Objectives for this hour:

• To convince you to NEVER read anything less than a paragraph.
• To show you how to find the point of a paragraph.
• Introduce you to the “glories” of diagramming paragraphs.

Paragraphing

Paragraphs are my passion. Studying entire books by tracing the paragraphs is the way to see the author’s flow of thought. Studying verses in light of their paragraph not only answers most interpretive questions by context, but protects interpretation from getting off track.

In my opinion, approaching study by paragraphs is the most important and beneficial and fruitful approach to rightly dividing your copy of God’s Word.

A paragraph is a unit of sentences, usually three to five, that make ONE MAIN POINT . Paragraphs are indicated by a new line, indentation, or sometimes numbering. Obviously, multiple points are in a paragraph, but they combine to demonstrate or prove ONE MAIN POINT .

Now before we go any further, some of you astute listeners are thinking, “But wait, paragraphs aren’t inspired. Why place so much emphasis on paragraphs?” True, the original autographs were all uppercase letters, with no spaces between words, no punctuation, no paragraphs, AND no chapter breaks or verse numbers. I am very thankful for Hebrew vowel pointing and spaces and punctuation in our translations, and for that matter, chapters and verses help us all get onto the same page and know what we’re talking about. And yet, verse divisions can be an obstacle to rightly dividing your copy because they tend to take attention off of the CONTEXT. That’s always bad.

Paragraphs, on the other hand, are often less arbitrary than verse divisions. Now I am also aware that different translations often break the paragraphs in different places. That’s no problem for me, any more than that they use different words (wouldn’t that be a bigger problem?) So go with whatever your translation has. If you’re feeling adventurous, look at the paragraph breaks in multiple translations. If you’re feeling crazy, you can do what I do, I force myself to ask and answer the questions, Where does this paragraph begin and why? Along with, Where does this paragraph end and why?

Since paragraphs are concerned with ONE MAIN POINT, here are four keys to identify a paragraph for yourself. Look for:

• Change of scene, topic, or person
• Shift in addressed audience
• New key/repeated words
• A transitional phrase (beginning) or summary phrase (end)

For example, in Matthew chapter 1 and 2. [show Markdown preview]

You don’t need to go that far, but it’s not a bad exercise and it helps you with some of the other questions you should ask.

So back to the main thing, a paragraph has ONE MAIN POINT . A good writer typically will tell you what they’re going to say—an introduction. They they’ll tell you a few things—the body. Then they tell you what they’ve said—the conclusion. Say what you’re going to say, say it, then say what you said.

That might not always be the case, but that’s at least a good place for us to start when it comes to approaching a paragraph.

If there is only ONE MAIN POINT in a paragraph, the most important question you can ask and answer is, What is the main point of the paragraph?

In light of what we said just a moment ago, where is the first place to look to find the point of the paragraph? The first/introduction sentence. Many times the author is going to tell you what they’re about ready to say.

Perhaps it isn’t obvious in the first sentence. Where is the second best place to look? That last/conclusion sentence. Many times the author will tell you what they’ve said.

Alright, so what happens if neither of those seem to be helping? The good news is, you’ve got at least four sticks to beat every paragraph with before you head for outside help. Again, look at the order of the sentences. Is the paragraph building on or toward something? Is there cause and effect? Is the focus on the if or the then?

Then look for proportion. If four of the five verses are talking about the same thing, that is probably the point. Then look for repeated words or phrases, even if they are synonyms. A Christ-centered home is obviously front and center in Colossians 3:18-4:1. God’s sovereignty is the key in Ephesians 1:1-14.

And then beat it with grammar. Can you locate the subject and object and main verb and modifiers? The main point is probably not going to be in a prepositional phrase or in a subordinate clause. You shouldn’t throw prepositions or subordinate clauses away, but they aren’t likely to be the big diamond. Don’t get stuck on the small diamonds, they are set in a way to show off the big stone.

So look for emphasis in order, in proportion, in repetition, in grammar, or even in explicit statement.

Always, always, always, ask what is the main point of the paragraph and why?

This is what I do, not just when I’m studying to preach a passage. I ask the same question for every paragraph. And I force myself to write out the answer, in my own words. I’ve recently added a twist, namely, I have to write out one complete sentence, in 140 characters or less.

To get to that point, I bullet out observations.

And once I’m fairly happy with the point, I try to think about the flow of paragraphs. How does this paragraph relate to the one right before it? And how does it relate to the paragraph immediately following?

• Colossians 3:18-4:1, related to 3:12-17 before and 4:2-6 following
• Genesis 2:10-14, related to 2:4-9 before and 2:15-17 following
• 1 Peter 2:1-3, related to 1:22-25 before and 2:4-10 following

These are questions that anyone can ask of every paragraph in the Bible. These are the kinds of questions that force you to think about the original author’s intention and flow of thought. These are the questions that make it more difficult to take a verse out of context. These are the questions that promote marination.

Diagramming

Now it may make me a geek or a nerd, but probably my favorite thing to do with a paragraph is to diagram it. There are at least a few different methods of diagramming, but all of them seek to represent the paragraph, especially the grammatical relationships, visually on the page. I assume a lot of you, like me, are benefited when you can see something. While some are able to accomplish what I’m about to show you in their heads, I prefer to write it on the page.

I’m only going to go through two examples, one from the Old Testament and one from the New. I’m also going to use two different types of diagramming to show you the differences. In particular, I want to show you how I get my outline of the passage closely related to my diagram.

So let’s look at Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. It’s only two verses at the end of the book. They are relatively straightforward. We’re just going to consider the English text, and we’re going to write out the verses in outline, or block diagram form, going phrase by phrase.

As with an outline, your main point starts on the left hand side of the page. A new paragraph begins in verse 13, and there are no introductory words that make us think the first phrase is subordinate. So put it on the left.

The end of the matter

The next phrase, how does it relate to the first one? Is it saying something new? Is it making a contrast? Is it modifying the first phrase? It actually seems to be saying basically the same thing in a different way. There are no conjunctions. So let’s put it side by side.

The end of the matter, all has been heard

Now we move into the next phrase. At least the ESV makes it a new sentence. Since there are still no conjunctions, it should probably go on the left on a new line.

The end of the matter, all has been heard
Fear God
and
Keep His commandments

There are two commands, both coordinated by and . They both have equal importance, at least grammatical.

What’s next? For . What is the for telling us? And that command? Does it modify the commands? Yes. It’s tell us the reason for obeying.

Fear God
and
Keep His commandments

for this is the whole duty of man

The whole line is a reason. Then let’s finish it off. There is another for . So we have another modifier. Now the question is, it it modifying the commands or the first reason? Is it a reason for the whole duty of man? Or is it a reason for fearing and obeying? I think the latter. So here’s the block diagram.

Fear God
and
Keep His commandments

for this is the whole duty of man
for God will bring every deed into judgment

with every secret thing, whether good or evil

So I’ve got two major things on the left (since the commands belong together). When I preached this I had two main points. Taking the comprehensive idea of “the end” and “all” apparently about the case made by Solomon, point one was: 1. A sufficient Argument

Then, noticing the ideas of “whole duty” and “every deed” along with the command idea, my second major point was: 2. A Comprehensive Application

Now I had more underneath the second point, and for that matter there were two commands. So I took my block diagram and gave this: a. The Requirements (fear and obey), and b. The Reasons (for and for).

I could have given two reasons, 1) Human Responsibility, and 2) Divine Review/Judgment

All I did was write out the English translation, but looking at it helped me recognize Solomon’s main ideas and the modifiers.

Let’s look at one more example, this time a NT paragraph, a longer paragraph, and another style of diagramming. Some of you will remember line diagramming from English class. Many of you probably hated line diagramming. I did. But this is my favorite (though difficult) way to study and marinate through a passage.

Now I’ll admit, that I’ve “created” with Colossians 1:9-14 because I originally diagrammed it in Greek. Most of you don’t know Greek, but this will be a good introduction for part of the next hour when I give you suggestions for how you can take the next step in your Bible study.

But as I’ve said, I know of no better way to study and meditate and beat a passage then by diagramming it out and their doodling all over it with arrows and circles and comments.

I’ve printed you a one page copy of the whole paragraph so that you can see it all together. And on the opposite side is my outline. The idea of a line diagram is basically the same as the block diagram, just more refined and specific. There is a place for subjects, verbs, objects, prepositions, articles, subordinate conjunctions and so forth. There is an entire section in your handout packet on diagramming.

What I want you to see from the diagram is that there is only one main point: Paul’s prayer for the Colossians. He answers most of the 5WQs (why, who, when, what). And everything that follows after “that” (ESV and NASB) is the content of his prayer.

Then note that knowledge leads to conduct (“so that”). Then there are four participles that flesh out “worthy walk” and what it means to “please Him in every respect” 1) bearing fruit, 2) increasing in knowledge, 3) being strengthened, 4) giving thanks.

The English translations do not make this grammatical structure clear. Now beating the passage with our observation sticks alone might have gotten us close, but diagramming it out forces us to think about Paul’s main point. That means, for example, that while thinking about giving thanks for forgiveness of sins (v. 14), we can’t isolate that apart from its purpose to make us worthy walkers, which can’t be isolated from God’s work to make us worthy walkers since the whole thing is Paul’s prayer for the believers in Colossae.

My diagram determines my outline of the passage.

Take-Aways:

We’ve covered a lot.

MILK:

Try to figure out the point of the paragraph by looking at the first sentence, last sentence, and then four observations sticks.

MEAT:

Pay attention, not only to those things, but to the biblical writer’s grammar (which means learn some grammar) and work at writing out the paragraph in a visual way.

And for both, don’t ever read a verse apart from its paragraph. Studying paragraphs prevents verse-plucking. Embrace paragraphs.