Category Archives: Context

Context matters

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Context is a big deal to me, especially when it comes to Bible study. As the refrain says, “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.”

I recently read an article about Christians and drinking; the article cited this verse from Habakkuk: “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.” (Habakkuk 2:15) The author used it to say that the wine Jesus created in John 2 couldn’t have been alcoholic for Jesus wouldn’t have violated the command to not give alcoholic drink to your neighbor.

Of course, I’d recently been studying Habakkuk, as I mentioned in a post on this site. And I knew that Habakkuk 2 was a condemnation of Babylon, not a listing of sins by individuals. Looking at the context again, I noticed that the very next verse says that what Babylon has done, God is going to do to them! “You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD’S right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.” (Habakkuk 2:16)

Now, I think we can all agree that getting someone drunk in order to shame them is a bad thing. Few people would condone that, even among nonbelievers. But that’s not what this verse is talking about! The drink that Babylon gave to his neighbors was no more literal than the cup that God was going to give to them.

Or recently I’ve been hearing Romans 13:3 a lot: “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.” This is applied as a universal truth, despite the fact that most of the Bible shows the exact opposite! We have example after example of righteous people suffering unfairly at the hands of the government, from Joseph in the book of Genesis to the thousands of martyrs in the book of Revelation. Or do we think that Jesus was a wrongdoer?

Romans 13 is about a very specific situation in a defined moment in time. It deserves to be studied and interpreted in that context.

Then there’s all the traditional ones. When you use Jeremiah 29:11 to tell someone that God has plans for them, don’t forget to include Jeremiah 29:10 and tell them that God’s plans may include 70 years of captivity. When telling someone that they can do all things through Christ, be sure to point out that the “all things” Paul was talking about ranged from living in abject poverty to enjoying material riches.

Reading verses in context doesn’t always make the Bible say what we want it to say. But it helps us come closer to seeing what the Bible itself is trying to say.

Context and topical teaching

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In our discussion on context last week, Scott brought up some interesting questions. He said:

What I wonder is this: when we see the sermons in the Bible (Peter, Stephen, Paul – all in Acts) do we not see topical sermons using scripture from various areas? Is not the very point made – that Paul’s letters have a clear message and should not be broken down into single verses – show that he has a topic, a theme in his writing of that letter? And could not the same imagery be applied in this instance – using certain threads of scripture to knit a complete message?

He also goes on to say that he had been taught that topical preaching was “wrong.” These are issues that I’ve discussed with others over the years of my ministry. Let me offer some observations:

  • I don’t think that topical preaching is wrong. However, I read the other day where a brother said that he typically uses 70 or more verses in every sermon he preaches. It’s hard for me to see how any concept of context can be given around that many verses, though I haven’t actually heard this man preach. Topical preaching has a place, a valid place, in our preaching. In fact, I think churches need a mix of topical and expository preaching. (Apparently expository preaching is playing the bad guy role in contemporary preacher training, much as topical preaching did in my day)
  • I think that topical preaching can be done contextually, sort of a combination of topical and expository. That is, when I’m asked to speak on a topic, I always try to hang that topic on two or three passages that can be looked at in depth.
  • As for the New Testament writers, I believe that they enjoyed a guidance from the Holy Spirit that we don’t. When we start playing cut and paste with what they’ve written, it’s almost like saying that we know better than the Holy Spirit how to address certain topics. To me, an excellent example is Titus chapters 2 and 3. In those chapters, the point is driven home that to spur people on to good works, you need to teach about grace. I don’t know that you arrive at that conclusion by doing a piece by piece study of the text; you’ve got to grab the large chunks.

Before asking for your opinion, I wanted to share one last context story that I happened to remember yesterday. Years ago, I was at a church service where an older brother got up to lead the closing prayer. During the prayer, he said, “As Peter said on the Mount of Transfiguration, ‘It is good that we were here.'” Nothing like quoting something that earned someone a healthy rebuke.

Now I’ll ask. How does topical teaching fit in with the idea of context? Is it legitimate, as Scott says, to take threads from many different places and sew them into one garment?

The dangling verse

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The other day, someone wrote to a discussion list and asked what a particular verse meant. The smart aleck in me almost won out; I was very tempted to write, “Nothing.” I guess that’s a little extreme, but a verse read completely out of its context means very little.

Some would point out that the New Testament writers often quoted verses out of context. That’s true, but it pays to remember that people at that time tended to know much more Scripture than we do today. Like the Jewish people today. Ray Vander Laan tells of attending a Jewish school where the professor would quote a verse, and the students were expected to quote the preceding and following verses. To a large degree, people would tend to hear verses in context.

I do recognize that at times passages were used out of context by the New Testament writers. Though this was their practice (and that of many Jewish teachers at that time), I don’t think we’re justified in doing the same.

I recently read an article at BibleStudyTools.com with the title: “Never Read A Bible Verse.” I like that title. In the article, the author encourages people to always read, at minimum, an entire paragraph, rather than a verse.

It hasn’t helped, of course, that many King James and American Standard Bibles (among others) print each verse as a separate paragraph. I can’t help but think that has encouraged people over the years to take verses by themselves, rather than in context.

Nor has the old style of preaching helped, where preachers would spout dozens of verses during the course of one sermon, almost none of them given with any context at all. I grew up thinking that Paul’s letters were like the book of Proverbs, isolated sayings with little to no connection between them. I was greatly surprised to discover they actually presented a flowing thread of arguments and reasoning.

If you missed them, commenters yesterday provided some excellent examples of out-of-context passages (I think Randall won the prize for most outrageous). Feel free to add to the list in the comments on this post.

The importance of context

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As part of my work at Herald of Truth, I do a 15-minute program, Monday through Friday, called “Lea La Biblia” (Read the Bible).

The program itself is divided into segments. During the first part of the program, I do a 3-4 minute segment on Bible study, offering up tips on how to study the Bible. (And I’m always looking for suggestions on that! Feel free to chime in with tips you think would be useful)

One of my favorite subjects is the subject of context. I like to mention that the word context comes from Latin words basically meaning “with knitting.” I like the idea of the Bible as a knitted garment, made up of many threads that are all brought together as one.

Years ago, I sold clothing in a men’s clothing store. One day, I was delivering a pant to a customer when I noticed that there was a thread sticking out. Being a helpful clerk, I started to trim the thread. From across the store, one of the longtime employees yelled, “NO! You’ll ruin the pants.” She knew that cutting that thread would cause it to continue unraveling.

To me, pulling a passage out of context is a bit like that. One thread doesn’t tell you what a finished sweater looks like. Pulled out of the sweater, it’s just a bit of trash, and the sweater is damaged.

I also use the example of a note of music. One note doesn’t tell you what the symphony sounds like.

When I preach and teach, I try to use as long a passage as possible. There are times when I teach topically and quickly refer to a verse here or there, but I try to stay away from that. We need to learn to study the Bible in context.

The old saying goes, “A text without a context is a proof text for a pretext.” (I’ve also heard “pretext for a proof text,” but this way makes more sense to me) When it comes to Bible study, context is king.

Can you think of examples of passages that are often lifted from their context?