How many times have you heard some television newscaster or newspaper reporter quote somebody, only to find out that they completely took that person out of context.
For instance, take the word "trunk". This word can mean a number of different things, depending upon the context in which it is used. So if I said, "your bags are in the trunk", the context of the word changes the meaning of the word. For the same word spelled the same way, but used in a different context can mean something completely different, for instance: "The trunk of the tree is very large." Same word, but the context changes the meaning. For example, "The Elephant grabbed me with his trunk."
If we don't pay attention to the context of a word or passage or verse, we can miss the entire original meaning of the word or passage or verse.
If we don't pay attention to the context of different verses of the Bible, we can make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. For instance the Bible says, "Judas went out and hung himself, therefore go and do likewise, but what you are about to do, do quickly."
Does the Bible say this?
Yes, these words are found in the Bible, yet that is not the context of all the verses. There are three different verses used in this sentence to form a very scary command. But if you pay attention to the context of each of these verses, you can see that this is not what the Bible is saying at all.
At my school, I learned that to study the Bible, you got to remember three words, CONTEXT IS KING!!!!!
And there are three types of literary context.
The first is Immediate context. To fully understand a phrase or verse, you have to look at the context of the passage directly before and after the verse to see how it is being used. One famous verse that everyone quotes is Philippians 4.13, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." We quote this verse before we play basketball games, try out for band competitions, go into a job interview or tough meeting. When we hear this verse, we think it means, "anything that the world throws in my face, any game or challenge or task or anything, I am able to do it." Yet this is not the context of this verse, read this context as a whole:
10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.
So after looking at the context of this verse, what is different about how to interpret or your understanding of Philippians 4.13?
It is not about accomplish a task, but enduring any and every situation. It isn't about defeating cancer, but enduring through it, no matter what.
So as you read the Bible, pay attention to the immediate context of every verse, but you have to also pay attention to the extended context. For instance, the writers of the Bible wrote books that were very long, but were divided into sections and each section is accomplishing a certain task for the purpose of their whole book. Sometimes these thoughts span numerous chapters throughout the Bible. For instance, Matthew 7.24 says:
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
I want to be a the wise man who builds his house on the rock, not the foolish man who built his house upon the sand, don't you? So what do we need to do to be like the wise man and not the foolish man? We have to put "these words" into practice.
Yet what are, "these words"? Whose words? Where are they? Well if you just starting looking backward through chapter 7 of Matthew, you will realize that these words are all red letters, which means they are Jesus' words. But they don't stop at chapter 7, they keep going through chapter 6 AND chapter 5 and they don't stop until Matthew 5.2. "These words" are all the previous words that Jesus spoke, called the Sermon on the Mount. To be like the wise person that built his house upon the rock, put Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount, into practice.
Context is King.
If you just rip this verse out of its immediate and extended context, you will miss the whole message of the story of the wise builder.
The same is true of Matthew 18.20, which says, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." This verse has been used over the years as a proof text that when we have a poor showing at church, as long as there are two or three coming together, God is there as well.
So is God not with us when we are by ourselves? When we are alone, is there an invisible forcefield that keeps God from coming in the room with us? This is what this understanding of this verse reminds me of:
Yet this is not the context at all of this passage. If you pay attention, as Kyle talked about yesterday, the context shows that this passage is about the judgement made of a rebellious brother, not the fact that God's presence is around only when two or three of us are there.
The purpose of all of this is to begin teaching you HOW to read the Bible. And the first step is understanding this, Context is King.
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