Chapter And Verse, Please

Chapter And Verse, Please Someone recently asked what was the most valuable help to Bible study. We talked about the value of Bible dictionaries, handbooks, concordances, maps, textual notes and cross references in study Bibles, and the many in-depth commentaries available on individual books. Then it dawned on us that the greatest help is also the most foundational. None of these tools would be as useful in Bible study were it not for the work of two Frenchmen in the beginning of the thirteenth century – who added the chapters and verses to the New Testament. In 1205, Stephen Langton, a university professor in Paris, France did the careful analysis of the New Testament that led to his dividing its 27 books into 260 chapters. Shortly after his decision-making activity was completed, a Parisian book printer named Robert Stephanus divided each chapter into verses. It is reported that most of his decisions about how to break up each chapter into verses were made while traveling between Paris and Lyon, France, a distance of almost 300 miles. Travel being slower in those days, he had much time to ponder each verse. The next time you study your Bible, especially in a group setting, pay particular attention to how difficult personal study and group discussion would be if you were not able to refer to chapters and verses. The next time you use any of the Bible study tools mentioned above, consider how inefficient and ineffective they would be were it not for these simple, yet significant, reference devices. The next time someone asks you to tell them where to find a specific portion of Scripture, consider how hard it would be without those numbers in your Bible. And then thank the Lord for leading Langton and Stephanus to do their work. By Larry Ondrejack