As mentioned in the Intro of the web-site, when we take the text out of context we are left with a con (context-text=con). It is important to read scripture in the proper context to be able to get a correct understanding of what the Bible is trying to teach us.
One of the first keys to getting a proper understanding of a Bible verse is to read the surrounding verses before and after as well. Try to understand what the writer tries to communicate. If necessary, read the whole paragraph, and sometimes you have to read the paragraph before or after to understand the complete topic. A good example of this is Hebrew 4, to get a good understanding of Hebrew 4 you must read Hebrew 3.
When you read a letter, like Romans or Galatians, it is not only important to understand the paragraph you read, but the whole letter. It is relevant in such a case to try to understand what the objective is of that letter. Research can be a useful tool to get an understanding of the reason and the target group for the letter. This will help you to understand the correct context.
For example:
Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
This is a verse that is used a lot to show that we no longer have to keep the festivals or the Sabbath, or we can eat whatever we want, but when you look at the context you see that this is not the case.
First of all, we have to understand why Paul wrote to the Colossians. Paul wrote this letter during his first imprisonment in Rome to the Colossian church after he had received a report that the church at Colossae was under attack from false teachers. He wanted to make sure they understand the true Gospel rather than the misleading view given to them by the false teachers (Colossians 1:25; 2:1–4).
So, the key issue here is the introduction of wrong teachings. We get a better overview of the context of that particular verse when we read the verses before and after Col 2:16:
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
…
Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
…
Col 2:20-23 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
The header in the NIV gives a good summary of the topic:
Freedom From Human Regulations Through Life With Christ
The whole topic is about human commandments and regulations, not about God’s commandments! So it is not talking about: let nobody judge you when you do ‘not keep’ the feast or Sabbath, which would be against God’s commandments and would make it about God’s commandments, but instead, it is talking about how to do, or not to do them, like: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”. Rules that are being introduced by false teachers Paul was informed about. This is a very good example where taking the text out of context leaves you with a con!
This gives us the first key:
Key 1: Do not read just single verses, make sure you understand the whole topic that the writer writes about, by reading the verses before and after it, and in some cases, read the last part of previous chapter or the start of the next chapter to make sure you get the context right. With regards to a letter, make sure you understand the purpose of the letter and who the target group is.
Also when reading a verse check other translations. In general, I use the NIV because it is easy to read, but I will also read the King James Version (KJV) and the Young Literal Translation (YLT) when I am studying a topic.
To give you a good example of what you might miss:
Act 18:20-21 (NIV) When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
Act 18:20-21 (KJV) When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; (21) But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
The reason for his decline is given in KJV and also in the YLT but is missing in the NIV and ESV versions.
Besides using more than one translation, you might want to look up the root meaning of a particular keyword within the verse. In the case of the New Testament, it would be good to understand the Greek word used and for the Old Testament, it would be good to check the Hebrew.
A good example would be Rom 10:4
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
You can not get clearer than this ‘Christ is the end of the law’, case closed! Or is it? Let’s look at the root meaning of the word ‘end’. The word in Greek used for ‘end’ is telos (τέλος):
A telos (from the Greek τέλος for “end”, “purpose”, or “goal”) is an end or purpose, in a fairly constrained sense used by philosophers such as Aristotle. It is the root of the term “teleology”, roughly the study of purposiveness, or the study of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions.
This is demonstrated in the way one can say that the telos of warfare is victory or the telos of business is the creation of wealth.
So Christ is the goal (purpose, intentions, or end objective) of the law which paints the verse from a whole different perspective. The telos of the Law is Christ!
Another good example is in Hebrew 7:12
Heb 7:12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
When we read this verse by itself it looks very obvious, the law has changed and could easily be used as an argument as such. When I read it the first time my first response was, what was changed? Besides that I was also interested to find out what the original Greek word was that is used in this verse, because the word ‘change’ can have 2 different meanings, and can easily be explained with using money as an example:
- When I have 1000 US$ and travel to Europe I have to change that money into Euros to be able to purchase things. This is an actual change of the money itself, from one type into another.
- When I have 1000 US$ and I give this money to a friend then the money in itself does not change, it simply changes hands or ownership.
So, which one is the one used in Heb 7:12? When we check the original Greek word used we get:
μετατίθημι | metatithēmi | met-at-ith’-ay-mee
From G3326 and G5087; to transfer, that is, (literally) transport, (by implication) exchange, (reflexively) change sides, or (figuratively) pervert: – carry over, change, remove, translate, turn.
In this case, it means a transfer, change sides, or carried over. What this verse is saying is, that when we have a transference from an Earthly Priesthood (order of Aaron) to a Heavenly Priesthood (order of Melchizedek), the requirement of the law is also transferred. So Jesus is not a priest based on the order of Aaron, which requires a priest to be a descendant from Aaron (Levi) but instead is priest based on the order of Melchizedek, which predates and is superior to the order of Aaron.
This leads us to the second key:
Key 2: Use different translations, don’t only read the verse in one translation, and check key words for the root meaning in their original language or try to find out how it would be used during the first century church.
It is very easy to just pick several verses and base a whole sermon, or even a doctrine, on those verses, but what we believe it is saying has to agree with the rest of scripture. This includes the Old Testament, as Paul said to Timothy in 2 Ti 3:16-17:
2 Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Keep in mind that when the Disciples wrote something, others would test what they wrote to the scripture they had access to at that time. That scripture is what we know as the Old Testament or also known at that time as the Tanach, which has 3 parts:
- Torah (‘Teaching’, also known as the Five Books of Moses)
- Nevi’im (‘Prophets’ eq. Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah …)
- and Ketuvim (‘Writings/Scriptures’ eq. Psalms, Job, Chronicles …)
A good example of this can be found in Acts 17:11. We find Luke praising the Bereans for testing everything Paul said with the scriptures to see what Paul said is true:
Act 17:11-12 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
It is very important to pause and understand the significance of this! They tested all that Paul said with the Old Testament (Tanach), to see if what Paul said agreed with what the Old Testament is saying. We read also that many Jews believed, from which we can conclude that what Paul said agreed with Scripture!
Paul himself testifies to this in his trial as we can read in Acts 26:
Act 26:22 But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen — that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.
So, this gives us our 3rd key for reading the Bible in proper context:
Key 3 – The Berean Test: What we believe a certain passage is saying has to agree with rest of scripture (including the Old Testament)! If it does not agree with the rest of scripture then our understanding of what we read is not correct and we have to study the Scripture in the same way as the Bereans did in order to get the correct meaning.
Key 4 is closely linked to Key 3. God gave us in the Bible a test we have to apply for any prophet or teacher, even if that person does great miracles, we have to use that test to see if that person is from God or is a false Prophet/Teacher. Besides testing a person if He/She is from God, we can also use this test to check if our understanding of what we read is correct or not. We can find this test in Deuteronomy 13. I use Key 1 here, by including the last verse of the previous chapter, to get the right context for this subject:
Deu 12:32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Deu 13:1-5 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
So the test is to see if that person is directing you away from God’s Commandments and against obeying His voice and follow another religion! The last verse in the previous chapter is key:
Deu 12:32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
We can find a similar verse in Deu 4:2:
Deu 4:2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.
This gives us Key 4:
Key 4 – The Deuteronomy 13 Test: Test what you read to Deuteronomy 13, if you believe it is teaching against the keeping of any of God’s commandments or adding to it, then your understanding of what you read is simply not correct. We are clearly instructed against adding or subtracting from the Law (Deu 12:32 and Deu 4:2).
Another verse in the Bible that we should use to test things to is Amos 3.7:
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)
We can see a very good example of this in Acts 15:13-18
When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
“After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ that have been known for ages. (Act 15:13-18)
We see that James mentioned that the prophets are in agreement with what Peter said and therefore believed that this was in line with scripture.
When you believe God revealed something new to you and it conflicts with other Scripture (Key 3), or it is not something the prophets have foretold, then what you believe God revealed to you is not from God! A lot of new sects are created based on these so-called revelations that have no foundation in the Word of God.
Test everything to the word of God (Key 3):
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)
This gives us our last key:
Key 5 – The Amos 3 Test: Anything promoted to be a new revelation from God has to be in agreement with what God has revealed through His prophets in scripture.
Summary of the Keys
- Key 1: Do not just read single verses, make sure you understand the whole topic that the writer writes about, by reading the verses before and after it, and in some cases, read the last part of the previous chapter or the start of the next chapter to make sure you get the context right. With regards to reading a letter, make sure you understand the purpose of the letter and who the target group is.
- Key 2: Use different translations, don’t only read the verse in one translation, and check key words for the root meaning in their original language or try to find out how it would be used during the first-century church.
- Key 3 – The Berean Test: What we believe a certain passage is saying has to agree with the rest of scripture! If it does not agree with the rest of scripture then our understanding of what we read is not correct and we have to study the Scripture in the same way as the Bereans did to get the correct meaning. (Acts 17:11)
- Key 4 – The Deuteronomy 13 Test: Test what you read to Deuteronomy 13, if you believe it is teaching against the keeping of any of God’s commandments then your understanding of what you read is simply not correct. We are clearly instructed against adding or subtracting from the Law (Deu 12:32 and Deu 4:2).
- Key 5 – The Amos 3 Test: Anything promoted to be a new revelation from God has to agree with what God has revealed through His prophets in scripture. (Amos 3:7)
In Conclusion:
Trying to understand the correct context is much like trying to draw a line in the correct direction. It is impossible to draw a line correctly based on a single point, the same is true of trying to understand a Bible topic based on a single verse or a doctrine based on single verses. To be able to draw a line in the correct direction we need a minimum of two validated points. The more validated points we have the more accurate the line will be. It will also help us to identify points that are incorrect because they will not even get close to the line established by the other points that were validated. Very much similar is it when we read verses in the Bible.
Check that what you believe is in line with God’s Word (both Old and New Testament) by using these 5 simple keys.
May God Bless you and don’t forget to test everything!