Context Is Key

Can we play baseball now? 

This was the question that I heard from my son Jude this past Sunday afternoon.  It wasn’t a surprising question since my son loves baseball so much right now.  Every workday when I come home, he asks, “Can we play baseball now?”  When we finish dinner each night, I hear the same question.  I think it is cool that my son loves baseball so much (since I do too!), but this past Sunday was not the right time for his question.  My wife and I had invited a couple of families over to meet and pray for missionaries, and while we were in the middle of praying, Jude posed the question… Can we play baseball now? 

Now, I am not writing this blog to call out my son.  In fact, I am pretty sure that there has been a time when I even wanted to play baseball instead of praying.  Same goes for you!  I give this story to show how my son did not have context this past Sunday.  He read the situation wrong because he didn’t realize that these families had come over to pray and not play baseball.  If he knew that, he would not have asked the question.  At least I hope so!

Context is key!  It is so difficult for us to see or read things correctly when we don’t have context.  Guess what? God’s Word is no different.  In a previous blog, I provided some tips on how to develop the habit of spending time with God and His Word.  Today, I want to provide four points about context that will hopefully push us to be better students of God’s Word. 

Point #1 - Context Leads to Accuracy

This may be the most crucial point.  Without context, we are so much more likely to fail at being accurate in our interpretation.  This past Sunday, my son Jude interpreted that these families had come over to play.  Without the context, he was not accurate.  The same goes for God’s Word.  So often, we can come to the Bible lacking context and read into the Bible what we think or want a passage to say.  Context changes everything though.  Knowing the story behind why someone wrote what they wrote and the situation they are writing into will inform interpretation and provide a more accurate approach. 

Point #2 – Context Questions Are Helpful

When we read the Bible, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of a child and come to a passage in Scripture with the same questions a child would.  Questions such as…

Who wrote this? 

Who are they writing to?

Why did they write this?

When did they write this?

Where are they when they wrote this?

Where are the people they are writing to?

What are the main things they are talking about?

Asking questions like these will help you shape and form a context to interpret from.  Back to Jude… if he would have approached me with a list of questions before our friends came over, he would have had a pretty full context to work with.  So where do we get answers to these questions?  Let’s move to point #3!

Point #3 - Context Tools Are at Our Fingertips

God has blessed us with all kinds of resources to help us understand the context of the passage in the Bible that we are studying.  Here are three great resources that I would recommend…

ESV Study Bible: This Bible previews every book of the Bible with a helpful introduction to the book and then provides brief, verse by verse commentary as you read through the book.

The Bible Project: Love these guys!  If you are a video lover like me, the Bible Project may be for you.  They provide video overviews of every book of the Bible and also dig deeper with videos into other Biblical concepts and ancient words. Some people learn better with visual reinforcement, not just with sounds from words.

Ligonier Top 5 Commentaries: This site from RC Sproul’s ministry gives the top five book commentaries for each book of the Bible.  This site could be extremely helpful if you are wanting to dig deeper on a particular book of the Bible.

Point #4 - Context Breeds Confidence

How confident are you when you open your Bible?  Do you understand what you are reading most of the time?  If you lack confidence or understanding, your #1 issue may be that you have a context problem.  You most likely haven’t painted the picture of what is actually happening as these words are being written and given to others.  However, once you do have that painted picture of what is going on, it changes everything.  All of the sudden, you can come to a passage in the Bible and start putting passages and thoughts together and seeing where they fit in.  This confidence pushes you to read the Bible more and more because each time you are uncovering treasures that you previously had not seen.  Without context, we will avoid the Word of God because we will struggle to know what we are reading.  Are you in need of a confidence boost that comes from context? 

Having context is the first step in understanding what God is saying in His Word and how we should rightly apply it to our lives.  Context truly is a key to unlocking the treasures of the Word of God that His Spirit desires to show us!

Noah

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