Meeting God in the Greek New Testament: The Practice of Lectio Divina

The paedogogy of Biblical Language instruction in a typical seminary is curious indeed.  Not only is it often divorced from the rest of the curriculum—including exegesis, Biblical Theology, and homiletics—but it is generally separated from the spiritual life of the student as well.  It should be no surprise that many—if not most—students quickly forget their original language training, because its value in practical ministry was never modeled in seminary.  In addition, a significant percentage of those who do make the attempt to “keep up their languages” consider it an academic exercise that engages the head but not the heart.

The pulpit is affected as well; sermons that attempt to be based on the original languages can focus on extremely small sections of Scripture and treat the text as if it were an earthworm to be dissected instead of a sword to be unsheathed.

Lectio Divina

Sadly, the same phenomenon can be operative when it comes to personal reading of Scripture.  Too often it is a matter of the head but not the heart, of cognition instead of volition and action.  To counteract this tendency, the Church throughout the ages has developed an approach to the reading of Scripture called Lectio Divina, for “Sacred Reading.”  Some date the roots of this practice to Origen, a Church Father who lived in the third century A.D., although the procedure has been expanded and refined since then.  The goal of Lectio Divina is to meet God in the text of Scripture such that head, heart, and hands are equally affected by the experience.

The goal of Lectio Divina is to meet God in the text of Scripture such that head, heart, and hands are equally affected by the experience. Click To Tweet

The classical presentation of Lectio Divina is as a four-step process, with Latin names attached to each step.  I have also associated a single word with each step as a mnemonic device.

1. Lectio — Reading.  “Read.”  Scripture is read and studied.
2. Meditatio — Meditation.  “Reflect.”  In the spirit of Psalm 1:2 (“his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night,” ESV), Scripture moves from the mind to the heart in the process of intentional meditation on the text.  Such meditation can take the form of visualization of the text from several perspectives, whether personal or spatial or temporal.  This particular type of meditation is sometimes referred to as Ignatian Contemplation, from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
3. Oratio — Prayer.  “Respond.”  God’s word is prayed back to him, often from many of the perspectives identified during the meditation process.  In this step you communicate with God on the basis of his word.
4. Contemplatio — Contemplation.  “Rest.”  A silent space is cultivated in which you rest in God’s presence and listen to what he has to tell you through his word.  The goal is not to empty your mind into insignificant nothingness; instead, the purpose is to clear your mind of noise and chatter so that it can be filled with the significant something of the voice of God in the text.  Mental silence allows you to focus on how God is present with you and is speaking to you personally in his word.  Biblical support for this step includes Psalm 46:10 (“Be still, and know that I am God,” ESV) as well as 1 Samuel 3:10 (“Speak, for your servant hears,” ESV).  In this step God communicates with you on the basis of his word.

More recently, some authors have added two additional steps to the Lectio Divina procedure, a preparation step at the beginning (praeparatio) and an action or application step at the end (actio).

Lectio Divina from the Greek New Testament

For the last couple of years, I have been practicing Lectio Divina from the Greek New Testament.  From one perspective the pairing is perfect, because the inevitable slowdown caused by reading Scripture in another language is well suited for the process of meditation and prayer.  From another perspective the pairing is a challenge, because the habit of conceptualizing the encounter with the Greek text as merely an academic exercise must be broken.

What follows are three actual examples of Lectio Divina from the Greek New Testament.  The first two are examples of my own personal devotions in the Greek text in my office before work.  I have a Reader’s Edition on the shelf that I use when I get in to work early.  My Lectio Divina time there is somewhat abbreviated, and generally runs about 15 to 20 minutes before the deluge of calls and meetings.  Because of the short time window, I generally pick an easier passage from the Greek New Testament.  The third example is of Lectio Divina for sermon preparation.  I am currently in the process of preaching through Philippians and am forming the habit of doing Lectio Divina from my sermon text before sermon preparation begins.  To earn the right to ask the congregation to apply the text to their life, I need to have applied it to mine.

Lectio Divina For Personal Devotions from 3 John 1:1-4

1. Praeparatio: Prepare your heart to meet God in his word. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14, ESV).
2. Lectio: Read the passage slowly several times through in a Reader’s Edition. Don’t rely on the footnotes at all for the last few readings; try to learn all of the vocabulary, lexical forms and parsing as you go.  Notice the several “love” words (like Ἀγαπητέ), the several “truth” words (such as the repeated phrase ἐν [τῇ] ἀληθείᾳ), and the several εὐ-prefixed words (such as εὐοδοῦσθαι).
3. Meditatio: Meditate upon the text. Visualize it along several dimensions, both spatial and temporal.  In particular, form an image in your mind of the πρεσβύτερος receiving the brothers and hearing the good words about Gaius with joy.  Think of other places in the Bible where similar situations are described, such as Philippians 2:19. Recall times in your life when you were in the same situation with people you know, especially people you have mentored, and the joy that it brought you. Remember times in your life when the opposite has occurred, and the sadness that it brought you. Recall times in your life when you have been the cause of such joy, or possibly of such sadness. Visualize what it means to walk in the truth (ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ περιπατοῦντα), and to stray from the path of truth.
4. Oratio: Pray God’s word back to him. “O Lord, may Tim and Brian always walk in your truth, and bring joy to my heart. May I always walk in the truth, bring joy to your heart, and serve as a proper model to them. May Tim and Brian be in good health, and may it be well with their souls. May they always know that I both love them in truth and love the truth in them. And may I always love you as the ultimate source of Truth.”
5. Contemplatio: Rest in the Lord as you meet him through his word. “O Lord, may you be present in my life right now as I rest in your word.  Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (from 1 Samuel 3:10).  Cultivate an extended period of listening to God in silence.
6. Actio: Articulate how your life needs to change because of your encounter with God through his word. “I should check in with Tim to see how he is doing. I need to tell Brian that his progress in the faith is noticeable and brings joy not only to me but to the whole church.”

Lectio Divina For Personal Devotions from 2 John

1. Praeparatio: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13, ESV).
2. Lectio: Observe that love and truth go hand in hand throughout the letter (such as in the phrase οὓς ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ), and that truth is linked to teaching or instruction (διδαχή), specifically the teaching that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί).
3. Meditatio: Form an image in your mind of truth and love walking hand in hand, and of the painful divorce in our modern world between truth and love, which elevates love above all else. Visualize Jesus Christ coming in the flesh not only two thousand years ago, but also being incarnate in his Body the Church today because his Holy Spirit has taken residence in our hearts. Picture how his incarnation changed cosmic history, and how the Holy Spirit’s residence in our hearts changes our own personal history.  Visualize the pain and distortion that results when we deny by our actions that Jesus is incarnate in his Church today.
4. Oratio: “O Lord, may I always love you in truth, and out of the overflow of that love to love fellow believers in truth as well. May my life always demonstrate the truth of the teaching that you have come in the flesh, which affected cosmic history then and my own life now. Bless me with the grace, mercy, and peace (χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη) that you have promised in your word.”
5. Contemplatio: Cultivate an extended period of listening to God in silence.
6. Actio: “There is an unusual concentration of believers on the Program on which I work. I need to actively love them in truth, in particular Steve, who feels somewhat isolated from the rest of us, and Howard and Bruce, who are preparing to retire to spend more time serving you.  I also need to be extremely careful not to identify in any way with attitudes and positions that deny that you have any relevance to day to day decisions. In other words, those attitudes not only deny that you came in the flesh two thousand years ago, but especially that you are incarnate in our hearts today and should influence every decision we make.  This is a particularly easy mistake to make on social media, and I must be wise and cautious.”

Lectio Divina For Sermon Preparation from Philippians 3:1-11

1. Praeparatio: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10, ESV).
2. Lectio: Notice the imperative χαίρετε right off the bat, which is one of the 23 times that the root for “joy” is used in the letter. The same command, χαίρετε ἐν κυρίῳ, is repeated in Philippians 4:4 as well.  Joy, especially joy in the midst of adversity, is the overwhelming theme of Philippians.  (Unity is a strong secondary theme.)  Observe the strong language (σκύβαλα) that Paul uses to describe the achievements in which he used to glory.  Verses 7 and 8 suggest a sermon title of “Gains and Losses” because of the repeated opposition of κέρδη and ζημία and their cognates.  Sermon points that structure the teaching of the text could be, “Lose despair due to opposition and gain joy in the Lord;” “Lose your own power and gain the Spirit’s power;” “Lose an identity in your own achievements and gain an identity in Christ,” and “Lose the shallow experience of worthless things and gain a deep experience of Christ.”
3. Meditatio: Project yourself back in time and picture the Philippian church rejoicing despite external opposition, both from the community and from religious leaders, and internal disunity. Form an image in your mind of all of the achievements of which Paul had been so proud—educational achievements, religious achievements, family pedigree, citizenship status.  Now visualize all of those achievements dissolving into σκύβαλα (well, you might not want to picture that too precisely).  Create a movie in your mind of that pile of σκύβαλα morphing into beautiful flowers planted firmly at the foot of an empty cross, illuminated by the light of angels outside of an empty tomb.  Visualize Paul sharing in the suffering of Christ as if to complete what was lacking, by his imprisonment and martyrdom.  Move forward in time and picture yourself rejoicing despite the adversity and opposition in your life, even opposition from factions in the Church.  Visualize all of the achievements in your life that you have clung to as your identity and your security blanket.  Create a mental movie of those achievements also dissolving into σκύβαλα that morphs into a bouquet of flowers at the foot of the cross.  Picture yourself holding on to the hand of Jesus as you suffer with him, are exalted with him, and ascend into heaven to be in his presence for eternity.
4. Oratio: “Heavenly Father, may I always rejoice in the midst of adversity. Unlike the apostle Peter, may I never take my eyes off of you when times get tough.  Take all of the things of which I am most proud—my educational and career achievements, my financial security, and the ways in which you have gifted me—and replace them with a deep knowledge of your Son that is born of shared suffering and shared exaltation.  Like the apostle Paul, the prayer of my heart is that I might truly know your Son, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, so that I might follow myself the path that he blazed with his death and resurrection.  Reach down and lift up my chin to gaze upon your face, so that my vision no longer is obsessed with this world but instead is filled with heaven.”
5. Contemplatio: Cultivate an extended period of listening to God in silence.
6. Actio: “Earthly possessions are also a form of achievement. And I have too many possessions, which weigh me down and occupy too many cognitive cycles, which is mental energy that I could otherwise be using for ministry.  During this time of Lent, I need to fast from possessions as well as food, so that their hold on me begins to loosen.”

A Lectio Divina-based Reading Plan

Lectio Divina can even be an integral part of a Greek New Testament reading plan.  Professor Dan Wallace has a particularly useful approach to reading through the Greek New Testament in a progressive order, from easy to difficult.  In Wallace’s scheme, each passage is read on three consecutive days so that true mastery of the Greek text is achieved.  I have modified his approach for Lectio Divina as follows.  First, I retain the order in which he reads the books of the New Testament, but I abandon any aspiration to read through several chapters on a single day; from a few paragraphs to a single chapter is entirely sufficient.  Second, I focus on the same passage for all three days of the cycle instead of pipelining passages across the three days.  Third, on the final day I practice Lectio Divina from that passage.  For me, this strikes a practical balance of study and devotion within time constraints.  The fundamental tradeoff when using this approach is between depth of understanding of the Greek text and the time it takes to read through the entire Greek New Testament.

The three-day cycle for a given passage could look something like this:

1. Day One: Read through the passage and highlight unfamiliar vocabulary or parsing in yellow. Briefly look up grammatical or syntactical issues in commentaries or in Lee Iron’s very helpful book, A Syntax Guide for Readers of the Greek New Testament.
2. Day Two: Read through that same passage again and highlight the remaining unfamiliar vocabulary or parsing in blue. The result should be a mix of yellow and green highlights, where the green ones warrant additional study. Review Iron’s book or a commentary ad loc if needed.
3. Day Three: The Lectio Divina day. Drink deeply from that same passage devotionally by following the Lectio Divina procedure, since the hard work of grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and parsing should now be mostly behind you.
4. Day Four: Repeat the three-day cycle with the next passage in sequence.

Lectio Divina in Liturgical Traditions

Given that Lectio Divina is often associated with more liturgical traditions, in those traditions it can take the form of private meditation on the Scripture readings from the Daily Office lectionary in the original language.  The procedure described above can be just as profitably applied to the Hebrew or Aramaic text, or to the Greek Septuagint, for the Old Testament readings.

Advantages include the frequent practice provided by the daily rhythm of the Daily Office, and the ethos of Common Prayer cultivated by more liturgical traditions.  Disadvantages include the time commitment required to read each of the passages in the lectionary in the original language—especially if several Daily Offices are prayed during the day—and the relatively high facility with the Biblical languages that is required.

One suggestion is to focus on the Gospel readings first.  Then incrementally add the Epistle readings, the Old Testament readings, and finally the Psalm readings as time and expertise permit.  In addition, the use of a lectionary that includes all of Scripture—the whole counsel of God—is recommended.  Some lectionaries, such as the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), intentionally omit portions of Scripture that are deemed “sensitive.”

Conclusion

In that wonderful psalm whose subject is the word of God (Psalm 119), there is a verse whose sentiment reverberates throughout the entire psalm.  Verse 97 fairly shouts, “Oh how I love your law!  It is my meditation all the day” (ESV).  For the Psalmist, God’s word was a matter of the heart, not just the head.

My prayer is that God might use the practice of Lectio Divina from the Greek New Testament to bless your head, heart, and hands as you meditate upon God-breathed (θεόπνευστος) words in the language in which God clothed the revelation of his Son as the Savior of the world.

Further Reading

Linebarger, John. Meeting God in the Bible: How to Read Scripture Devotionally. Dallas, TX: Fontes Press, 2019. Learn about meeting God in the Bible through devotions, prayer, and Lectio Divina in this all-too-real narrative of a new believer learning the spiritual ropes from her mentor. Coffee is involved–lots of coffee.

German Bible Society. The Greek New Testament:  A Reader’s Edition.  Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2015. A Reader’s Edition of the standard Greek text, in which all words used thirty times or less are glossed in the footnotes to reduce the amount of time spent in a dictionary or lexicon.

Gray, Tim. Praying Scripture for a Change:  An Introduction to Lectio Divina. West Chester, PA:  Ascension Press, 2009. My favorite book about Lectio Divina from a Roman Catholic perspective.

Irons, Charles Lee. A Syntax Guide for Readers of the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI:  Kregel Academic, 2016. A compact compendium for the Lectio step.

St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius:  Based on Studies in the Language of the Autograph. Trans. Louis J. Puhl, S.J.  New York:  Vintage Books, 1951, 2000. Ignatian Contemplation as a form of spiritual meditation permeates each of the four weeks of the Exercises.

Whitacre, Rodney A. Using and Enjoying Biblical Greek:  Reading the New Testament with Fluency and Devotion. Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Academic, 2015. Chapter 6 discusses several approaches to meditation on the Greek text, including Lectio Divina.

Wilhoit, James C., and Evan B. Howard. Discovering Lectio Divina:  Bringing Scripture into Ordinary Life. Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 2012.  My favorite book about Lectio Divina from a Protestant Evangelical perspective.