Appreciating the Scriptures means more than simply believing they are true and inspired by the LORD. It means (Hos. 12:4) realizing that in the Bible God is speaking to us. These are not just words spoken to Abraham, to Moses, to Israel, and to the disciples of the Lord Jesus. They are God’s words to us, “written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
The Apostle Paul quotes the law: “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Then, he asks, “Is it oxen God is concerned about, or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope” (1 Cor. 9:8-10).
It changes profoundly the way we think about the words of the Bible when we realize that it is not merely a source of facts and truths and rebuttals of errors, but that it was written “altogether for our sakes”. In the Bible, God is speaking to us to touch our hearts with the knowledge of His caring about us. With what reverence and care, then, must we read and explain His words. Our goal must not be just to acquire knowledge, for knowledge alone “puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1-3).
Rather, we must read the Bible carefully in order to know Him and His Son, so that we are drawn to the light of their love, and so that their love may be in us.
As noted in Article 1, we must ask, “What is the Bible actually saying?”, and “What does the Bible mean by what it is saying?” That requires us to pay careful attention to the context in which the words are spoken. Individual Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible may have many shades of meaning. The proper meaning ought to be determined by the context in which the word is used. Furthermore, we must read sayings, verses, and longer passages — as well as individual words —with attention to their context, in order to know what God is saying to us and what He means.
Understanding the Bible’s words to us in harmony with the context involves a number of considerations, depending on the particular passage. We need to know who is speaking, to whom the words were spoken, under what circumstances they were spoken, and why they were spoken. We need to understand the flow of thought in the whole passage in which a particular verse occurs, ignoring the chapter and verse divisions (which were added many centuries after the words were written).
Our understanding and explanations of a particular passage must be in harmony with teaching on that subject in the Bible as a whole. False teaching is often based on a single passage taken out of its immediate context, and interpreted in a manner contrary to plain teaching on the same subject elsewhere in the Bible.
In reading Old Testament passages and prophecies, we must take into account the way in which their meanings are enlarged and illuminated by the Lord Jesus and his apostles. Consider that:
- Though it was often intimated, it was not fully revealed in the Old Testament that Gentiles would be fellow heirs of the promises with faithful Jews (Eph. 3:4-6).
- The ten commandments spoken directly to Israel by God, Himself, are fully part of the teaching of the Lord Jesus. However, Jesus sets a higher standard of behaviour, a standard appropriate to a Lord who knows our hearts. This standard was higher than was possible in the civil law given to Israel through Moses, with its allowances for human hardness of heart and its human judges.
“Search the Scriptures”
An illustration of the importance of knowing to whom words are being spoken is found in John 5:38-40. We sometimes quote the words of Jesus in John 5:39 to prove that we can obtain eternal life simply by searching the Old Testament scriptures. But there is so much more to this passage.
These words are part of a discourse by Jesus to Jews (in John, “the Jews” usually means the religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees and scribes). Jesus actually said to them, “You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.”
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and scribes were a religious elite of about 5,000. Their elite status — along with their great knowledge of the Old Testament, and their traditions — assured them, wrongly, that they had eternal life. Yet Jesus says to them, in verse 38, “you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.” Jesus is saying to them that, despite their prodigious Bible knowledge, God’s word was not in their hearts. For, they did not believe Jesus, whom God had sent, and thus were not willing to come to him — despite the fact that these scriptures testified of him (v. 39).
These words of the Lord Jesus warn us that it is possible to search the scriptures, but — sadly — to remain unchanged in heart. Sadder yet, we may become proud of our knowledge and even arrogant toward others.
The Apostle Paul wrote (2 Tim. 3:15-17) of “the holy scriptures which are able to make [us] wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”. These were the Old Testament scriptures that Timothy had known from childhood. Their purpose, their only real purpose, was (and is) to produce, in reader and listener, “faith which is in Christ Jesus”.
We should not be surprised by this, as we have been privileged to see so much of God’s revelation. But sometimes, as we read the Bible, we may act or speak arrogantly, proudly, or hatefully — as though, in all the time we have been reading, such a fundamental point has never dawned upon us! When this is so, then we have become “brothers” to the Pharisees.
Which son was “lost”?
In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (or sons). The context of these parables is very important in understanding them: “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him (Jesus)… and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So, he told them this parable” (vv. 1-3).
This demonstrates that, especially in the third parable (with its fullness of detail), Jesus is speaking (and appealing) to the Pharisees and scribes. Clearly, these religious zealots did not consider themselves to be “sinners” (as — to their minds — the tax collectors were).
In the third parable, the older of the two sons counted himself superior to his younger brother who had wandered away from the father. Wanting no association with him, the older son remained aloof and refused to share a meal with his younger brother even when he repented and returned to their father.
The older son corresponds to the Pharisees and scribes, who wanted no association with the tax collectors and other “sinners”. Furthermore, they thought that Jesus was contaminating himself by associating with them in any way. However, the Lord did not seek to join these men in sinful talk and activities. Rather, it was they who came to him — to hear him. Jesus’ words and inspiring company were what they wanted. Like a good shepherd to all his people whom he had come to save from their sins, Jesus spoke to them words of grace and truth that changed many of their lives.
Jesus didn’t worry about being contaminated by these sinners, any more than the thankful father worried about being contaminated by his wayward son who returned to him.
In the Luke 15 parables, Jesus was teaching the Pharisees (and us!) to make every effort to bring back those who fall away, and even to run to meet them when they seek to come back. And he is issuing a warning to those who cannot bring themselves to act in a welcoming way toward sinners who repent: he is warning them that they run the risk — like the older brother — of being “outside the house” when the “sinners” enjoy the meal of welcome and fellowship with the Father!
Certain “rich men”
The parable about a “certain man [who] had two sons” in Luke 15 is followed in Luke 16 by parables about “a certain rich man who had a steward” and about a “certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen”. In Luke 16, we are told that Jesus spoke the parable about the first rich man to his disciples. This parable teaches important lessons about how disciples must use their money now to ensure that their future with their Lord is certain. Then Jesus taught his disciples principles of faithfulness in the use of money, and he warned them against allowing desire for money to be their master instead of God.
Although the parable was spoken to Jesus’ disciples, it was overheard by the Pharisees. Because they were lovers of money, they derided Jesus for this teaching (v. 14). So, after the first parable, Jesus spoke directly to them. He first rebuked them for seeking to justify their selfish, money-loving ways (v. 15). Then he showed how they broke the law shamefully by divorcing their wives in order to marry others (v. 18). He followed these blunt words by telling these Pharisees the parable about a certain rich man (who was, to put it bluntly, what they were already, or what they were striving to be) and a certain beggar.
This parable (Luke 16:19-31) gives a devastating picture of the future faced by these rich men because of their utter selfishness and disregard for the poor. It is helpful to know that the great majority of people in Galilee and Judea at that time were poor, that Greek ideas about an afterlife had infected Jewish thought, and the story of Lazarus was a well-known fable. A good Bible dictionary or commentary will provide this historical context. However, if we just explain away the misuse of the parable, we may miss the application of it to ourselves.
In the more highly developed countries of the world, many (but definitely not all) disciples of the Lord today are comfortably well-off — a little like the “certain rich man”. However, the great majority of their brothers and sisters in the undeveloped countries of the world (although not all) are very poor — something like Lazarus. Unlike the “certain rich man” of Jesus’ parable, we must be sensitive to the needs of our poor brethren; in our generosity we must be the Lord’s answer to their cries.
These illustrations show the importance of the context in which Bible words are spoken, particularly who is being spoken to, and why, and in what circumstances.
The context is vitally important to our hearing what God and His Son are actually saying to us, and to understanding what their words mean in all their beauty and depth and power.
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In the next article, God willing, we shall see how the flow of thought and reasoning in a Bible passage as a whole (ignoring chapter breaks) is essential to full understanding.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One