If you are like me and grew up in a Christian home and going to Sunday school every week, then chances are you have a similar experience. You would have had to learn a new bible memory verse, often weekly. It was also not uncommon that there was a reward for managing to memorise the verse, possible a lolly or gold star or something that went towards a larger reward at the end of the year. I also went to a Christian school that had mandatory bible classes, and guess what we had to do. Yep, memorise bible verses on which we would have tests and be graded on how well we memorised it. The punctuation even had to be perfect, down to the last comma. Through this upbringing and the continual operant conditioning of reward for the memorisation of a bible verses, much of the bible has been drilled into me. Not just stories and facts, but also word-for-word verses. I am guessing that if you grew up in an environment that was in anyway similar then you would have many memory verses tucked away in your memory that you can recite on a whim.

I have lately started getting back into the habit of memorising scripture with my bible study small group by following a book that gives you a different bible verse every week to memorise. This has got me thinking about the pros and cons of such behaviour. I cannot argue against the fact that there are many positive and beneficial aspects to memorising popular little snippets from throughout the bible, but I want to ask the question: is it ever a bad idea to memorise bible verses? Are there any negative consequences from memorising bible verses?

First of all I would like to state that there are many good things about memorising the scriptures, especially from a young age. The bible itself has many references from both the Old and the New Testament telling us that we should memorise scripture.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. –Deuteronomy 11:18-20

My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart. -Proverbs 4:20-21

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. –1 Peter 3:15

There are many articles and literature on the benefits of memorising scripture, and I agree with them and am not arguing against that. However I would like to explore and argue the possibility that there can be negative consequences that arise as well.

I would like to argue that memorising bible verses could lead to a misinterpretation of the passage by taking the verse out of context. When I say a bible verse, I am talking about it in terms of a single verse or maybe a couple verses, not long chucks of passages. I think this is the key in the problems that can arise. When we memorise bible verses or teach kids memory verses, they are often catchy phrases and are among the verses people choose as their “favourite verse in the bible.” The issue I see here is that because we are only memorising a single line, we do not know the context, and thus construe the meaning to be plain wrong. Some examples of popular verses that can easily be taken out of context are:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. –Philippians 4:13

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. –Romans 8:28

There are many other verses that can be taken out of context; in fact, any part of scripture taken out of context can be used incorrectly. However the few above tend to lead to misinterpretation easier than most, and this is because they appear to give promises of things God will do for you. This misuse of these verses can lead to an understanding of the bible that is like that of the prosperity gospel, which in turn leads people away from the true meaning of Jesus and the seriousness of sin.

It is because memory verses only take the best sounding parts of passages, therefore leading to people being able to throw out these catchy one-liner bible verses at any situation while not understanding the actual context. I believe this is harmful, for both the person who has memorised these verses and those who hear what they may say. I myself have fallen prey to this trap, especially when I was younger, and I fear that I may do so again in the future. We cannot have a generation of Christians who have a poor understanding of the bible; therefore we must think of a solution.

I would hope that most mature Christians have an understanding of proper contextualised reading of the bible to avoid the pitfalls of misinterpreting God’s word. However I know that may be an unrealistic expectation to have of others, and what about children or new Christians or just any one without any biblical training? This I do not have a straight forward answer to, but I am hoping this is something that we can discussed. I am all for memorising scripture, it will help us grow in maturity as Christians. And to my original question I would answer: no, it is never a bad idea to memorise scripture, but how should we guard against the lure of interpreting scripture out of context is an important matter to consider.

I’m sure there are numerous solutions to the question of how we should deal with this potential problem, though they may not be so straightforward. One answer would be biblical training and teaching, so that more Christians would know how to read and interpret the bible well. But not all Christians would be in a situation to be able to undergo or have access to training, and Christianity is not and should not be limited to only the intellectual, but be accessible by all men. Another solution would be to only choose verses that don’t lend themselves to misinterpretation as easier, but the that would limit what we choose to memorise, however we know that all scripture is good and useful (2 Tim 3:16). And yet another option would be to only memorise full passages of scripture rather than a couple verses, this would lead us to better understand the context. This is not foolproof though, as there is often more context that needs to be dissected through understanding the entire book, or even the meta-narrative of the whole bible. There is also the practical problem of it being more difficult to memorise longer sections, especially for kids.

So how all does this look practically everyday? And how should we teach our kids to be critical thinkers and properly comprehend God’s word? This is an issue I will continue to ponder and wrestle with, and maybe you can join me on this journey of seeking to understand and teaching the bible better. But I do know that in this endeavour we should ask the Lord to grant us His wisdom, that we may better serve Him and others.

I would like to acknowledge that this post (and thus the creation of this blog) was inspired by the Christian web comic Adam4d and his posts on biblical context, but specifically his comic ‘All Things’ at http://adam4d.com/all-things/ which really drove me to write this.

More verses on memorising scripture: http://www.openbible.info/topics/memorizing_scripture

More verses that are commonly read out of context: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/top-6-bible-verses-often-taken-out-of-context/

http://chrishall.org/post/73204203239/the-5-most-quoted-out-of-context-verses-in-the-bible