Serving God by Preserving the Scriptures

They didn’t write a single word of Scripture, but Stephen Langton and Robert Estienne had a long-lasting effect on the Book we hold in highest esteem. You may never have heard their names, but these men permanently shaped the way we use the Bible.

The original books of the Bible contained no numbered chapter or verse divisions, although it was natural to group the Hebrew Scriptures into categories like the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Some sections, like Psalm 119 and the book of Lamentations, were written in an acrostic style following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And in the New Testament it was natural to recognize groupings such as the four Gospels or the epistles of Paul.

The numbered chapter divisions familiar to us were added by the archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, around A.D. 1227, prevailing over an alternative system created by Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro. The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into verses by a Jewish rabbi named Mordecai Nathan in A.D. 1448. An Italian scholar named Santi Pagnini (1470-1541) divided the New Testament chapters into verses, but his system never caught on. Instead, a printer in Paris named Robert Estienne (1503-1559), also known as Robert Stephens or Stephanus, divided the New Testament into standard numbered verses in 1551, and in 1560, the Geneva Bible was the first English version to put the entire printed Bible into the familiar verse divisions we use today.

Most of us take these numbered chapters and verses for granted, but can you imagine studying the Bible without them? By quoting “John 3:16” or asking a congregation to open their Bibles to “Romans chapter 8, verse 28” we can literally get everyone on the same page. Some scholars find fault with the chapter and verse divisions. (Why is the story about the poor widow’s offering in Luke 21:1-4 separated from the verses immediately prior in which Jesus condemns those who “devour widows’ houses” in Luke 20:47? Why is the verse about masters and slaves in Colossians 4:1 separated from the rest of the paragraph about the same subject at the end of chapter 3?) One historical account says that Robert Estienne divided the New Testament into verses while riding on horseback from Paris to Lyons, which would have been a helter-skelter process as the jogging horse bumped his pen about. However, Estienne’s son explained that he accomplished the task while on the journey—not literally while riding on his horse but perhaps while resting in the evening at inns along the road.

Instead of finding fault with their efforts, we owe a debt of gratitude to these little-known servants who made it easier for us to study our Bibles. And what about the monks who meticulously copied the biblical texts by hand? And the book-binders who made it possible for us to hold whole Bibles in our hands with pages to turn instead of bulky scrolls to unroll? What about Johannes Gutenberg, whose innovations with the printing press sparked needed reforms by making the Bible more available to all of God’s people? And the translators who devoted years of study to bring the Scriptures into English and into the heart-language of hundreds of other people groups around the world? And the scholars who have provided us with concordances, commentaries, and other study aids? And the technologists who now make it possible for us to study Scripture by using a tiny handheld computer? And the faithful Sunday school teachers, ministers, Bible college professors, and friends who have taught us God’s Word through the years?

Every time we hold the Bible in our hands, we hold a gift from the Lord himself. It’s also a gift from thousands of faithful servants who considered the written Word worthy of their sacrifice.