{"id":862,"date":"2009-06-11T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2009\/06\/11\/context\/"},"modified":"2009-06-11T05:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T05:30:00","slug":"context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2009\/06\/11\/context\/","title":{"rendered":"Context"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the mistakes that we make in reading the Bible, I think that the most common sort is to take passages out of context. Sometimes it is relatively innocuous, as when we use the words of Revelation 3:20, \u201cHere 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 them, and they with me\u201d and then use them for the purpose of evangelizing the lost. In context, the passage is directed at Christians for their repentance. Other times, pulling a passage out of context can be amusing, as the story of the unemployed woman who concluded that God would give her a job soon, because when she opened the Bible at random, her eye fell on a whole book of the Bible called \u201cJob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much less amusingly, I\u2019ve noticed that some Christians misuse passages of the Bible in order to pound on people that they don\u2019t like. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 as rendered in the King James Version has been a classic seized upon to condemn many: \u201cAbstain from all appearance of evil.\u201d Even if you can\u2019t find anything in the Bible that forbids the behavior, if you don\u2019t like it, just throw that in the person\u2019s face and watch them squirm. Tell them that just because something they are doing looks bad, they stand condemned. Unfortunately, only the King James words the passage that way. The NIV translates it simply as \u201cAvoid every kind of evil\u201d while the TNIV says, \u201creject whatever is harmful.\u201d Even the KJV wording, if understood in context, is simply explaining that people should abstain from evil whenever it appears. <\/p>\n

But understanding it as it was intended is simply not as useful for those concerned with outward \u201cappearances.\u201d But as I recall, it was the Pharisees who were quick to condemn for how things looked to the neighbors. They often criticized Jesus for the company he kept, and for doing or saying things that were at odds with proper appearance. Imagine how tongues wagged when that prostitute washed Jesus feet with perfume and her tears, while kissing them and wiping them with her hair! If the popular understanding of 1 Thessalonians 5:22 really meant what so many think it does, then Jesus himself stands condemned. The first clue that we\u2019ve misinterpreted is when our interpretation results in such an obvious absurdity.<\/p>\n

Another classic in missing the context is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Read by itself, it seems that Paul is explaining that there are some people, due to their reprehensible behavior, who have thereby been excluded from heaven. In verse nine he writes that \u201cwrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God\u201d and then he lists who he means by that: \u201csexually immoral,\u201d \u201cidolaters,\u201d \u201cadulterers,\u201d \u201cmale prostitutes,\u201d \u201cpracticing homosexuals,\u201d \u201cthieves,\u201d \u201cthe greedy,\u201d \u201cdrunkards,\u201d \u201cslanderers\u201d and \u201cswindlers.\u201d He concludes by stating a second time that the people he has just listed will not \u201cinherit the kingdom of God.\u201d <\/p>\n

Therefore, so the popular argument goes, if you are gay (just to pick on one of the sinners in the list), you simply can\u2019t go to heaven. So there. Odd how the other sorts of sinners are usually ignored in the enthusiasm to pick out that one particular sort of sinner as an example, but I digress\u2026<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the rather hopeless interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is dependent upon ignoring the context of Paul\u2019s words. In verse 11, Paul adds \u201cthat is what some of you were.\u201d You see, some of the people to whom Paul was writing his letter were sinners that he had stated could not inherit the kingdom of God. So Paul points out \u201cBut you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.\u201d Paul affirms that while some of the Corinthians were wicked people, they were also redeemed wicked people. And Paul doesn\u2019t say that by their efforts and good deeds that they had earned a ticket to heaven. Their redemption was something accomplished by Jesus\u2019 sacrifice on the cross.<\/p>\n

It is worth pointing out that in the same letter to the Corinthian church, Paul again uses virtually identical language, but with a different target: \u201cI declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” <\/p>\n

Thus, Paul\u2019s point in both passages is the same. Rather than saying that certain sorts of sinners are by definition excluded from heaven, he is simply saying that unredeemed humans don\u2019t inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is redeemed humans that inherit it. Otherwise, following hopless illogic, one would have to argue that no<\/em> human beings go to heaven, since Paul very explicitly says that \u201cflesh and blood\u201d can\u2019t go there.<\/p>\n

One comforting thing: our imperfection in how we interpret the Bible, our ease in pulling passages out of context, our very real failings, do not prevent God from working through us. Look again at the passage about Jesus knocking at our heart’s door in Revelation 3:20. It was that very passage, used by my Sunday School teacher when I was seven, that led me to accept Jesus as my Savior. Even out of context, God can still use his word to his advantage. God is still God, no matter how human we may be.<\/p>\n

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Of all the mistakes that we make in reading the Bible, I think that the most common sort is to take passages out of context. Sometimes it is relatively innocuous, as when we use the words of Revelation 3:20, \u201cHere … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}