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
SILENCE: Closing off our souls from “sounds,” whether noise, music, or words, so that we may better still the inner chatter and clatter of our noisy hearts and be increasingly attentive to God.
Gen 24:21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
1 Sam 1:13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
*1 Kings 19:12 After the earthquake [there was] a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
*Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone wrong.
*Job 13:5 If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!
Ps 4:4 When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Ps 39:9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.
*Ps 62:1,5 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
*Ps 131:2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.
*Prov 11:12 Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent.
Isa 30:15 In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
*Isa 32:17 The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
*Isa 53:7 Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Lam 3:26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
*Hab 2:20 The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!
*Zeph 1:7 Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand.
*Sir 20:1, 6 There is a rebuke that is untimely, and there is the person who is wise enough to keep silent.
Rom 3:19 We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced.
*James 1:19 Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
James 3:1 – 12 No one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
*Rev 8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
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.
