Bite 47: How to Sentence Diagram Ephesians 3:1-13

The Fun of Sentence Diagramming

I realize that, as a percentage of people who read their Bibles, there are not very many people who use this Bible study technique. Hoping to change that, I will keep telling you about how I diagram the passages of epistles that I study.

Why do I keep inviting you to join me?

Because I find the exercise beneficial. And beneficial exercise is always (a type of) fun. If you’ve been hanging out with me for a while, you’ve seen the diagram practically lay out lists for us. Sometimes the diagram points out synonyms for concepts. Or it helps us organize the text in other easy-to-understand ways.

Like today, in Ephesians 3:1, Paul says “I, Paul, a prisoner” which then lets us know what station of life Paul is currently in. If we know when Paul was in prison through his life, that also helps us narrow when the letter was written. Because Paul identifies himself again as I and Paul, he is repeating and you know from previous Bites that repeated information is important. He wants his audience to remember who is speaking to them and what his situation is.

Without sentence diagramming, we might pass over and count as fluff what Paul was emphasizing. As students of the Word, we want to keep the author’s intent, purpose, and emphasis all in front of our brains. Not so much what we think is the point or what is important, but what the author says is important.

Why does Paul emphasize I, Paul, a prisoner? I don’t know. I don’t know if the question can be answered since I have yet to study the passage. But if I don’t diagram and line those up, I might not notice that it is emphasized, and I don’t know to ask the question.

If you have yet to take the leap and attempt sentence diagramming, please be encouraged that it is a beneficial endeavor. Keep a sense of humor about it–I don’t always know where to line things up or necessarily what goes where. But I see actively working with the text as like the discipline of memorizing; the text has more opportunity to become part of us.

Let’s get our Bible Study workout on!

Getting to Our Passage

If we remember from the article in which we chose our next passage (in case you don’t remember, you can read it here), we are going to study Ephesians 3:1-13 next.

The Passage

¹ For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— ² assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, ³ how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. ⁴ When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. ⁶ This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ⁷ Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. ⁸ To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, ¹⁰ so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. ¹¹ This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. ¹³So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.¹

The First Three Verses

As usual, there is a phrase of transition right out of the gate. For this reason. So that we don’t lose the phrase but we can tell it is a transition, I tab over and have it a few spaces from the left hand margin. Then the subject appears. There are those three different ways Paul identifies himself here as the subject, I and Paul and a prisoner. I line them up under each other on the left margin.

If you read the next two prepositional phrases, of Christ Jesus and on behalf of you Gentiles, can you tell what they modify? They answer questions about Paul’s position as a prisoner, don’t they? Remembering the 5 W’s and an H, one answers the question “a prisoner of whom?” and the other “why?” I tab over and line them up next to the word prisoner so I can see they are related.

Do What Makes Sense

Sometimes I leave the prepositional phrases on the same line as what they modify and sometimes I drop them under what they modify. I don’t know why I’m not consistent; I guess I do what makes sense at the time. This is the part about ‘keep a sense of humor.’

Finishing Up the First Three Verses

The next phrase is of a parenthetical nature, qualifying who the you is. Paul assumes the people to whom he’s writing have heard about something. I tucked the assuming phrase under the you. Right after Paul identifies what he hopes they’ve heard. Of the stewardship of God’s grace.

Looking at the next couple of phrases, I see that was given and how the mystery was made known. These two phrases add information about the stewardship, that it was given and how it was made known. I lined up the phrases under the word stewardship. There are a couple of little prepositional phrases that answer the questions “to whom?” and “for whom?” I lined those up under the word given.

In the same way, there are three more little prepositional phrases that answer questions about how it was made known. To me, by revelation, and as I have briefly written. Those lined up under the word known. Here is what we have so far. Is it making sense?

A Change in Subject

Starting in Ephesians 3:4, I see a slight swerve from Paul explaining about himself in relation to the stewardship, the mystery, and switches to the recipients’ understanding of Paul’s relationship to the mystery. I bumped the transition when you read this over a few spaces and left you can perceive my insight on the left margin.

Now the next two modifiers, I can’t tell if one of them modifies the other or if they both modify insight. Deciding for my own sentence diagram to line up into the mystery of Christ and which was not made known, I decided for organization’s sake to keep them together. Of course, you can decide how you want to organize your diagram. More on keeping a sense of humor.

Next I see three questions about the word known being answered. Who, when, and what seem to be answered by the phrases to the sons of men, in other generations, and as it has now been revealed, so I lined those up under the word known.

Similarly, to his holy apostles and prophets and by the Spirit modify revealed by answering the “to whom?” and the “how?” questions. I lined those up under revealed.

Like this:

A Caveat

More on keeping a sense of humor.

A problem with sentence diagramming Paul is that he is not a modern American author who uses short sentences to accommodate short-thoughted and distracted people. Therefore, if we were to run the tabs and returns all the way out across the page, it would require some taping of pages together. Which I’ve done in the past, but I’m not as militant about my diagrams as I was when I first began. I’ve developed some of that sense of humor.

What this means is that I tend to return to the left margin more frequently than perhaps would be strictly necessary because it isn’t my favorite to make detours mid-thought. Let me show you what I mean.

One More Verse?

Looking at verse 6, I decided to return to the left margin even though the topic of mystery is before us again. Here Paul exposed what the mystery actually is. Telling his audience this mystery is that the Gentile are fellow….., I see three descriptors answering “what?”

Actually, that word fellow might belong to the modifier heirs. Probably, in fact. But I’m going to leave it because it doesn’t fundamentally change the meaning of the phrases. You can line it up as you see fit.

When I diagrammed, I saw these phrases modify what the Gentiles are.

• Heirs (probably fellow heirs)
• Members of the same body
• Partakers of the promise

I lined those up beside the Gentiles are fellow. You can put it below; I chose to leave it beside. No reason, just did.

The two prepositional phrases following are in Christ Jesus and through the gospel. As I see it, they answer the question “how?” the Gentiles are able to partake of the promise. I lined them up under promise, leaving the and over to the side in a random spot just to keep the word order. Here is how I diagrammed Ephesians 3:6:

Wrap Up

Since it is my hope that you will attempt sentence diagramming yourself, I will give you opportunity to try it out on your own. As usual, I will leave a link at the bottom so you can print out the diagram I came up with for your own use in case you just aren’t there yet. Which is fine. I’m still here and happy to walk with you!

Yesterday at the end of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class, Professor Matt talked about how long it takes to get good at the sport. In case you don’t know, the ranking of belts goes white (which is given, not earned), blue, purple, brown, and black. He reminded us that getting a purple belt can take 5-6 years and a black belt more like 10.

As a puny little one-stripe white belt, if that isn’t overwhelming a little discouraging, I don’t know what is. But if we pause and think about life, isn’t that true in all aspects?

Examples

Starting out as a baby and thinking about all he has to learn: overwhelming if you stack up all that is in front of him. Beginning to learn a new art form: overwhelming if you line up all the skills and details that are required to be truly proficient. Even as someone who’s been working at it for 10 years. There is still so much to learn!

Learning as a Way of Life

As I got in butterfly guard to wrestle a lady a couple of weeks ago, she said to me, “I’m warning you, I don’t know what I’m doing.” I know. Neither do I. But learning is fun and if you stop learning, you may as well be dead.

Maybe extreme, but I think ceasing to learn is a form of soul-death.

So our Bite for today is for both of us. Never mind the huge pile of all we need to learn to be proficient. At Bible study or whatever else we choose to tackle. Just the next thing. Learn one thing today. Trust God for the next day. Trust him for today, too, but work with him in it.

Yesterday in class, I grappled with a blue belt who weighs about 50-60 pounds more than me. I’d seen a video earlier in the day demonstrating a detail about an arm bar submission. It was in my head, rolling about. When the opportunity came around to perform an arm bar, I used the technique and was able to submit her. Just a detail. That’s all. One bite.

It is enough.

1. Ephesians 3:1–13 (ESV)