{"id":967,"date":"2020-04-05T23:54:13","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T23:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/?p=967"},"modified":"2020-04-05T23:55:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T23:55:16","slug":"context-context-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/?p=967","title":{"rendered":"Context, Context, Context"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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by Josh Liggin<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When I was younger, I remember\nthat there was nothing quite as frustrating as trying to read something that\ncontained words that were beyond my current vocabulary. Don\u2019t get me wrong I\nenjoyed reading, but when you have to stop every other sentence to look up a\nword in the dictionary the fun seems to get sucked out of it. Of course, a trip\nto the dictionary was not always necessary to figure out what every new word\nmeant. The wonderful thing about literature is that you are never left with one\nword all by itself and expected to understand the meaning. Literature is full\nof what we call \u201ccontext clues\u201d. These clues help us to figure out what a\nparticular word may mean even though we are not familiar with that word. Take\nthe following sentences for example: \u201cI took the tome<\/u> off the shelf and\nopened it to page 94. I then began to read.\u201d The word \u201ctome\u201d is probably\nunfamiliar to most of us, but the context clues give a very clear idea of what\na \u201ctome\u201d is. In fact, if we were to look the word up in a dictionary, we find\nthat a \u201ctome\u201d is just a large book; something that the context already made\nclear.\u00a0 You see, context and context\nclues clarify what a word, concept or idea really means. <\/o:p><\/p>

This principle also applies to\nour study of God\u2019s word. When considering a topic, phrase or statement in the\nBible, one must always consider the context that it is in if you hope to\ninterpret it correctly. Taking something out of context often times permits one\nto arrive at an erroneous conclusion regarding what God is saying. Take for\nexample a very familiar passage like John 3:16; \u201cFor God so loved the world,\nthat He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not\nperish, but have eternal life.\u201d One might take that verse, all by itself, out\nof context and form the erroneous conclusion that all one must do to have\neternal life is believe in the Son of God who was given for the world. When\nsomeone does that we want to jump up and down, declaring that simple belief is\nnot all that is required for one to be saved. We may want to turn to other\npassages of Scripture that illustrate that one must also repent and be baptized\n(cf. Acts 2:38). And though there is nothing inherently wrong with that approach\u2014for\nwe do need to look into the broader context of the entire New Testament to\nunderstand all the specifics of what is involved in the process of salvation\u2014one\nneed not look farther than the immediate context of John 3 to demonstrate that\nabove conclusion is inaccurate. <\/o:p><\/p>

First, consider that leading up\nto this statement in verse 16, Jesus has been talking to a man named Nicodemus.\nThis man comes to Jesus confessing that he believed that Jesus was in fact from\nGod. He had arrived at this conclusion based on the many signs that Jesus had\nperformed in the presence of the people (John 3:2). Jesus then makes the\nfollowing statement to Nicodemus: \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is\nborn again he cannot see the kingdom of God\u201d (3:3). To this, Nicodemus responds\nwith the puzzled question of how a man could enter again into his mother\u2019s womb\nwhen he is old and be born again. Jesus tells him that it is not a physical\nbirth that He is referring to, but rather a spiritual birth. He says, \u201cunless\none is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter in to the kingdom of God\u201d\n(3:5). You see, it is clear, from the context, that there is more to being\nsaved than simply intellectually accepting the fact that the Son came from the\nFather.<\/o:p><\/p>

Secondly, consider a statement\nthat John the Baptizer makes regarding those who would be saved. \u201cHe who\nbelieves in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not\nsee life, but the wrath of God abides on him\u201d (John 3:36). Here, John contrasts\nbelief and disobedient. The kind of belief that John is talking about (and that\nJesus was talking about) is the opposite of disobedience. Therefore, it is safe\nto conclude that the belief that is under consideration in this passage is a\nbelief that motivates obedience. This conclusion is not only consistent with\nthe immediate context of the passage but also the larger context of the New\nTestament writings (cf. James 2:14-26; Hebrews 3:18-19). <\/o:p><\/p>

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We could\nexamine many more examples of verses being ripped from their context and\nstudied in complete isolation from the rest of Scripture. When this happens, it\nis no wonder that we end up with such a diversity of doctrine and beliefs, even\namong those who call themselves \u201cChristians\u201d. The frustrating part of this is\nthat we cannot prevent others from committing this crime. I only have power\nover myself and my own study. I can ensure that I never take things out of\ncontext and abuse the word of God to accomplish my purposes. And, when I see or\nam confronted by those who have not been as careful with the word of God, I\nneed to gently point them to the context and help them arrive at a correct\nunderstanding of Scripture. I can remind them that the instructions of the\ninspired men that are preserved for us in the words of the Bible are intended\nto be taken as a whole. \u201cThe sum of Your word is truth\u201d (Psalm 119:160a).<\/o:p><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This bulletin is being published for the purpose of encouraging a further study of the Word of God. Editor \u2013 Josh Liggin

Want to get into touch check out our Contact Us page<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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by Josh Liggin When I was younger, I remember that there was nothing quite as frustrating as trying to read […]<\/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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":969,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchofchristcantonil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}