“Many Christians have been trained to be Bible quoters, not Bible readers.”
Learning Chichewa is much tougher than people assume. For a native speaker, you are not used to nuance, systems, rules and directions; you are used to speaking and getting meaning across without the stickiness of grammar. So, when my teacher came in one morning to discuss the word “Kamba”, you could imagine the confusion. She went on to describe the word as a verb, “Kamba”, as a noun “Kamba” being able to mean tortoise or a snack; she further went on to show the use of the word as a conjunction. Kamba could mean “spit it out (figuratively); because; tortoise, snack, or even rumour.” The only difference, as she highlighted, was the context in which the word is used. It can only mean one thing based on how and where it is used. What the reader of Scripture often forgets is that words are supplied with meaning not only with their general usage but based on the words and sentences surrounding them. If we want to make sense of our Bibles and leave them with the right meaning, we must never ignore the context. God’s word cannot mean something it was never meant to.
Relevance Vs. Accuracy: Heads and Tails
The reader is tempted to ask the question “How do I make this relevant to me?” This tendency is caught more than taught at times. In a way, it is understandable when people approach the bible in this manner; they are seeking meaning that is relevant and applicable. Such a pursuit, though understandable, is not the focus of the reader; the focus of the reader should be to find the accurate meaning. We would argue that the most accurate meaning of the text is the most relevant; to find God’s intent and purpose will usher in more fruit than to fabricate.
Growing up, the phrase “You shall be the head and not the tail” was often thrown out. It had a sense of prosperity, position, and prestige. There is no doubt this allusion in Deuteronomy 28:13 is true, but it’s not a catch-all. For starters, the statement is made to Israel as Moses details the law once more to the second generation in the wilderness. Secondly, the passage is framed with a conditional statement: “If you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the Lord your God which I am giving you today” (Deut 28:13). Taking the verse out of its relationship to the rest of the chapter assumes there is blessing without obedience. It assumes that this promise was given to everyone; though there might be relevance that God grants those aspects even to some saints today, it is not accurate that it is universally applicable. To make that assumption rules out all those faithful Christians who will not experience prosperity, position and prominence. The accurate reading pays attention to the fact that Israel’s success was contingent on their obedience to the law. This accurate reading provides relevance to God’s continued desire for the saints to obey, not out of a desire for success but out of love toward him and his covenantal love and faithfulness.
Types of Contexts
The Heads and Tails example shows us that context is not one simple block you insert in your reading. It is a dynamic set of aspects of the text that should inform one’s reading, observations, interpretation and application. These aspects are evident in the text itself, though sometimes hard to see.
Historical Context
The Bible is Old. Though that sounds obvious, it means most of the events, stories, and ideas presented were not written with the same tools, style, and experiences that map directly to the modern reader. If one is reading a newspaper article, they often have a columnist whom they enjoy (author), they choose that article because it appeals to them (audience), and that article has a purpose that it seeks to achieve (purpose). If these elements are present in our selection of publications, it shouldn’t be strange that knowing the author, audience and purpose of a book of the Bible is critical in our understanding.
The historical setting gives us insight into other details of the text that help us arrive at accurate meaning. When Paul writes “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13), he is not envisioning prowess in sports or academic success. He notes that he is in chains in prison (Phil 1:12 – 14), and he speaks of being hungry and lacking (Phil 4:12). He is geographically away from Philippi, and he is in prison. The accurate meaning of the text is that Paul is content and will endure and experience all things because of the strength of Christ. History tells us that he continues in prison till his death (Acts 28). The meaning is lost if one reads the passage as motivation to do hard things to succeed, and it fails to be relevant because experientially not everyone does hard things nor succeeds. The accurate meaning of contentment regardless of experience or circumstance is relevant to any reader. Yet without a careful look at the context, readers will miss the rare jewel for cheap plastic trinkets.
The reader should pay attention to the details that form the history of the text: what is the cultural context? What can we learn from the geography? When the text says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev 3:20). We understand the letter sent out to the church in Laodicea (geographical location) and the hospitality expected of them (cultural expectation). The text is no longer an invitation to call the lost. It is a rebuke of their failure to commune with Christ because of self-sufficiency and lack of zeal. It is not a text on evangelism but on Christian complacency, compromise and false profession.
Literally Context
Driving into the city center one meets the unpainted, bare, exposed concrete work of Hans Van der Merwe; cold, geometric, brutalist and otherworldly different from all the structures around it. The Reserve Bank building, as a child, seemed to me to be upside down. Urban legend has it that its complexity needed multiple demolitions and redoing of the foundation. Almost visible from everywhere in the city, you can be tempted to marvel at the finishing, the daring hanging façade, but it’s the foundation that makes all these appreciable. Reading the bible can sometimes be this way: the individual passages, favourite sections, words and phrases must be related to its whole story. There is no favourite verse without the flow of a chapter, without the argument of the section, nor the unified story of the whole bible. Historical contexts will help guide you to where the pieces are, but the literal contexts will tell you which pieces fit where and why. This is only possible because the literal context is what builds the flow of meaning, and it deals with the text itself.
The literary context of the text factors some key details that we can think of into two main areas. The reader should have the immediate context and the broader context. The literary context is a thread in the garment of revelation that brings out coherence, clarity and unity. The thread will be the same, though the stitches might look different depending on style and purpose. In the same way, an individual stitch links different fabrics to make a piece of clothing; verses work the same way. This means the material before the verse under study, and the material after, helps one come to understanding the passage. This involves reading long before, and long after the verse or section under consideration. This is why reading the bible in chunks is critical for understanding it.
To better appreciate the literary context, consider the “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13, which concludes, “Now these things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The audience is affirmed as believers (1 Corinthians 1:4), so one ought to expect the application to be limited to that group. He writes that they have a problem of divisions, pride, and immaturity (1 Cor 3, 4, 5). All this historical context is given from reading the text. The literal context for the command to love comes when he notes there are divisions in spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12 – 14). The insertion of love amid this discussion on gifts works on the backdrop of their pride, arrogance and division. Having spiritual gifts and practising them does not illustrate being mature in the faith; love does. The literal flow of the text from Chapters 1 – 12 (broad context) provides a buildup that makes Chapter 13 (immediate) applicable and understandable. When Paul addresses their different questions and divisions, his focus is on maturity, which will be expressed in love (1 Cor 13:11).
Where Do We Go From Here?
There is no doubt much more that can be said about context. If meaning, understanding and accuracy are the goals of your study of the bible for your growth as well as others, then you can’t afford to ignore context. With that in mind, the question that could linger in most readers’ minds might be: what resources can I use and where do I find them? Next, we will look at the various tools and resources that we can use to get to the meaning of the text.