Context Is Mandatory for Interpretation
Have you ever ever stated one thing that was taken out of context? If that’s the case, you understand how irritating that may be. Maybe somebody overheard you say one thing a few pal, and that somebody caught just one phrase of the dialog—a phrase that made it sound as when you have been saying one thing fairly horrible about your pal. Maybe whenever you have been confronted about this, you stated, “No! You’re taking that phrase fully out of context. That’s not what I meant in any respect!”
Whenever you stated that your phrases have been taken out of context, you meant that though you did converse the precise phrases that have been overheard, you spoke them within the context of a dialog—and if that dialog had been heard in its entirety, it could have been clear that you simply didn’t imply these phrases in the way in which the opposite particular person thought you meant them. If that particular person may solely have heard the broader context, he would have understood and interpreted your phrases extra precisely and honestly.
Sadly, after we come to the Bible, all of us too typically do one thing similar to what your pal did together with your phrases: we take verses and passages from Scripture and rip them out of their correct context. Sadly, I consider that individuals have a tendency to do that with the Bible much more than with different books that they learn. Many occasions, individuals do that with good intentions. They’re searching for to discover a phrase of encouragement for his or her day, an inspiring quote for a pal, or a devotional thought to share with a small group, sports activities group, or enterprise gathering. They learn rapidly, discover a verse or verses that appear to work, and seize them and go, solely to find later that they wrongly interpreted verses by lacking their broader context. Regardless of their good intentions, such disregard for context can typically end result within the abuse—and misuse—of the phrase of God.
On this accessible information to biblical interpretation, pastor Jon Nielson presents 6 hermeneutical instruments and demonstrates tips on how to use them successfully to enhance private or small-group Bible research.
Discovering the appropriate context of a Bible verse or passage is vitally necessary with a purpose to make right interpretation and software. Whenever you apply the “context device,” you’ll start to see the way in which that it could guard and shield you towards false interpretations of the Bible and lead you in each decoding and making use of God’s phrase in the way in which that he intends.
Trustworthy Software
Right here is the precept behind the context device:
In our interpretation and software of any a part of the Bible, we should guarantee that we totally consider and comprehend each a part of the context of the passage in order that we will perceive why the passage was written by the writer and the way it was understood by the unique recipients. We’ll then have the ability to apply the textual content totally and faithfully to our lives.
To specific this precept in a barely totally different means, this device reminds us that we should make the journey to the traditional world of the Bible with a purpose to see each textual content in its context. Bear in mind, after we examine the Bible, we’re digging into the dwelling and impressed phrase of God, but it surely’s an historical textual content, written to individuals who lived and adopted God hundreds of years in the past in contexts very totally different than ours. The Bible does have one thing to say to Christians right this moment, in fact—however we have to uncover what the textual content meant then earlier than we will rightly discern what it means for us now.
If we’re learning the ebook of 1 Corinthians, for instance, we should make the journey in our Bible examine to the traditional metropolis of first-century Corinth with a purpose to see the problems and state of affairs there. If we’re learning the ebook of Genesis, then we have to journey to historical Mesopotamia to see the state of affairs of the early patriarchs of the religion. We must always be aware the life state of affairs of Paul as he writes his last letter to Timothy, and the state of affairs of the persecuted church as Peter and John write their letters. Context issues! We have to take these sorts of journeys with a purpose to get the that means of the textual content proper.
Right here’s a key level as we prepare to use this device: God’s phrase can by no means imply one thing that it by no means meant!
It is a great method to summarize the context device. We all the time have to work onerous to see what God’s phrase meant when it was written. Solely then will we have the ability to see what it means for us as God’s individuals right this moment.
3 Sorts of Conext
However what sorts of context will we have to be prepared to guage as we apply this device? As you’ll see, studying and learning a biblical textual content in context means contemplating a number of components.
Historic context. For each passage we examine, we want to concentrate on the historic context—each of the biblical writer and of the unique readers of the ebook. No biblical writer wrote in a vacuum—all of them lived actual lives in actual locations, and God used their experiences to assist them talk his phrase in the way in which that he meant. To get a really feel for the historic context of a biblical passage, now we have to ask some fundamental questions: When was this ebook written? Who was the unique viewers of this textual content? What was the political and cultural state of affairs on the time of the writing? What was totally different for God’s individuals then—and what’s nonetheless the identical for us right this moment? It’s not tough to find some fundamental particulars in regards to the historic context of passages of Scripture—an excellent examine Bible is a good place to start out.
We all the time have to work onerous to see what God’s phrase meant when it was written.
Literary context. Each phrase within the Bible is a part of a sentence; each sentence is a part of a wider paragraph or unit; and each paragraph or unit is a part of a whole ebook. We should maintain this in thoughts as we learn and examine the Bible, occupied with how verses and passages match into books. To concentrate to the literary context implies that we don’t learn the Bible like a set of nice quotations, from which we will decide and select random inspirational sayings that imply no matter we wish them to imply. The Bible is a literary work, coming to us in total books inside distinct literary genres: poetic writings, prophetic phrases, narratives (tales), epistles (letters), apocalyptic literature, and extra. To concentrate to the literary context of each verse and passage in Scripture is to take critically and respectfully the way in which God, in his excellent knowledge, has chosen to disclose his phrase to us.
Canonical context. Together with the verses, passages, and books of the Bible, we should take into consideration the entire canon (the whole assortment of books) of Scripture. Each ebook of the Bible is a part of the one massive story of God’s saving work on this planet, a narrative that’s proven to us by means of all of Scripture. Trustworthy biblical students have agreed on a rule of thumb for learning tough passages: Scripture interprets Scripture. That implies that we all the time learn any given a part of the Bible in gentle of the remainder of the Bible. We take into account the whole scope of Scripture after we examine any particular person textual content—and we will do that as a result of the whole Bible has one divine writer. So after we take into consideration the context of a passage within the Bible, we should always ask ourselves, “The place does this passage match within the total arc of the biblical story? The place is it in God’s plan for redemption?” If the Bible really is one nice unified story of his saving work on this planet, these are necessary and bonafide questions for Bible examine.
This text is customized from Understanding God’s Word: An Introduction to Interpreting the Bible by Jon Nielson.
