5/20/2008

Chapter and Verse numbers NOT inspired


Have you ever been reading a passage of the Bible and you come up to the end of the chapter or verse and you are distracted by the abrupt ending? Or you are confused why the chapter stops? OR you are left still wondering, "what happens next," then you begin the next chapter and it all makes sense?
Have you ever heard someone, maybe even with good intentions, read you a verse (maybe even their favorite verse of the Bible) but when you hear it you know that it is COMPLETELY pointless without the context around the verse?

The truth is that the Verse and Chapter numbers are not really inspired by the Holy Spirit, like the actual content of the Scriptures are. Sure the are helpful in many ways in organizing the text and helping us find our ways to certain passages. Imagine a sermon taught at a church on the Book of Romans without chapter and verse numbers!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!
" Now folks we are looking at Paul's third thought here in the first sentence of paragraph three...."
This would not work for several reasons: Not all translations are aligned the same way, not all Bible use paragraphs.
Anyway there is a whole lot more to the story relating to chapter and verse numbers. I just felt like ranting about the topic.
There some interesting reads about how they came about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible
http://www.bible-researcher.com/chapter-verse.html
http://www.biblebelievers.com/believers-org/kjv-stats.html
http://www.fuller.edu/ministry/berean/chs_vss.htm