6. The Importance of Context
Bible verses need a "home"! When we try to understand things the Bible says outside of the setting in which they were originally written, we can miss their meaning and purpose completely. And when verses get lifted out of their natural setting to be quoted in isolation, they can all too frequently be misunderstood and misused.
As is often said, "context is everything." Yet even experienced Bible students sometimes forget the need to keep context in mind in everything that is studied and especially in looking at difficult or puzzling scriptures.
Our English word "context" is derived from two Latin words (con "together" + texere "to weave") meaning "to weave together," so context signifies the relationship between something and its surroundings – just as a small woven area is connected to other parts in a large tapestry.
In Bible study, this means, of course, that we need to consider other verses connected in some way to the verse we are studying. Usually that involves reading the whole chapter or section of Scripture in which the passage we are studying is located. Even as early as the sixteenth century, Miles Coverdale, translator of the English Bible, wrote:
"… it shall greatly help thee to understand scripture, if thou mark [pay attention to] not only what is spoken or written, but … what goeth before, and what followeth after" (Miles Coverdale, Preface to the Bible, 1535). In the following chapters we will consider these connections within the Bible that can greatly increase our understanding of what we study. First, we look at immediate context – the setting of a given biblical statement in its surrounding verses – and then overall context – the relationship between an individual statement and everything else the Bible may say on that subject. Both are vital.
When we consider immediate context, it is amazing how many well-known and frequently-quoted verses can be seen to have a different meaning when carefully read with their surrounding verses. For example, the apostle Paul's statement: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13 NKJV) does not mean we can run a one-minute mile any more than Paul could have walked out of his jail cell when he wrote that. The immediate context shows Paul is talking about being able to do anything God gave him to do.
When we look at overall context, we often find that a verse or even a whole chapter in one part of the Bible has a similar counterpart elsewhere, in related books or in other books by the same author, that can clarify the passage we are looking at. For example, in the Old Testament, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles contain many parallel accounts; and in the New Testament, parts of Paul's epistles to the Galatians and Romans, or to the Ephesians and Colossians, are clearly parallel and can be used to help explain each other.
In a similar manner, we need to look at how the Old and New Testaments relate to each other. In some cases, books in the New Testament help explain books in the Old Testament or vice versa, such as Daniel and Revelation or Leviticus and Hebrews.
Finally, we need to consider literary context. Often the type of literature by which we classify a biblical book or passage can help us to better understand what we read.
We will see in the following chapters that clearly seeing the context of what the Bible says at any point is one of the most important factors in really coming to understand what we read.