TYPES OF CONTEXT
01/03/24 05:49
When studying Scripture, we need to understand the different types of context of Scripture so we don't make the Bible say something it was not intending to say.
What if I told you that Paul was a sports fan? This is highly possible as he often talked about running races and made references to sports of that day. But, what if I told you that he was a Georgia Bull Dogs fan? "Watch out for those Dogs" Philippians 3:2. Now, that's an extreme example but it makes an extreme statement, we can make Scripture mean whatever we want if we ignore context.
What if I told you that Paul was a sports fan? This is highly possible as he often talked about running races and made references to sports of that day. But, what if I told you that he was a Georgia Bull Dogs fan? "Watch out for those Dogs" Philippians 3:2. Now, that's an extreme example but it makes an extreme statement, we can make Scripture mean whatever we want if we ignore context.
What are the different contexts of Scripture that we must understand?
There is the LITERARY context. When you read through the Bible, you will find all kinds of different genres of text. You’ll find stories, poems, speeches, prophetic oracles, and many other different types of literature. We need to be able to understand the different rules involved with different genres.
I used the term “rules” in a way that if you tried to play basketball with football rules or football with basketball rules, it just does not work. Different genres are kinda like different games. Each genre has a different rule on how it’s read. We have practical examples of this.
In one day this past week, you may have read a news article, looked up a number in your phone, ordered from a menu, read a poem, read a letter, read instructions, or meditated on a devotional book. Those are all different genres of text and you're not going to read a poem the way you read a phone number. And, you're not going to read a menu the same way you read a news article.
This is the possible danger of topical preaching, and topical study of the Bible; where we jump around from this text to that text. It’s like bringing something from a phone book, something from a new article, and something from a love letter and trying to relate them all together. You're not going to read Galatians and Song of Solomon the same. You're not going to read the letters like you read Proverbs.
What are the different genres in Scripture? In the Old Testament you have NARRATIVES, LAW, POETRY, PROPHETS, and WISDOM writings. In the New Testament you have LETTERS, GOSPELS; which includes parable (a genre all its own), HISTORY, and PROPHECY.
In the literary context you also have GRAMMAR. There are individual words, phrases, and clauses that all find meaning in the context that surrounds them. So, we have to look at the surroundings of the text. We must realize that the Bible is not a bunch of different parts, separate from each other. The Bible is a bunch of parts that comes together in a whole.
Remember that the Bible contains an integrated message in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What this means is, there are two forms of context that an interpretation cannot contradict. An interpretation cannot contradict the message of the Bible in whole or in part. And, an interpretation cannot contradict the character of God in whole or in part. For example, there is a believe that there’s demon activity that directly causes moral issues in man. This belief contradicts the whole of the message of the Bible that man is responsible for his moral problems and the response is repentance. It ignores the fact that the Bible never speaks of moral issues as a result of demonic activity in our lives. And, It also contradicts the character of God who is a good Judge and will judge the world on the moral sin they chose to do. If there are some moral issues that cannot be helped because of demonic activities, then God would be unjust in judging that person. So, proper interpretation MUST stay within the context of the Bible and character of God as a whole.
Below is a picture of concentric circles. When you’re looking at context, what you got is the text you're studying. It may be a verse, it may be a paragraph, it may be a chapter. You have the immediate context of where that portion of Scripture is found. Then you have the whole segment of context in which it's found. Then you have the rest of the Bible book that it’s contained in. Then you have the rest of the Bible.
This is why I study so much and so diligently is because it takes time of study to gather the context of these larger rings as a whole.
All these contexts are important. Look at Matt 18:20
“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20
How many times have you heard it said in a meeting, “where two or three come together there I am; so praise God, He is with us”? That’s good, God is with us; but the problem is the poor guy thinking, “I was in my prayer closet, by myself, this morning; does that mean God was not with me?”
The problem is that we’ve taken the Scripture from context where Y’shua was talking about conflict in the church. He address' going to your brother and confronting him in his sin in what is a picture of church discipline. Then, what Y’shua is saying is, “When the church goes through tough times - I want to remind you that I am with you in the middle of the conflict.” It’s an incredible verse, but when we rip it from context we miss the point. Look at this other often misapplied passage of Scripture.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:20-21
We often use this for a salvation message but it’s actually Y’shua talking to the church saying, “I’m outside this picture. I’m knocking. Open the door and lets explore the unity designed for the church”
We also have a HISTORICAL-CULTURAL context. We talked about our culture, and how we bring it to the table, but they have THEIR culture; which IS the table. If our interpretation of the Bible is going to be valid, it MUST take into consideration the history and culture of THAT day. We need to look at the culture of the author and his readers; including, social, geographical, topographical, and political factors that are relevant to the authors settings. We’ve GOT to look at the book of Galatians and see the relationship between them and Paul. What was the relationship between Jonah and the Ninevites? We MUST look at the books of Corinthians and take into consideration the multiple languages in that church and the pride problem they were having and how Paul is addressing these different issues.
There are avenues that can be used to gain cultural context of the book. If you are going to use a resource, I would recommend a resource that is NOT religious based and written by a pastor. This seems like an oxymoron as you're reading how to gain context from a pastor but I have an important point in this suggestion. When looking for historical context, use a resource that is more secular history. Use history books or Wikipedia, and the likes to gain cultural context. The reason I say this is to avoid a slant that religious teachers can apply to history. There's many things I've heard pastors say that are not historically accurate. For example, have you ever heard that the priests of the temple had a rope and bells around them in case they die so they can be pulled out? The problem is that there was specific clothing that was required to be worn into the Holy of Holies, and NOTHING else was allowed otherwise it was going against God and a sin. To apply ropes and bells to the clothing and walking into the Holy of Holies would be direct rebellion. This means this statement is not true. Another example would be when Y'shua was talking about the difficulties of a rich man getting into Heaven. He said, in modern Bibles, it's easier to get a camel through the eye of the needle. Many religious teachers teach that there was a man door in the main gate to the city and that was called an "eye of the needle". The problem is, that door was not created for three more centuries after Christ was on Earth and the original Aramaic word for "needle" is ACTUALLY a needle. So, be careful if looking for history from a religious site.
There is context that can be gained from Scripture. We don't want to ignore this context because it shows us what the author was leaning towards with the reasoning of giving the words he gave. Let's use the book of John and lets look at the context based on this book. Let’s look at the story of the woman at the well in John 4 and we will use different clues, through the book of John, to gain a context of what is going on.
First, let’s get to know the author.
“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” John 21:24
Ok, so we know the author of this book is John, who was a disciple of Christ. Who is the audience that John wrote to?
“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. “
John 20:31
Every Biblical book is written to specific people for a specific purpose. When you read the Gospel of Mark, Mark is writing to a bunch of believers who are facing persecution. So, that affects the way that we interpret the book of Mark. You get to John 20:31. Why did he write this book? He wants us to “...believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and...have life in his name.” So, we have the author and the audience. What are the geographical conditions.
“ When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.” John 4:3-4
When you read John 4:3-4, and it says,“When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.” At that point, we see this geographic information coming on the scene. We have to go and look at a map at this point and we would see a path leaving Judea and going back to Galilee. The most common path for people to take in that day, because of the deep hatred for Samaritans, was to go around Samaria, but John 4:4 says Jesus “had to go through Samaria.” It is a picture of Jesus going outside of the norm because He was pursuing the people that no one else cared about, that everyone else ignored. That is the picture we have been geographically given. What are the social conditions?
“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’” John 4:7
When we see Yeshua come and talk to the Samaritan woman, we need to know that this is way outside the social boundaries for Jews. We don’t get that feel in the text unless we understand this context. We don’t get to imagine the tension of the moment in the feelings of the disciples having to go through an area they despised or the feelings of a Samaritan woman who had a Jewish man talking to her unless we get that context. The context isn’t specifically found in verse 7, we find it in verse 9.
“The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)” John 4:9
Through this, we also find out next context - religious conditions. Jew’s did not associate with Samaritans. When we see this religious divide, we then can associate that divide with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
“‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?’” John 4:11-12
There is no running water of that day. So, we need to know that this woman would have to come out repeatedly to this well to get water. What we learn from other history is that most of the time you would come out with others, but she is coming out alone which says something about her. There are economic conditions at work here and there's something happening about this woman in general.
“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’”
John 4:25-26
They were looking for a political Messiah. That was the picture, and it helps to understand the expectations of Messiah for how Jesus is being revealed in the Gospels.
So, we have all those different facets of context; some obvious and some not so obvious. But, you see how, in just one passage, you see geography, history, politics, economics, and personal contexts. This is were a Bible handbook is really helpful, but if we don’t have that, then we need to really look for clues that help us understand the different divides there are, the different issues that are being raised.
We have literary context, historical-cultural context and then theres their THEOLOGICAL context. Every passage we study in Scripture fits into the overall picture of Scripture. Any time we are studying a passage, we are looking at an interpretation, we need to ask, “Where does this passage fit into the unfolding revelation of God in Scripture?”. Does the interpretation fit into an overall picture of the Bible, the Gospel, the Character of God?
“The Bible appears like a symphony orchestra, with the Holy Ghost as its Toscanini, each instrument has been brought willingly, spontaneously, creatively, to play his notes just as the great conductor desired, though none of them could ever hear the music as a whole... The point of each part only becomes fully clear when seen in relation to all the rest.”
- J. I. Packer
We don’t read different texts that are in isolation from one another. We read them in their theological context, how they fit in to the overall message of the Bible. We need to be aware of the different context that we bring to the table and we need to understand the context they bring to the text.