Matthew 5 and Creative Art Journaling

March is here, and hopefully spring is just around the corner, which means most of us have started thinking about our Easter plans. Spring is always a good time to do Bible studies about rebirth and renewal and to think about everything Jesus did for us through his life, death, and resurrection.

I originally intended this post to be about verses concerning the crucifixion and resurrection but when I realized how late Easter was this year (April 21st) I decided to work in a post about Jesus’s teachings before my Easter post. As I flipped through my Bibles I was drawn to the sermon on the mount in general, and the Beatitudes specifically. Which, of course, lead to this post’s topic of Matthew 5 and Creative Art Journaling.

Links in the main text are to our reviews of the Bibles where available. Some of the remaining links including those in the list at the end are affiliate links.

Beatitudes

Jesus’s list of people who are blessed has been included in many of the illustrated journaling Bibles. Since this is a long passage it always is one of the full page illustrations when included.

The NLT Inspire Praise Bible has this version with several lettering styles to help emphasize keywords and lots of little drawings.

The KJV My Creative Bible opted for more consistent lettering, with only the word Blessed emphasized and a large border illustration.

The same illustration, with a leaf background, can be found in the My Favorite KJV Verses to Color book.

The version found in the ESV My Creative Bible for Girls also emphasizes the word blessed but uses a less traditional layout with roses, ribbons, and flower-shaped frames.

Finally, the NIV Beautiful Word Bible and NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible have the entire passage hand-lettered with a full-page illustration of flowers and plants on the facing page. The bold colors they have chosen would certainly draw your attention while thumbing through the Bible.

Matthew 5:16

Illustrations for “Let your light shine” can be found in more illustrated Bibles than the Beatitudes.

This simple one with the “I” turned into a candle is in both the NIV Beautiful Word Bible and NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible.

The ESV My Creative Bible for Girls chose a cute firefly as the source of light for their illustration and included some flowers and bees.

The NLT Inspire Bible went with the symbol of a lighthouse, a symbol we find in lots of Christian artwork. They also included a bit more of the passage and went with a full-page illustration.

Lettering is the main focus of the illustration found in the KJV My Creative Bible

as well as this illustration that is done in gold ink in the ESV Illuminated Bible, Art Journaling Edition.

While it doesn’t include the reference or any of the text of the verse it’s obvious from its placement that this illustration in the HCSB Illustrator’s Notetaking Bible references Matthew 5:16 as well. This Bible has several half column illustrations with space for personal reflection underneath.

Other Verses

There are lots of good verses for study, reflection, and artwork in Matthew 5 but most Bibles choose the 2 passages discussed above.

I like that the ESV My Creative Bible for Girls included a verse from later in the chapter, this cute illustration of Matthew 5:44.

And the NLT Inspire Bible did this illustration of Matthew 5:13 facing the page with the lighthouse.

Do any of these give you inspiration for your own artwork? What would you do differently? What would you do very much like these illustrations? Is there one you’d really like to go color if you owned that Bible? What other verses of Jesus’s teaching are favorites? Let me know in the comments?

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