Introductory Note:
This selective, topical index is designed to help readers get a picture of the with-God life presented in the Bible and the role of the Spiritual Disciplines in fostering that kind of life toward its fullness. The passages listed either contain a specific reference to a topic serving as a discipline (e.g., the word “meditation”) or are about that topic without using the specific term. Because this index is selective, it does not list every passage in the Bible on each topic, and the entries are restricted to the topic’s role as a Spiritual Discipline. Some of the entries are negative examples of the practice of a particular discipline.
The list of disciplines chosen for this index also does not include every practice or situation that could actually serve as a discipline in the process of spiritual formation. The disciplines under consideration here include celebration, chastity, confession, fasting, fellowship, guidance, meditation, prayer, sacrifice, secrecy, service, silence, simplicity/frugality, solitude, study, submission, and worship. Since the central focus of Christian spiritual formation is the with-God life, that topic begins the index. It is followed by sections containing scriptural references for the various disciplines, in alphabetical order. Those references for which there are spiritual formation exercises are designated by an asterisk.
No doubt some passages may have been omitted that might be very useful for understanding spiritual formation. What is given here is intended to provide only a substantial introduction to the presence and importance of Spiritual Disciplines in the Bible. For further study on disciplines and how they are to be practiced, please see Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, and Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines.
We are releasing this Bible in two editions—with and without the Deuterocanonial Books. (See the Foreword for a general statement.) In the Spiritual Disciplines Index, you will see some references to passages in the Deuterocanonial Books. These references will be in italics to differentiate their status from the New and the Old Testaments.
Renovaré Team
Excerpt from Life with God Spiritual Formation Bible
CHASTITY: Purposefully turning away for a time from dwelling upon or engaging in the sexual dimension of our relationship to others — even our husband or wife — and thus learning how not to be governed by this powerful aspect of our life.
*Job 31:7 – 10 If my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands; then let me sow, and another eat.
*Prov 5:15 – 22 Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
*Song of Sol 7:10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
*Hos 1:2 Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.
*4 Macc 2:1 – 3 The temperate Joseph is praised, because by mental effort he overcame sexual desire.
Sir 7:24 Do you have daughters? Be concerned for their chastity, and do not show yourself too indulgent with them.
*Sir 26:15 A modest wife adds charm to charm, and no scales can weigh the value of her chastity.
Matt 5:27 – 32 Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
*1 Cor 7:5 Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer.
1 Cor 13:4 – 6 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
*2 Cor 11:2 I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
*Eph 5:22 – 33 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.
1 Tim 5:2 [Speak] to older women as mothers, to younger women as sisters— with absolute purity.
1 Tim 5:9 – 14 Refuse to put younger widows on the list; for when their sensual desires alienate them from Christ, they want to marry.
2 Tim 2:22 Shun youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
*Titus 2:5 Be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, … submissive to … husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.
Excerpted from the Life with God Bible (New Revised Standard Version), with special thanks to HarperOne and to the late Dallas Willard who compiled the Index.
📚 The 2022 – 23 Renovaré Book Club
This year’s nine-month, soul-shaping journey features four books, old and new, prayerfully curated by Renovaré. Now underway and there’s still time to join.
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