Why Sentence Diagram?
Now that we have some familiarity with both the background of Paul and the entirety of the letter, we are going to start to look closer at the text. Not at details yet, still big picture, because the big picture will keep us from misunderstanding the details when we get there.
I understand there is a huge push for the “what does it mean for me?” questions to get answered, but how can we understand what it means for us before we know what it means? Like I said in a previous post:
- Observation
- Interpretation
- Application
Strictly in that order. Getting the process out of order will possibly result in our reliance on what we’ve had someone else teach us about the Bible or we will come up with something the author never intended.
And that, my beloved fellow student of the word, is the beginning of creating God in our own image. Let us not go on that path.
What is Sentence Diagramming?
The first step in our observation was reading the text start to finish. Maybe some of you even read it out loud like what would have happened in the Asian church, so you even heard it start to finish.
After reading, I begin working with the text in a more tangible way. It’s a technique known by many names and the methods for it are myriad. I call it sentence diagramming, Bill Mounce calls it phrasing, and people you know probably have other names for it.
Don’t let the sound of using grammar put you off–this technique is less about getting the right grammatical answer as such and more about working with the text so you can see it, understand what the author is saying, and then be able to internalize it. Consider it as another gate for learning. We employed eyes, perhaps ears, and now we will engage our hands as well.
You may wonder, “Why would I sentence diagram? Isn’t it already written down where I can read it?”
True, but if you take the time (that’s a lot of what Bible study is–time) to engage with the text and determine how the pieces of the text go together, you’re on your way to understanding the text for yourself. It is the tool I have found to be the most effective for making observations.
Objective
The objective is to hand-write or type out one passage of scripture in a format that lets us see which nouns and verbs go with what modifiers.
Don’t panic!
We’re going to work through this process over and over together. No fear. Having the passage laid out in this way will allow us a clearer picture of what the author was saying and that will enable us to start making lists of observations. See, I’ve even done the first passage so you can see our direction before we get started.
Where are We Going?
That is where we’re trying to go. Verses 1 and 2 comprise the first passage of Ephesians. Called the opening, it identifies the author and the audience and it concludes with Paul’s greeting.
After this, he changes topic by starting a discourse about God. And we want to make sure we consider what comes before and after because we never, never want to yank scripture out of context, leaving it dangling without the firmness of the passages around it.
Disclaimer
We are going to have to learn together here: I’ve never written an explanation describing how I do this and perhaps you’ve never seen such a thing. It’s an adventure! And what fun it will be when this no longer looks foreign and you are able to diagram on your own and make observations about the text independently!
How Do We Sentence Diagram?
Let’s look at what I have here. The first word we come across is the noun “Paul”. I have that word on a line by itself. Looking at the next phrase, I ask the question ‘what is Paul?’ It’s answered by “an apostle of Christ Jesus”, so I lined up those two phrases.
Next I see the phrase “by the will of God”. Asking what this modifies, I see that it answers the question ‘how is Paul an apostle?’ so I placed the phrase under what it modifies: apostle.
Reading on, I see “to the saints” which is a phrase that doesn’t seem directly related to the previous subject (Paul). I wrote it back against the left margin to show myself it is a new noun/subject.
The next phrase “who are in Ephesus” is a complete phrase and when I ask myself, what is this modifying? I can see it answers the question ‘who are the saints?’ They are the saints in a particular region. I lined it up under “saints” and then the next phrase “and are faithful in Christ Jesus” I can see also answers ‘who are the saints?’ So I lined it up.
Finally, as I look at the next phrase, “grace to you”, it seems like Paul has moved on to greet his audience. I put the phrase to the left again because it is not related directly to the recipients other than Paul is now addressing them.
Paul is sending two things–grace and peace, so I lined both of those up against that left margin.
The next phrase “from God our Father” explains from whom the grace and peace is coming. Additionally, the phrase “and the Lord Jesus Christ” also explains from whom the grace and peace are coming. Since it is coming from both of them equally, I lined them up.
Benefits to Sentence Diagramming
Can you see how being disciplined to perform this exercise causes us to slow down and engage with the passage? The result is that, as a student of the word, you’ve been able to observe and make decisions about what phrase goes with which phrase.
This is only the beginning of the process of observation. As we progress, we may find we’ve made a misjudgment about which phrase goes where–funny how complicated Paul’s writing can get! But that is okay. Having the privilege to work with the text, analyzing and processing the truths the author recorded: that is exhilarating!
Next Steps
We can read and understand for ourselves. God has had this written for us and preserved miraculously for thousands of years; it is right for us to labor over it to gain wisdom from the source.
You could just print out copy of the sentence diagram I’ve done here. I’ll leave a link at the bottom of this post.
Or you could try asking the questions and seeing what goes with what.
Since we’ve already done it together, it would be like sessioning on a mountain bike. I will often have a person who’s learning a technique watch me ride it and then the student will try it after seeing it done.
The triumph when a difficult section has been ridden is celebrated with many cheers of joy. We can cheer with joy when you’ve gotten your first sentence diagram printed!
Next time, we will continue to observe this passage using the work we’ve done here.
