7. Context Near and Far
When individual verses or passages of scripture get lifted out of their natural setting, they can be misunderstood, instill false hope – or worse, be misused in a harmful manner. Free floating verses used in this way are often called "proof texts," but the truth is, a verse out of context very often proves nothing. It is only when scriptures are read and understood in proper context that we understand and use them as they were intended. Immediate Context The "home" or primary context of any biblical passage is its immediate context – the words coming before or after it within the same paragraph, chapter or book that form a continuous discussion. In other words, the verse directly before a given scripture may not be important to its context if the subject is a different one, but even a verse several chapters earlier can be important to a scripture's context if it is part of the author's discussion. Usually, however, immediate context involves the verses directly before or after a given statement. Many biblical statements and verses can seem to have a very different meaning if they are taken away from that "home" or immediate context. Consider a few examples.
Ecclesiastes 7:28, out of context, makes a seemingly startling statement: "While I was still searching but not finding – I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all." At first sight this sounds like a very sad situation, but if we look carefully at the immediate context, we see that the section beginning in vs. 26 is talking about prostitutes who snare gullible men. All Solomon is saying here is that although there may be "one in a thousand" men who resist such a woman (clearly using an idiomatic expression for a round number), he found not a single upright woman in this group. Other statements by Solomon – Proverbs 12:4, 31:10, etc. – show that the king certainly did not condemn all women.
The book of Isaiah contains another example: "To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? … For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little" (Isaiah 28:9-13 ESV). These words are frequently quoted to show that we must put all the related verses together in Bible study; but, ironically, the real context of Isaiah's words is actually not one of the people of God carefully piecing together God's messages. The words were actually spoken against those who do not obey God and the directly following words are "… that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (vs. 13). So although the principle of carefully putting the scriptures together is certainly one that we can follow, the context of Isaiah 28:9-13 does not really show that!
In the book of Matthew we find a similar situation where Jesus is recorded as saying: "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20). While this verse is frequently taken to mean gathering in church fellowship, the actual immediate context is about correcting someone for a problem (vs. 15-18), and asking God's help in the process (vs. 19). The teaching here is quite different from how it is often understood out of context.
Overall Context If, as we said above, Bible verses need a home – the setting of their surrounding verses – they also need a "citizenship," a connection with similar verses on the same topic scattered over a wider area of the Bible. One of the most important aspects of context is that of seeing and interpreting every part of the Bible in the light of the whole. Some verses, such as John 3:16, may be clear in isolation, but even then, considering other verses relevant to this very clear statement expands our understanding and appreciation for its meaning. In many other cases, overall context is actually necessary for proper understanding. We can see this in the following examples taken from the Old and New Testaments.
Second Kings 2:1 tells us that Elijah was taken by a whirlwind "up to heaven." It is easy to misunderstand this statement without overall biblical context. But when we put other relevant scriptures together, we see that from the perspective of the biblical writers, there are three heavens (2 Corinthians 12:2). Over nine hundred years after the time of Elijah, Jesus himself said "no man has ascended up to heaven" (John 3:13 KJ2K), meaning the heaven of God. So 2 Kings is evidently talking about the "heaven" that we would call the sky or the atmosphere - just as the Bible speaks of the "dew of heaven" (Genesis 27:28, 39 ESV).
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul stresses that salvation comes by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9; etc.), yet the apostle James states that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26) – giving us the other side of the picture. In fact, if we look further into the writings of Paul himself, we find statements which back this up; for example: "It is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous" (Romans 2:13). So overall context shows that we are saved by faith, but saving faith is never alone – living faith leads us to right behavior and good works.
The first of the two examples we looked at, that of Elijah ascending to heaven, shows overall context clarifying a small part of the story. But in the second example, we see overall context is clearly necessary to understand some of the most important concepts in the Bible. So Bible verses really do need both a "home" and a "citizenship" – an immediate and an overall context.
In some instances, we need to consider both immediate and overall context, as we see in the following case study.
Case Study: The Rock on which the Church Is Built In this example we will consider the importance of context in understanding Christ's famous words to Peter: "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). There are two traditional answers to the question of who or what was the rock Christ referred to in this verse. Some Christians believe that Jesus was speaking to Peter, and so Peter is the rock the church would be built upon. Other Christians believe that because the Greek word for the "rock" the Church would be built upon is petra – a "large rock" or "foundation" – and Peter's name was petros – meaning a small rock or pebble in Greek – Christ could hardly have been speaking of Peter and must have been speaking of himself when he said "on this rock …."
Looking closely at the immediate context of this verse reveals another meaning that fits Jesus' statement better than either of these two options. When we look at Christ's words, we find they were part of a larger conversation he was having with Peter:
Jesus … asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-20). The conversation begins and ends with the concept of Christ's identity – Jesus first asks his disciples who people thought he was, and who they thought he was, then, after discussing the answers they gave, he closes the discussion by telling his disciples not to tell people who he was. When we keep this clear context of the conversation in mind, we see the subject of the whole exchange was "Who is Jesus?"
The crux of the conversation occurs when Peter volunteers "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). It is precisely then that Jesus confirmed this assessment and told Peter that this was the "rock" or "foundation" – we might say "foundational truth" – on which his Church would be built. Jesus' point was that his Church would be built on the fact that he was the promised Messiah, the one through whom salvation would come, though this was a truth the disciples were told not to reveal until the time was right (vs. 20).
In this case, immediate context doubtless shows the meaning of Jesus' words to Peter regarding the rock or foundation on which the Church would be built. But looking further afield at overall context, if we search for other related verses on this subject, we find that our answer is confirmed by the apostle Paul when he wrote: you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-20).