If you have your children memorize Scripture, unless you plan on memorizing the whole Bible, you’re going to have to be choosy. What passages should you memorize?
There are many texts in the Bible worth memorizing, but this last school year our family chose Philippians 2:1-18. Each night during family devotions we helped each other to recite the passage, little by little, until the whole thing was committed to memory.
Why did we settle on Philippians 2? Why did we choose this over other passages?
3 Reasons to Memorize Philippians 2
1. If you’re looking for a concise passage that marries central Christian beliefs to important Christian ethics, Philippians 2 is great. Bible scholar D.A. Carson says, “Few passages have as much theology and ethics in them as Philippians 2.” It is hard to find a more compact section of Scripture that equips kids with both orthodox beliefs and foundational moral lessons.
2. This passage teaches one of the central pillars of Christian character: humility. Learning what it means to esteem others more important that yourself is a lifelong process. These 18 verses pack in more than a dozen motivations for why we should pursue a life of humility. As parents we can easily dissect a passage like this and help kids understand not just that they should be servants to others, but also teach them why.
3. The passage contains one of the most pointed and rich accounts of Jesus’ humility, incarnation, death, and exaltation. The best place for our children to learn how to be humble and put others first—the best place for us to learn as well—is at the foot of the cross. In this passage Paul quotes (or possibly composes) a hymn about Christ. It is perhaps the earliest known Christian hymn, filled with profound theology about Christ’s incarnation and death. The hymn not only exalts Christ as our chief example of humility but also as the one we honor above all others. What a great text to be stored away in our minds!
For some, 18 verses might sound like a lot, but it takes less than two minutes to read.
Family Bible Study on Philippians 2:1-18
Philippians 2 is a great passage for families to study together. This was my primary motivation for writing The Heart of Humility: Teaching Your Kids to Put Others First.
I found that, while our kids memorized this text, it raised a lot of questions for them. What does “selfish ambition” mean? What does it mean that Christ was “in the form of God”? What does it mean that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling? How do we really be humble like Christ was?
This study is available in our store.
Use Handwriting Worksheets to Help!
My wife made a handwriting workbook for our oldest son to go hand-in-hand with our memory of Philippians 2. Each school day he wrote part of Philippians 2, which reinforced what we were learning during Bible memory time.
We decided to make this workbook available in our store a few months ago and it has been downloaded thousands of times since. It is great to see so many families interested in Bible memory! You can get this Bible copywork workbook in either ESV or KJV.
Looks great! We have not memorized Philippians 2 yet. I’ll have to remember this great passage when I’m planning our memory work for next year.
I appreciate all your excellent articles about memorization. I did a lot of memorizing as a child, but I really want to do it with my kids. And I’m glad you have provided resources for doing this a family. I hope to use many of them in our home. What a joy to see your young Bradley reciting from Philippians 2!!