Context Principle
The Context Principle is where the Bible
student keeps Scripture in the same context in which it was intended by the
author, and to keep it’s same meaning intact.
The most common source of false doctrine and
Christian cultist beliefs is the misinterpretation of Scripture, knowingly or
through ignorance, by taking it out of its intended context. Knowing the context is the key to knowing the
mind of God through His Word. Every
verse must be studied in the context that God has given it. We should never take a verse out of its
setting and give it a different meaning.
By taking Scripture out of its context we only deceive ourselves.
Nobody makes isolated statements. Everything we say and think is in a certain
context Without context nothing would
make since! The Word of God is no
exception. God had His Word written in
His context. By not knowing the context
of Scripture we will most certainly misinterpret God’s Word. Here are five easy rules for finding the
context.
1. Observe carefully the immediate context;
that which precedes and follows the passage.
This usually tells you the most about your target passage. This is called the “near” or “immediate”
context. If the key to the context is
several chapters before your target passage, this is called the “remote”
context.
2. Observe carefully any parallel thoughts in
the same book to the materials in the passage being interpreted. Be aware of the purposes and development of
thought in the book. I call this the
“contextual flow.” The contextual flow
is especially important in the Gospels and the New Testament. It seems these
texts were well thought out before the writing and written in one setting. We should also read these books in one
setting.
3. Observe carefully any parallel thought in
another book by the same author or in other books by different authors. Take into account the purpose and development
of thought in these books.
4. Have a good understanding of metaphors,
shadows and types, and other figures of speech.
The Bible is full of these figures of speech! We must recognize them and understand what
they are telling us. If we fail at this
then all kinds of silly doctrines could be imagined!
5. Bear in mind that the smaller the quantity of
material to be interpreted, the greater the danger of ignoring the
context. No axiom is better known and
more frequently disobeyed than the oft quoted: “A text without a context is
only a pretext.” Somehow, to discern
this kind of error in someone else is easy but to recognize this same fault in
ourselves is most difficult.
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Here are some of the most misinterpreted
verses of the Bible. Let us go through
them and find the correct interpretation, using the correct context.
Baptism
for the dead- 1 Corinthians 15: The
Mormon Church (LDS) believes that a living church member, in good standing, can
go to their Temple and baptize themselves in the place for people long dead,
and baptize and provide salvation in their stead. They use 1 Corinthians 15:29 as their
justification for their strange doctrine. “Else what shall they do which are
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized
for the dead?” They have taken this one
verse and built an entire doctrine from it.
If we read the entire book at once, we can
fully understand the context and the contextual flow of the book. The “dead” in
chapter fifteen is a reference to Christ. This is reveled in verse twelve of
the same chapter. “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how
say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Now knowing
this, to better understand verse twenty-nine substitute “Christ” for “dead.”
Chapter fifteen starts with the explanation of the resurrection of Christ, and
then uses that example to explain our own resurrection. This is a beautiful
chapter of the Word of God, and it is the full mention of our own resurrection. It is a shame that it has been sullied by
misinterpretation!
Paul’s choice of the word “they” in verse
twenty-nine is not a reference to a group of people or Christians as the
Mormons claim, but just an indirect reference to the fact that Paul baptized
very few persons himself. This fact Paul
states himself in chapter one verse fourteen through seventeen. In twenty-five
years of ministry Paul baptized only two persons and one household himself.
Paul did not feel called to baptize but to preach the Gospel. The Apostle Paul always allowed the local
church leaders do all of the baptizing.
Faith-
Psalm 23: Most people consider this
beautiful Psalm to be about a
thanksgiving on God’s blessing. It
really is not about thanksgiving, but it is about faith. In order to see this, we must read Psalm
twenty-two; this is the psalm that sets up psalm twenty-three. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Also, “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but
thou hearest not.” Psalm twenty-two is a
cry for help when God seems distant. It
is a cry for help when you cannot find God or His Presence.
Now read psalm twenty-three. David’ reaction to the absence of God
‘Presence is an explosion of faith! “The
LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
And again, “He restoreth my soul.”
We should always read these two psalms together because twenty-two sets
up the meaning and beauty of twenty-three!
Valley
of the dry bones- Ezekiel 37: This
is not the Church as some will say. The eleventh verse clearly states
that this is a vision of “the whole house of Israel.” Chapter thirty-six
speaks on God blessing Israel once more.
Starting at verse sixteen of chapter thirty-six speaks of Israel’s new
life. Then we now have the vision of the dry bones.
Starting at verse fifteen the prophecy begins
to speak of the future unity of Judah and Israel. The vision of the dry bones
is a vision of this future unity and restoration in the Promised Land. Looking at the proceeding chapter and then the
whole of chapter thirty-seven we can see the flow of the context that God has
given it. It clearly does not speak of
the Church.
Let’s look at the context of the times. The prophet Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon
like the rest of the people of Israel.
The people were wondering and even fearful that they would never see the
Promised Land again. They needed and
wanted hope. God sent this series of
prophecies through Ezekiel in order to tell the people that the House of Israel
would be restored in due time. And it
was restored exactly as the LORD had said!
Robbing
God- Malachi 3:7-11: “Will a man rob God?”
This is the most widely used verse today and is used in conjunction with
tithing or church giving. It is many a preacher’s sugar stick. But, sadly, it is used out of its context on
purpose.
Let’s put the book in its proper context. The priests had got accustomed to spending
large amounts of money on themselves instead of the Kingdom of God as the
Temple tithing system was designed to do. The priest’s in the countryside were withholding the full amount of the
tithes from the temple. When the money reached the temple, it was skimmed off
by the temple priests. Due to this
corruption the Kingdom of God and the temple services were being neglected.
In the first chapter of the book of Malachi
God tells the Jewish people how much He loves them and that they are still His
people. Then (1:6) God rebukes the
priests for being corrupt. Starting at
the tenth verse of chapter two God then rebukes the people for abandoning the
Law of Moses. In (2:17) God warns of the
coming judgment for their sins. In (3:6)
God then commands the priests and Levites to stop robbing God by stealing the
tithes. In (3:13) God then promises
mercy if the Israelite would obey from then on.
Chapter four is about the coming of the Messiah, which indeed happened
about four-hundred years later with the birth of Jesus Christ.
The book of Malachi is all about the priests
of that day and the sins in which they were involved. The priests were irreverent and
neglectful. The priests were offering
worthless animals (1:8) in sacrifice to God that they would not offer to the
governor. They refused to work except
for money (1:10). Mixed marriages became
common (2:11), some would even divorce their Jewish wives to make this possible
(2:14).
Fool's-
Matthew 5:22: Jesus says that one
who calls a brother a fool is in danger of hell-fire, yet He calls the
Pharisees fools in 23:17-19. Some have
said that Jesus is contradicting Himself, let’s look at it.
In the first instance that Matthew brings this
up is when Jesus is in Galilee on a mountain.
The great crowds followed Him, but the disciples followed Jesus to the
top of the mountain. Those that were
willing to climb the mountain were the ones who received the insightful
teaching. There Jesus gave the famous
Beatitudes sermon. Part of this sermon
was about anger, and what it can lead into.
Talking about anger is the context for calling someone a “fool” in this
instant.
The Greek word here is “Moros,” which has a
meaning of “moral stupidity.” God has
given everyone a basic understanding of right and wrong and we have all been
given a moral compass to follow. Plus,
we all have Scripture available to us and God’s Spirit is always available to
those open to Him.
For a man to call another man “morally
stupid,” is evil and not true. Jesus did
not have to tell His disciple this for they already understood that all know
right and wrong from birth.
Matthew relates in the second instance that
Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees in the temple, Jesus was there teaching and
then tells the Scribes and Pharisees that they are a bunch of “blind fools” and
that they are stealing and robbing God and the people in general.
Matthew is trying to tell them that being a
spiritual leader, leading people astray spiritually, and stealing the churches
money for your own benefit will put you in danger of hell-fire. God is not contradicting Himself, but instead
is trying to teach us a valuable lesson.
If you want to be a priest or a preacher, you have to be honest with
your position and the money in your charge.
If not, it does not matter who you are, or what you have done, you are
in danger of hell-fire in eternity!
Persecutions-
Matthew 10:34: “Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth: I come not to send peace, but a sword.” What!
This sounds like the Prince of Peace wants to start a war. If we take this verse out of its proper
context it could seem to mean that Jesus wants us to wage war. Now then, you may think that is silly, but we
can clearly see that some people do not need much to fall into false
doctrine. That’s why we never take a
verse out of its context.
At the beginning of chapter ten, Jesus is
about to send out the twelve disciples out into the land to preach the Word of
God. They will go out alone and will
experience persecution (10:14). Starting
at verse sixteen Jesus warns them about persecution and how to deal with
it. Jesus understands that many people
will resent their message and be filled with hate and rage and persecute them.
When Jesus speaks of a sword in verse
thirty-four, He is speaking of the Word of God not an actual metallic
sword. The Word of God will divide the
people into those who believe, and those who do not. The sword has always symbolized the Word of
God in the Bible. Husband and wife will
be divided. Father and son will be
divided. Brother and sister will be
divided. Jesus is getting His disciples
ready for this type of conflict. By
reading the flow of Scripture before and after the target verse, we can clearly
see the proper context.
Purgatory-
Matthew 12:32; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15: Purgatory is a wide spread doctrine
of the Catholic Church, among others. They formed this false doctrine by taking
two separate verses, from two separate books
of the Bible, by two different authors out of their proper context, and making
them mean something altogether different.
Let’s take a look at it.
Matthew wrote in his Gospel, “And whosoever
speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the
world to come.” Matthew 12:32.
The last part of this verse is what is of
interest, “neither in the world to come.” This is just a vague reference to
eternity, heaven or hell. There is no
mention of which “world” is coming, nor should there be any, since the context
is speaking of something else entirely, which is blasphemy. Let me explain further.
Jesus went into the synagogue and healed some
people on the Sabbath day. The local
Pharisee called Jesus out for that saying that Jesus was using demonic powers
in order to heal. The truth was the
Pharisee could not heal anyone nor tell them how to get healed and then arrives
Jesus, who heals everyone present. The
local Pharisee probably felt very small and insecure. Their prideful spirits were crushed!
Jesus uses this opportunity to teach a lesson
about maliciously misrepresenting the work of the Holy Spirit. To know of, and to be, or was, filled with
the Holy Spirit and then to say it is all the work of the devil is an
unforgivable sin. This is the context of
this half of chapter twelve. The idea of
purgatory is nowhere to be found.
The second verse that people take out of
context to mean purgatory is found in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. Let’s start with verse fourteen, “If any
man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss: but he himself shall be
saved; yet so as by fire.”
It’s the last part of verse fifteen here that
is of interest, “...but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” There is no mention of any place called
purgatory here. In chapter three of this
book, Paul is speaking of being a servant of God in His Kingdom. When we are
saved by Christ’s Blood, we then work in His Kingdom doing good works, building
up the Kingdom. If our works are good
and holy and from God, then they will be cast into the fire of judgment and
will be proven to be righteous. That
saint will receive a reward in accordance to his work and the natural talents
he had in this world. If our works are
not from God, but are selfish, they will be thrown into the fire of judgment
and will be burned up like chaff. The
saint will be saved, but he shall receive no reward in heaven.
The reward of a Christian is to
enter Heaven for eternity and to see the face of Jesus Christ, and to partake
of God's Righteousness. Revelation 22:4.
1 John 3:2. Matthew 5:8-12,
25:21-23.
So, we have reviewed both of these verses and
have found out that both have been taken out of their proper context and used
for something entirely different. We
must keep all Scripture in its context!
Transfiguration-
Matthew 17:1-13: Some have said that
verse Matthew 16:28 proves that Jesus would make His second return during the
lifetime of the disciples. You can only
believe this by taking this verse out of its context. Let’s take a look at it.
Six days before the transfiguration Jesus and
His disciples were along the coast of Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asks Peter who he thought that He was. Peter said that he thought Jesus was the
“Christ.” Later, Jesus mentions that
“There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the
Son of man coming in His Kingdom (Matthew 16:28).”
Well, only six days later Jesus took Peter,
James, and John up on a high mountain, probably Mt. Herman, “And was
transfigured before them: and His face
did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light (Matthew
17:2).” This is what Jesus referred to
as “coming in His Kingdom.” The context
of chapter sixteen blends right in with chapter seventeen. To not understand this, verse twenty-eight of
chapter sixteen will be misinterpreted.
The
Lords Supper- Matthew 26:26-29: Roman Catholics around the world take
communion and actually believe that Christ’s flesh and blood is in the wafer
and wine at the communion table. This is
not true at all, this is taking a metaphor and making it literal. Jesus was just giving the disciples a simple
metaphor of the two different sacrifices in each covenant (Moses’ Covenant and
the New Covenant). There are many
metaphors in the Bible; we must know them, understand them, before we interpret
Scripture. Jesus also said He was the
“door,” is He really a “door,” of course not, it is just a metaphor to teach us.
Well, the bread and wine symbolizing the body and blood of Christ is the
same, just a metaphor.
God provided the blood for the Old Testament
alter in Exodus 24:8, now He does again through Jesus in Matthew 26:28. Sins can only be remitted by blood (Hebrews
9:22). Jesus was just referring to His
upcoming death, sacrifice, and resurrection to fulfill our salvation.
Thirty
Silver Coins- Matthew 27:9-10: Jesus
in referring to a prophecy of the prophet Zechariah 11:12, proclaimed it to be
from the prophet Jeremiah. Some have
said that this is a mistake This was
not a mistake, but quite intentional. It
was the custom of that day to refer to all of the prophets by just one of the
Major Prophets, in this case, Jeremiah.
This is never done today but was common in Jesus’ day. That is the historical context.
Rewards-
1 Corinthians 3:6-15: Some have said
that there are no rewards in heaven.
They have said that heaven itself is the reward. Well, heaven will surely be rewarding, and it
is our eternal reward. But there are
additional rewards that will be given to those who have built up God’s Kingdom
and have used their talents in this life doing God’s work.
Let us now look at the context of what I am
talking about. In the first chapter of
First Corinthians the apostle Paul writes about the power and wisdom of Christ. In chapter two he writes about the message of
the crucified Christ, then on God’s wisdom.
After this is established, Paul then writes about how to be a servant of
God.
We are servants of God when we witness, teach,
and preach to others about Christ (3:6-7).
Each one building upon the others works with the help of God (3:7). In the end God will give us a reward
according to our labors (3:8). Together, we are building God’s building
(3:9). The foundation of this building
is Jesus Christ, and everyone we bring to salvation is then a part of that
building (3:11). This work will be
judged by fire, good work in building God’s building will be proved good,
unworthy work will be consumed by the fire (3:13-15).
Working out salvation- Philippians 2:12: “…work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Many silly things have been said and written
about this last half of verse twelve. It
is a great verse of Christian humility and liberty in Christ. The contextual flow begins at the first
chapter where the apostle Paul writes that to live is Christ. Chapter two then explains Christ’s humility
and greatness, commonly referred as “the kenosis.
The Apostle Paul speaks on the humility of Christ’s life and it was that
humility before God and man (2:7) that made Him great in the Kingdom of God
(2:9).
Now then, that is the context upon which we
find verse twelve. We work out our salvation through “fear and trembling,”
because of the humility that Jesus showed the world, we should emulate that
humility ourselves. We should always be
fearful to show pride in our lives. The
meaning of this verse is revealed by the context of the first two chapters.
Clearly this was written so that Christians
will emulate this same example. So then,
in that light we need to “work out our own salvation. But how do we “work it out?” Well, the next two verses tell us. “For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of His good pleasure. Do
all things without murmurings and disputing” (2:13-14).
William J. Roop, M.A.B.S.
