On a sticky summer afternoon in the Buckeye state close to a decade ago, about 110 young campers were lined up for lunch on the hillside lawn next to the lake. But before they were given the green light to proceed into the dining hall, each team in the Presbytery of Ohio summer youth camp had to recite 1 Corinthians 15:1–6. This text is a crystallized summary of the gospel message, which Paul emphatically states as being of “first importance.” After commending them for their memorization work, I mentioned offhand that it would be impressive if one of them would endeavor to recite the whole chapter.

The next year around the campfire, a young woman named Joelle Dirksen (now Carnes, married to Pastor David Carnes of Covenant Reformed in Fort Pierce, Florida) proceeded to recite the great “resurrection chapter” (1 Cor. 15) before the campers and staff. This was one of the highlights of the week and warmed the cockles of the heart of this camp director.

Unafraid to Commit

Joelle Carnes has continued committing larger Scripture passages to memory: subsequent to rising to the occasion at camp, she memorized Psalm 19 and Romans 8. “One of the encouragements I’ve found in memorizing Scripture is how it is applicable,” she said. “I’ll find myself in a situation where verses I’ve memorized will come to mind and apply to the things I’m dealing with at that moment.” Indeed, internalizing various texts from the Word of God is akin to having a Swiss army knife: you are equipped (see 2 Tim. 3:17).

Carol Horton of Harvest OPC in San Marcos, California, began intentionally memorizing Scripture later in life, at age fifty-nine. During a Bible study, her pastor at the time, Mark Schroeder, asked the participants, “Now where is that in the Scripture?”

“It frustrated me that I didn’t know the verse’s location,” Horton remembered. “I had been a Christian since I was a teenager, yet I could never remember the references to Scripture. So I figured if I memorized an entire chapter with the reference, I could actually begin to know where verses are found in the Bible.” She observed that the initial work of engaging in Bible memory “was super hard” but that after regular practice “it is much easier now.”

Horton recently led her Sunday school class of six-to-eight-year-olds in reciting 1 Timothy 6:6–12 in front of the Harvest congregation: “I was trying to teach the children that it’s possible to memorize large sections of Scripture. Their parents were very happy, and the children realized they could learn significant portions of God’s Word.” Her current memorization projects are Matthew 7 and Hebrews 12.

Reciting the Word can bring it to life for listeners. The congregation of Christ OPC in Marietta, Georgia, recently hosted PCA pastor Drew Archer for an outreach event. On a Saturday afternoon, church members and friends and visitors from the community heard Pastor Archer give a dramatic recitation of the entire Gospel of Mark. He had seen the Christian dramatist Max McLean present the book of Mark and was “struck by how powerful it was.” Thus began a journey for this former actor in memorizing and reciting large portions of Scripture. In one such presentation, the event “brought in several unchurched, unbelieving theater friends who came out of curiosity and because of our friendship. It really opened my eyes to how God might use this for evangelism,” Archer said.

How-Tos for Memorizing

Archer sounds like an ideal companion if one were ever to be in a place without a written copy of the Scriptures, as he has thus far also memorized Galatians, Romans, Colossians, James, and Jonah. “Don’t give up!” Archer encourages prospective memorizers. “Scripture memorization is like a muscle; the more you work it, the more you build and the easier it gets.” He recommends memorizing large chunks or whole books, but perhaps starting with just one or two verses a day and then building onto that.

Carol Horton also advises starting small. “Begin with a short psalm that is not too long, like Psalm 73,” she said. As with many edifying habits of the heart, consistency is key. The little-by-little approach has a powerful cumulative effect. As Horton observes, “I think it has caused me to trust the Lord more and to love him more because his Word is truly hidden in my heart.”

Joelle Carnes admits a proclivity to distraction that many of us likely share: “My brain tends to wander a lot, and it can sometimes be hard to focus. It takes a lot of self-discipline for me to be able to concentrate on what I’m trying to memorize.” She emphasizes that regular review is of the essence for the memorization of larger passages. “Don’t rush memorization. Some people are able to memorize quickly, while others may have to work more at it. Focus on consistency and memorize at the pace you are able to go.” Writing out verses by hand can be another helpful way to nail down the texts.

And you don’t have to memorize alone. “When I memorized 1 Corinthians 15, my friend and I would go to the park and walk together and work on the section we were memorizing for that week. My family and I are currently working on memorizing Hebrews 1. Since we don’t live in the same town anymore, we schedule a weekly check-in to see how we’re all doing on memorizing the assigned verses for that week,” Carnes said. Certainly, committing portions of the Bible to memory with others can be a tremendous way to encourage one another in the body of Christ.

My daughter Claire has memorized the epistles of Philippians and Colossians. It is gratifying to have a venue for a recitation, along the lines of a music recital: for Claire, it was having some friends over to hear the culmination of her memorization project and then going out for Chick-Fil-A afterward. Currently she is working on the book of James. Claire spends about twenty minutes each day working on Bible memorization, and she shares that this means of meditating on God’s Word “makes me stronger in my Christian walk and reminds me to have my speech ‘seasoned with salt’” (Col 4:6).

Led by Christ

Philip Henry, father of the well-known Bible commentator Matthew Henry, once remarked, “All grace grows as love to the Word of God grows.” Philip directed his sons to study one verse of Psalm 119 every other day, thus working through the entire psalm in the course of a year. The psalmist certainly cherishes God’s Word: “I will meditate on your precepts” (v. 15); “I cling to your testimonies” (v. 31); and “when I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord” (v. 52). Truly the Lord Jesus, the fulfillment of the servant of Psalm 119, demonstrated the storing up of God’s living Word as he responded to the temptations of Satan in the wilderness with several passages from the book of Deuteronomy. Thus Christ was sharpened by the sword of the Spirit (see Eph. 6:17), through which he was able to engage in kingdom combat with the adversary.

Thomas Cranmer’s prayer in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is an apt one to accompany our memorization of the Word:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given in our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Recommended Resources

• Paul Settle, Memory Work Notebook (Great Commission Publications)
• Versify (iOS and Android App for tracking memorization progress)
• Topical Memory System by The Navigators
• Albums of Scripture songs:
  Hide ’Em in Your Heart (Steve Green)
  Go to the Ant and Blessed: Songs for the Beatitudes (Judy Rogers)
  Selections from the Book of Psalms for Worship (Crown and Covenant)

The author is pastor of Christ OPC in Marietta, Georgia. New Horizons, July 2023.