talking about? One that’s of Jesus Christ! We need to indent this line to align with the end of a bond-servant.
Paul,
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.
Next, we consider the word called. Who is the phrase called about?

  • Is of Christ Jesus called?
  • Is a bond-servant called?
  • Is Paul called?
Paul,
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.
We can see that it’s Paul who is called. So, we need to indent called just past the word Paul from line one.
Paul,
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.
Next, we consider the phrase as an apostle.

  • What does as an apostle modify?
  • What does as an apostle add to?
  • What does as an apostle describe?
Paul,
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.
The phrase as an apostle adds more detail to called. It tells us how Paul was called. He was called as an apostle. Indent it to align with the end of “called”.
Paul,
a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus,
called
as an apostle,
set apart
for the gospel
of God,
which
.
.
.

By now, I’m sure you’re starting to catch on to what we’re doing; hopefully, you’re also understanding the value of this study aid. Can see how we’re slowing ourselves down to understand what is being said? If we are not taking our time when reading the Word of God in some way or another, (this method being one example), then we are not really able to follow along with what is being said in the paragraph, – we are not able to follow the flow-of-thought. At best, we are probably latching on to the meaning of a single scripture at a time – this is dangerous as the meaning of a single scripture without being placed into the context can lead us to a wrong beliefs.

This exercise has more advantages as well. I would like to demonstrate another on the next page.

Pages: 1 2 3

Tags:   

2 Replies to “Indenting as a Study Aid for Reading the Bible”

  1. Tana Lee
    Reply

    Aloha…Thanks for the great intro to diagramming by indenting. Nicely done, and very helpful. I would just like to mention that in your rebuild of the sentence, it might be better as “…Paul, set apart for the gospel OF GOD concerning his Son…”. As it is, it appears that Jesus is the son of Paul. Oops! Again, great job. Thanks so much! — Tana

    • richard
      Reply

      Tana Lee,

      I see what you mean, and that issue seems to come from pronouns (he, him, she, them, etc.). I have modified the original article to include in brackets the one to whom the pronouns refer. For example, him[God] or his[God’s] etc.

      Thanks for the comment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *