Paul's Poems

Here's an easier and more enjoyable way to remember one of the most famous passages in the Bible that is also among the most famous sayings in the world.

Love is very patient,
Love is very kind,
Love is never envious
Or vaunted up with pride.

Nor is she conceited,
And never is she rude,
Never does she think of self,
Or ever get annoyed.

She never is resentful,
Is never glad with sin,
But always glad to side with truth,
When 'er the truth should win.

She bears up under everything,
Believes the best in all,
There is no limit to her hope,
And never will she fall.

This is quoted from the International Standard Version (ISV) translation of the New Testament. To learn more about the power of poetry, especially in the New Testament, I would check out this essay I just finished reading by Dr. David Alan Black. He is a professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and also consistently updates a blog I enjoy following.

I have personally experienced several great benefits from memorizing passages of scripture, both Old and New Testament. I think the approach taken by the ISV of translating passages widely accepted as poetry into English meter and rhyme should have been thought of long ago, but I am glad a group of people finally had the idea and carried it out. Many of Paul's teachings, as well as those of Jesus, were short, easy to remember poems. Learning them as such helps me to remember them, and it also adds a touch of artistic beauty to the teachings themselves that would otherwise be lost in translation. While I know that several of my friends reject thought-for-thought translations of the Bible in favor of more "literal" word-for-word translations, I reject this practice as ignorant, and I proudly and joyfully read and study from a wider variety of translations, knowing that at least some true meaning and intent is lost in a strict word-for-word translation from Greek into English.

If you do not agree with me on this, that's ok. I, however, will enjoy trying to memorize this version of I Corinthians 13, and I hope you will all believe, accept and cherish this fact:

To this world Christ Jesus came,
Sinful people to reclaim.

- I Timothy 1:15 (ISV)