I was asked a question the other week about a bible passage we were studying. I forget the specific question (and it isn’t relevant). What I do remember is my answer. Whatever I was asked, I said the point being made in the passage is X and that is abundantly clear because of A, B and C. By the time we get to the particular verse in question, the point is well established. To land on one word from that verse and apply it to an altogether different question that is neither relevant nor being addressed is not a great way to read the bible.

Perhaps you have run into this mode of thinking too. Somebody, approaching the bible with their own (often legitimate) questions sometimes seek answers in passages and places that aren’t designed to addressed them. In so doing, they can read their understanding into the text and draw all manner of weird and wonderful conclusions.

The problem with this kind of thing is that it overlooks the golden rule of biblical interpretation: context is king. We generally understand what words mean by their context. We understand what sentences mean by their context. We understand what paragraphs means by their context. Zooming out for a bit of context very often changes our understanding of what is specifically being said when we have zoomed in on the details.

Whenever we read the bible it is important for us to put any passage into context. We must put it into its canonical context – making sure we are clear where this passage fits within the wider book and where that book sits within the scriptures as a whole. We have to put the passage into its literary context – making sure we put the sentences in the context of the paragraphs which sit in the context of sections that are part of larger books. We have to think also about the historical context – what was going on at the time of writing that has impacted what this writer is saying and why.

The reason this matters is because the bible is not a set of texts that we must mine to find gold. It is not a book primarily aiming to tell us about things we might be broadly interested in, giving us insight into the mysteries of life and a sense of secret knowledge. Rather, it is – start to finish – God’s revelation of himself to us. It is not primarily concerned with what we might want to know (whatever that may be), but with what God has determined we ought to know. Particularly about him and our relation to him.

If that is right, we want to hear God on his own terms. Which is why we very much don’t want to take him out of context. To do that is to twist his words. It is to miss his words. It is to misunderstand him. It is to misunderstand what the creator of the universe has determined is needful for us to know. If we want to know God, know what he wants to say to us and know what he thinks we need to know, we need context. To not read the bible in context is to not know what God has said – it is to misunderstand and misrepresent him.