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Understanding the Bible is crucial to having a genuine relationship with God
To be clear, this does not mean that you have to know everything there is to know about the Bible. But you should want to discover as much as possible about God and His intentions for how you live the rest of your life.
Reading the Bible is the way we learn about God, His will, and His instructions for life.
To be able to learn what the Bible says, it is mission-critical to read it in context. Like all communications with anyone, the context is key to success.
Without the correct context, then the message may be lost or misunderstood.
I like to explain how to look for the proper context with a story from my secular job.
In one particular period of my career, I had 8 or 9 people who reported to me. It was a very busy and hectic time of life. I was on the road a lot. Sometimes, I didn’t see the others in the office for a week or more.
So it was pretty common for me to arrive early Saturday morning (when everyone else was gone) and dictate memos to people about things they needed to get done while I was away.
This story shows my age!
In the old days, we spoke into micro-recorders that used little cassette tapes. I would leave the tapes on the desk of an assistant to type what I had recorded into memos for everyone. No e-mail or texts in those days!
Here’s where the context comes into play.
The folks getting the memo had to read to find the instructions for what to accomplish while I was out.
God is the Master of communication. He always gets it right!
On the other hand, I sometimes wasn’t always entirely clear in what I meant to say.
People had to read the context of the memo with the history of our relationship, what was happening at the company, knowledge of my personality, and a variety of things. In short, they had to figure out what I wanted.
Sounds pretty unfair, huh?
It was!
Trust me, none of us were thrilled with this means of communication. It was hard on me trying to communicate. It was really hard on them trying to understand what to do!
Despite the difficulty, I expected them to get the tasks done. We could not afford to let everything come to a standstill until I was able to get back to talk face to face.
The interpretation of the Bible is similar. God has spoken to us through His written word. It’s up to us to read, study, meditate, and pray for understanding.
The context is mission-critical! (I know, I already said this, but it bears repeating!)
I recall a couple of grade school boys running through my neighborhood one afternoon. One was screaming as he chased the other, “I’ll kill you!”
The context of “I’ll kill you!” whispered in the ear by a thug in a prison yard has a completely different meaning than some boys in the neighborhood.
Without the context, we don’t know how to react. With the two boys, the situation could be ignored. The one might have been angry about something, but the language was hyperbole or exaggerated. The circumstances of the jail must be taken seriously due to the obvious danger.
The Bible’s Context Has Layers
We start with the fact the Bible is a collection of 66 books divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. One is history which shows the relationship of God to mankind. The second part, the New Testament, involves commands, examples, and parables to teach us what we need to know.
The Old Testament is no longer binding on us. We live by the New Testament. But we can’t understand the New Testament without a good understanding of the events we read about in the Old Testament.
The context of what we read must be initially examined in the big picture. We want a bird’s eye understanding of everything to give us the proper perspective. Once we have the big picture context, then we turn to see what each separate book has to tell us.
Each book of the Bible must be read within the context of that specific book or letter. We look to who wrote the epistle, who was speaking, what was said earlier in the letter, to whom the communication was intended, and numerous other factors.
It’s like the job of an investigative reporter to ask questions; who, what, where, why, when, and how?
Next, we look at the immediate context of the chapter and verses under consideration. Without the proper context of what is being said, then we can reach all kinds of misunderstandings.
It’s just like the young boys running down the street screaming “I’m gonna kill you!” The way we react is heavily based upon the circumstances.
Our job is to determine what God wants and expects from us.
This requires, first and foremost, an honest heart wanting to know the truth. This is hard because the human heart is deceptive above all things.
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 NKJV (Bold added)
We need to pray to God to open our eyes to see what He wants as we study His word. This applies to every topic and doctrine, not just head covering.
We need to meditate (this means to think about and consider, not sitting in the dark humming to ourselves). Always asking, what is it that God is communicating to us?
What is the central message from the verses that He is showing us?
God knows our hearts and tests our minds. He can see if we are diligently trying (or just taking a lackadaisical approach to our studies).
Paul declared the Bereans were more noble or fair-minded than those in Thessalonica because they searched the scriptures daily. Acts 17:11 They put work into trying to understand the doctrine and make sure they truly comprehended. This was done daily, i.e., showing their passion for the truth!
To summarize, the context of the Bible in its entirety is the beginning point. The next step is to read for the context of the epistle or book that we are studying. Then we look to the immediate topic of discussion of the chapter coupled with the context of the actual verse.
Keep in mind that much of the New Testament consists of quotations from the Old Testament.
We must look back to the Old Testament to find and understand what was being said there to be able to grasp what is being taught in the New Testament.
With an open heart, prayer for our eyes to be opened, and a little bit of hard work in study, we can learn about God and what He expects of us!
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